The Color Of Friendship
During most of the 1980's, I lived in a small suburb of Trenton, New Jersey, known as Chambersburg. Located right on the border of downtown, this area at the time was made up of mostly middle class Italian families. I had a few local friends that I hung out with on a daily basis when I wasn't grounded or having to stay late at school. None of my friends or I were of Italian descent and kept mostly to ourselves. This wasn't because we had problems with the Italians; it was because they seemed to have a problem with anyone who wasn't also Italian. Not all of them felt this way, it was mostly a gang known as the Bulls. They ranged in age from around 13 to 21 and basically had the run of the area. They were a typical gang whereas if there were only one or two of them together, they wouldn't bat an eye and could be the nicest people you'd ever meet. However, when they were in a group, they seemed to suddenly transform into demons. Downtown seemed to be a different world altogether, being mostly made up of lower income black families. The difference with them being, that if you met one or two they could either be nice...or not. It seemed they didn't need to be in big groups in order to be intimidating. I don't reme
We pulled up in front of a small Colonial in Hamilton and a little nerdy guy, whose name I later found out was Steven, came out to join us. I visited him quite a few times while he was in the hospital due to three punctures from an ice pick in his stomach. On September 6th, we were to go back down to the recruiting station to sign the papers and become government property. Without that single event, I never would have done more than just give a cigarette to one of the best friends I've ever known. We asked why his family wanted to move here of all places from Lawrenceville. When the 3rd of August finally arrived, the three of us went down to the recruiting station in Trenton to take our A. The day I arrived my friend was not able to greet me, instead I received distressing news. Martin's ship arrived around a week before mine, I was sure he'd be all settled and partying already. He was two years older than me, close to three inches shorter, and about half as wide. I didn't even realize the car had stopped until Steven started staring out the window. Most black kids didn't walk through by choice, but had to in order to get to the high school that almost all of the kids from both areas went to. S (Military Entrance Processing Station) in downtown Philadelphia.
Common topics in this essay:
Rick Gary,
Chambersburg Located,
Desert Storm,
Chambersburg Downtown,
Radio Communications,
Pit Bulls,
Colonial Hamilton,
Trenton Projects,
Sonar Technician,
Diego California,
boot camp,
didn't blame venture,
recruiting station,
black kid,
transferred school,
3rd august,
told gary,
school none,
didn't blame,
blame venture,
rick gary,
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Acceptance Essays
