My Mistakes I Learn Spanish

When most people think of steaks, they think of barbecues. They think of that perfect Sunday afternoon when the family is gathered around a steaming hot meal of corn, baked beans, and steak surrounded by the smell of spring mixed with freshly cut grass and meat grilling to perfection. But that is not the case for me. To me, steak serves as a reminder that arrogance can lead to great disaster.
Growing up, I made many mistakes that would give my mother a hard time. People have always told me that they learn from making mistakes, so I made all of them. The biggest mistake that gave my mother a particularly hard time was my refusal to learn Spanish. She found this to be important for me to learn, but I just could not see why I would need it when I live in a country where they speak English. My mother had tried to teach me at home, but it was to no prevail. She decided that the best way for me to learn was for me to learn how she learned. She told me that I would be spending the summer at grandmas house in Honduras.

I was eight years old the first and last time I visited Honduras.

I never liked the idea of missing out on my entire summer. I would be missing out on everything my friends were doing, and most importantly, I would be missing out on baseball. The news that I was leaving for the entire summer to spend it with me grandma devastated me. To me this was the equivalent to a two month prison sentence. When first arriving, we were met by my aunt and my two cousins. To my surprise, they were very fluent in English which made my transition much more comfortable. Being who I was, I naturally went against my mothers will and decided to stay with my aunt instead. I figured that if I was going to be in a place surround by Spanish influences, I should cling on to the only sort of English I could

find.
My aunt knew the purpose of my trip and tried to fulfill my mothers goal. Every day, randomly my aunt would pick a moment to where there would be absolutely no English for one hour. To her surprise, I would just sit there in complete silence for one hour. For an eight year old boy, this was no easy task. I thought that I had cheated the system, but my aunt had caught on quickly and decided to use it against me. Anytime that she needed me to be quiet, she would call for the hour of Spanish. It was a struggle to maintain silence for hours at a time. The silence weighed down on me just as the heat from the sun did on everything in that country. All I really wanted to do then was eat, and a steak did not sound too bad. My wish for steak would soon come true.
Every year, my aunt's church holds a fair. The fair is a nice small community event with small rides, vendors, and also a petting zoo containing a variety of farm animals. It was particularly hot this day. The trees around the fair offered little to no protection from the scorching heat. The heat not only affected the people, but also the animals. There was a young bull in the petting zoo who started to act up due to the heat. His caretakers decided that the best way to calm the bull was to sedate it, but it escaped. At the time I had no clue what had happened, and by the time I knew, it was too late. Before I could react, people were running and shouting something in Spanish. I had no idea what they were saying so I stood there trying to figure out what they were shouting. When I look over to my left, I was trampled by the young bull that had escaped. I was soon rushed to the hospital after the attack. There was my steak.
After my recovery, I decided that learning Spanish not be such a bad idea. If I would have listened to my mother, then maybe the whole situation could have been avoided. I took the opportunity I had and learned Spanish. Whenever I eat a steak, I am reminded about the bull and how important it is to listen to my mother. My arrogance could have lost me my life, but God decided to give me a second chance. In a way it is true, what does not kill you makes you stronger.