Salvation

Langston Hughes, in his article “Salvation”, experiences the pressure of his family and church members to be given in, and be saved by God. His aunt had told him that he would see the light when God appeared, but he never felt God’s presence nor did he see him. Hughes ends up lying about being saved so his family and church members would be happy. I have felt the same pressure from my friends to do something I didn’t want to do, and gave in so I wasn't made fun of.

It was June 1, 2010, one more day before my birthday, so my friends and I decided to celebrate. I was finally turning 18; I was so excited. There was going to be a huge party in San Francisco hosted by one of our closest friend. When we arrived to the party I couldn’t believe how huge the house was. It was a beautiful, purple, three story house. It had two garages plus another driveway. When I stepped inside, I was amazed on how big the living room and the kitchen were. There were also two flights of stairs. There were so many people; you had to squish your way through to go into another room. I realized everybody was already drunk and all over the place. I had been to other parties before, but not one like this. I go into the kitchen, and to my surprise my friends are already taking shots of Tequila. My friend, Tub Tub, said “Celene, you should take some shots; it’s almost your birthday. There’s only ten minutes until midnight. Maira, my other friend, said, “Come one Celene, you might as well do it. What could possibly go wrong?” “You both know I don’t like drinking,” I said to them. After ten minutes of their taunting, I finally decided to take a shot. “Only one,” said Maira, so I took another one. That shot led to another one and one. I wake up the next morning, still drunk, in a strange, dark, small closet, and I realize my wallet, my right shoe, and cell phone missing. I step out of the closet and find the place trashed with no one to be found including my friends. I started to freak out; I didn’t know what to do! I ran outside and noticed my car was missing as well. I remembered there was a gas station a couple miles down the road, and I thought to myself maybe they’ll let me use their phone. After walking for about thirty minutes, I was exhausted. I finally made it to the gas station and guess who I find there. I found my car! I ran to it and looked inside and find my friends sound asleep in there. I pounded on the windows, and scare my friends. They open the door and tell me what had happened. It turns out that I had disappeared into the crowd of people, and they couldn’t find me. Somebody had told them that I ran outside, so they went out to look for me. They had driven around for hours trying to find me, and finally decided to park at the gas station to see if I would show up.

My experience has taught me to never give into pressure even if they’re one of the closest people in your family. I have learned that it’s up to me whether I want to do something or not, and if they people don’t like it, that’s just too bad.