On the bus, many people were irritated and got easily upset. I sometimes say things normally, jokingly that may upset people because they take it a little more seriously, and it is even worse when I don�t get any sleep. I said a few things on the bus that got people angry at me.
Then it continued after the bus trip. My abrasive personality still was getting on people�s nerves a little. We had gone up to West Virginia a few days early so that we could camp out that week-end before Workcamp, but it rained the whole week-end, which didn�t help matters. Everyone had gone through an exhausting bus ride and then a rainy week-end, and people were starting to get on each other�s nerves, I think me more so than the others. I made some people upset at me that week-end.
We got to Ohio Valley College (OVC) Sunday evening. Sunday was just a day for getting settled in. We hung out till curfew (12pm) playing basketball and hanging out. Not much happened.
Monday was the first day painting houses. Mr. A. (I�m not going to use any names throughout this, in case some people do not want to be mentioned) had been getting on my nerves all day, just aggravating me. Later in the afternoon, Mr. A was continually harassing me while I was on a ladder trying to do some scraping and wouldn�t stop even after me repeatedly telling him to stop. I regret what I did here very much. Without thinking, I threw a scraper down at him. I didn�t really think about how sharp it was nor that it could do serious harm. Had it been a knife I would have thought twice, but it was just a scraper and I didn�t really make the connection that it was a very sharp object. After I threw the scraper at Mr. A, I climbed down the ladder planning to confront him (or fight if you will,) but the trip down the ladder gave me time to cool down and I stopped. I regret seriously what I did and am glad that no harm was done. The rest of that day everyone was talking about what happened between me and Mr. A, and everybody was just being cruel to me, saying things to me, talking about me continually, and many people trying to avoid me. I deserved it though after what had happened.
I later found out that that wasn�t the only reason people were talking about me and avoiding me. I can remember most of the events of that night very vividly. That night changed my life very much. It�s all thanks to one girl, whom I had upset very much that week-end� Ms. L. I came out to talk to Jacob (I can use his name, since nothing major happened between me and him) and Ms. L. Jacob asked me, �Why is everyone saying things about you?� And I gave the only answer that I had at the time, that it was because of the incident between Mr. A and I. Ms. L said to me, �It�s not just because of that,� and I asked her �What is the reason?� She said �I don�t want to talk to you about it right now,� and started to walk away. I can quote the next thing I said word for word (I probably could have phrased it a lot better, but then maybe everything wouldn�t have happened and the change wouldn�t have occurred, so I don�t exactly wish that I hadn�t said it.) I said to her, �Hey, I just wanted to know what this whole conspiracy against me is,� and she turned around, saying, �You want to know, ok I�ll tell you what it is about� (calmly� not with a great attitude.) She explained to me how I had said things that hurt people and that I always had a rude tone with people. She said that what happened between Mr. A and I was only a small part of it. She told me about the mean things I had said to her (though I only meant them jokingly,) and she showed me how I had been acting so badly.
After she was finished, I went outside to a secluded area where we had had our devo earlier. I lied down on the picnic bench and thought about everything that had happened that week-end. I thought about some of the things that I had said to people and some of the things that I had done. I thought about what had happened between Mr. A and I. I thought about the things that I had said to Ms. L, as well as many other people. I started to cry because of all the mean things that I had said. Then after I had thought through all this stuff, I prayed to God that I might be able to change and become a better Christian and to not say things that upset people like that. I spent about 15-30 minutes thinking about this stuff and praying to God. Then after I had prayed to God, I sung a few songs while I regained my composure.
After I had regained my composure, I went inside and washed my face in the downstairs bathroom. As I came out of the bathroom, I noticed a crowd of people with Ms. L in the center crying. She was saying, �I was so mean to him,� and that she wished she hadn�t said such mean things to �him.� I was wondering who she was talking about and wanted to see if there was anyway I could help, after all she had helped me so much to realize how bad I had been treating people that week-end. I listened to what she was saying. She was in Mr. J�s arms sobbing about the mean things she had said and how sorry she was. Then, there came a line that made my blood run cold. Someone said �You didn�t plan to say those things to him� and she replied �I did mean to say those things,� and here is the line� Mr. J said �Oh so you wrote down, �Damien (me)�� and I realized that they were talking about me. At that point, I wanted to explain to her that I wasn�t upset with her and that what she had said helped me. I started to say that to her and she asked me to forgive her for what she had said. I tried to say that there is no need for me to forgive her because she had done nothing wrong, but that she had helped me.
I will never forget what happened after that. I really wish that this didn�t happen this way� I was very mad about it. The security guard came and told us we had to go to our rooms now. He was going to close up the downstairs. Right here where we had so many things that we needed to resolve; it couldn�t wait until tomorrow, but it had to. The girls� rooms at the guys� were separate and we were not allowed on the other side. Now, our curfew was at 12:00; I will remember what time it was for a long time to come; I looked at my watch as we were being forced up the stairs� it was 11:38; we had 22 minutes before we were supposed to be upstairs!!!
