Community

Justin "Without a Hat" Elam

English Comp. 1001

Ms. Hahn

Communities Essay

We all belong to various communities: Church, School, Family, Friends, Work, etc. In each case, these communities that we participate in have an effect on our everyday life. Church might provide you with spiritual guidance and strength in a time of need. Your school may provide you with the education you need to get a decent job thus allowing you to have the things you want to have. Family and friends both may be involved in the memories you'll later look back upon and use in support of anecdotal advice. Working may teach you all manner of four-letter words in the English language and may even result in the invention of a few new ones. All of these are communities that we participate in on a daily basis without ever giving much thought. And they all have a major impact on what our life may hold in store for us; even the ones we think will never make any real difference, such as our cell phone provider.

In late 2000 I purchased my first cell phone, a Nokia 5160. Due to being underage and having no credit, my options for a provider were limited. My mom didn't particularly want me to have a cell phone so she was completely unwilling to help me procure a service with which to use it. That being the case, my only real choice was to go pre-pay. My friends all had a pay-as-you-go service called I-Wireless, so that's what I too went with. Things went fairly smoothly even though I was paying out an arm-and-a-leg for minutes. I used my phone constantly. I was always calling someone or text-messaging someone else.

Early the following year, while sitting in a friends van after school, I was introduced to girl who I was immediately attracted to. She too was getting a ride home that day from Zach's mother. The brief ride to our respective houses, which I was pleased to note were near each other, passed relatively silently. I've always been rather intimidated and shy in the presence of a woman I find attractive. I spent most of that evening kicking myself and thinking of cool one-liners and things I should have said or done to create a dialogue between her and myself. But ultimately my chance had passed.

Or so I thought. About a week and a half after that van ride home I found her after school sitting by a large rock in the front yard. As I approached I tried to gather my courage and decide what the best possible ice-breaker would be. Thankfully, as I got near enough to notice what she was staring intently at; my answer was hand-delivered to me by the powers that be. A cell phone, the exact same model of cell-phone that I myself, and practically the rest of the