For the first twelve or so years of my life, my parents tried to protect me from the harmful world by forming a safety bubble. However, danger did happen to me as innocent as I was when I was younger. The situation was out of my parents’ hands to protect their prized possession from harm when it struck me.

Harm can happen to any child at any place at any time: whether at school or at a friend’s house. Instead of parents trying to protect their children from experiencing danger, they should instead focus on making sure the child knows what he or she does in a crisis. In my experience, I did not know what to do or how to react. I thought nothing could harm me because I was “invincible.”

However, danger struck me at the age of twelve. I was protected all my life from it because I thought this “invincible” power affected me specifically when I then realized I was not any more special than the kid next door. Little did I think harm could strike me at such a familiar place: school. It happened so suddenly right before my eyes; I had little time to react. I was walking right alongside the sidewalk on top of the dark, black, bumpy pavement that would eventually be stained with the red hue of my blood. I was rolling my schoolbag to dance team practice as I normally did every Wednesday afternoon. In two days, I had Cubette dance team tryouts that I had been preparing for since the beginning of that year. All of a sudden someone distracted me from walking straight, and I had tripped over someone’s schoolbag on the ground. As a result, I face planted onto the bumpy pavement and skinned my entire left elbow and knee. At that moment, I realized what had happened. The world had become a dark place for me, as all the feelings of anger rushed towards me. I was most angry that I was not as special as I had thought I was. I thought God was punishing me since I had such good things coming to me, such as starting MCA and hopefully making the dance team. I was on the ground for what seemed like an eternity. Someone came to rescue me and helped me back on my feet. After getting wrapped up in bandages, I went home and cried because I felt as if the world had come to get me. That feeling of safety was gone for me at school. I no longer felt like I was in the safety bubble my parents had created for me since I was a little girl.

From this point on, I knew I would now have to be aware of my surroundings at all times. I was never safe again. However, I am glad I learned a valuable lesson from what I thought was a traumatic experience for me at a young age. I learned not to take something for granted. I relied too much on my parents for securing me in that “safety bubble” my whole life that I only depended on them to shield me from any potential danger. However, they are not with me everywhere I go, so I need to protect myself. Because if I do not protect myself, who will?

This experience really opened my eyes to the dangers of the world. I never knew how lucky I was to have such loving parents who would do anything to keep me safe. Even though I lost that sense of innocence by believing I was invincible, I did learn to start taking care of myself and look out for my own safety. I think I have done a pretty good job since then to protect myself from potential harm by removing myself from the situation altogether. In the end, I will never forget this experience I had as a kid because it will always serve as a gentle reminder that the world can be a harmful place if nothing is done to protect one’s self from it.