The Happening.

I have Joey to thank for one of the major changes in my high school thinking.

Background:
My Sophomore year in high school. Mrs. Cart's class (Biology I). A major homework assignment...

Mrs Cart assigned us, the class, a major homework assignment consiting of approximatly 8 worksheets. If anyone would have done them as they were supposed to be done, three hours of work would not have been a stretch of the imagination.

More background....
Mrs Cart. She was a good teacher, but was very easily taken "off task." Depending on the hour a student had, versions of how "good" a teacher she was varied. From good to bad. I guess she was more easily (grammer?) taken off task in certain class hours. I am not sure. With homework she would check for completeness. If you didn't do it, and had some skills at descretly doing work fast (which I did) she would see you doing your work right before it had to be turned in. [one would be amazed at how scientific "something" looks from a distance...].

It wasn't as though we didn't have other homework, or other things to do that day. What we - Joey, Justin, and I - decided to do was split the homework. Joey was to take three pages and do them, Justin two, and me the final three.

the next day...
I had forgoten to do my work, as had Justin. Joey was the only one who did his. The next words out of his mouth "scared" me for a while, and prevented me from "opening up" to him for years - literally. Joey told me "you know something? I can't trust you anymore... your word is worth nothing. Nothing."

[I guess it hit home, because I thought of my grandfather and how honest a man he is. It was his word I was carrying through my last name. I had to keep that up for him as well as myself].

In about 5 seconds my whole outlook on how I would approach things for the next years would be changed. Those few words meant much to me, and I used them to make my "word" worth everything it was. If I said something, I meant it - unless I was playing around and goofing off. If I was serious and told you I would jump off a bridge, I was going to do it. I don't believe many actually realized this, but I made it a point keep my word true nevertheless.

This shows how Joey can be somewhat harsh sometimes. But it is his harshness that changed me for the better. For that I am grateful - though it hurt substanically.