His name was Danny. He was an awkwardly tall yet uncannily shy boy from the suburbs of long island. Standing 6 foot 3 and over 230 pounds, most would be scared of this guy, but not me. To me, he was just a big teddy bear looking for a new friend. When I first met him in the sixth grade, he was sitting alone during lunch, isolated from the others. One day I decided to sit with him and I began to pick his brain. I learned a lot that day. Danny had been nearly silent his whole life and his parents just had a terrible divorce. Danny was isolated, or at least he isolated himself from others. From that moment onward, I sat with him every day and he began to open up to me. He told me about how he loved to play basketball and that he was really into collecting Pokémon cards. All this fascinated me. Although he suffered from deep anxiety, he had so much inside his bearlike frame. …show more content…
Danny loved the world but struggled with public expression and dealing with daily events. I never knew what this great friendship had in store. Growing up with Danny by my side was comforting. He was always there for me and I could count on him. He was shy, by nature, but I was bold. I learned how to not only understand Danny, but to comfort him in his times of need. I noticed, while sitting by him, that as the year went on he miss a lot of schools days, and I wondered why? With a few questions to ask him, I realized he missed school because he felt immense stress and anxiety at school. I began to talk to him and I walked him through what made him feel this way. I understood that he had a problem and I was always there for him as a result. With my experience, I learned my skills in percussion and