Big brothers are there to pick you up when they push you down or beat a boy up if they try and talk to you. However my brother did more than just that. Matthew taught me the importance of forgiveness. We both were born in California, where we lived next to a giant, green meadow with daisies and large oak trees. One day my brother challenged me to a game of tag. Of course being only four years apart we were constantly competing, and I was constantly losing. That day was going to be different I promised myself, that day was going to be the day that I won tag.
Off we went down to our favorite stop in the meadow. Since Matt was the oldest he made up the rules of who was the tagger and who was the runner. After a few rounds Matt noticed that I was actually getting pretty good. I was tagging him just as quickly as he was tagging me. That’s when it all went downhill. The next round it was my turn to try and tag Matt, so I yelled go to give him the 5 seconds head start. (One of his rules he made up) Though this time Matt ran straight for a huge oak tree, he jumped up and latched onto the closest branch he could find.
Immediately I screamed, “That’s not fair,” “You can’t do that! ” Matthew just yelled “come and get me” but as he was tormenting me he slipped and his leg got stuck in the tree. He was begging me for help and finally I had all the power. Being the little stubborn seven year old I was I walked away pretending I did not hear a word. Later that day my mom asked me where my brother had gone. I replied with “he was being me to me and he slipped in the tree and I left him there. ” As soon as my mom put together and understood what I said she ran out of our house screaming.
I followed her out to the field, she instantly starting screaming for my father Richard to come quickly with a ladder. When we all reach the tree my brother was crying for multiple reasons. One because his leg was literally stuck in a huge oak tree, secondly because I had left him there for over five hours. Lastly because I like to think, his way of winning tag did not work out to well. After many failed attempts to wedge my brother’s leg out my parents decided to call the fire department. They showed up along with an ambulance and the local television news crew.
The fire department had to carefully cut off a major part of the tree branch to free my brother’s leg. The whole time I watched my brother sit there in tears with a television crew interviewing my parents and him all at the same time the fire department was sawing the tree I began to feel guilty for what was happening. Then I became fearful of what my brother was going to do when he was finally free. That night my brother was free and the new star of Pine Crest Apartment Complexes and Housing. Three different local newspapers interviewed him and all our neighbors brought over desserts for him.
Finally we made eye contact and my heart sank, he was going to kill me. It seemed as if all my worst vision were coming true he started to sprint towards me, but then the strangest most surprising thing came next. A hug. He apologized for cheating in tag and for challenging me to climb the tree. He then continued to tell me that he was so thankful that he was the one who got stuck up there and that it was not me. From that day on whenever someone bends the rules or fights with me I remember that day when my brother taught me forgiveness.
