My Friend

Last Tuesday was an ordinary day for me, but not for my friend, Kai. It was his 21st birthday, but he didn`t spend his birthday in a bar with his friends, like many other American young men who just turn to 21 years old. It is not only a significant age for most people in this country (21 is the legal drinking age in the United States), but also 21 years old is a sign of maturity. The body steps toward maturity, but thinking is not guaranteed part of that. The reason why I say that is because he made a naive decision that he bought a car without his parents` permission on his birthday date.

It was fantastic for him to have a car as his birthday gift. I can tell he was excited just like the moment I bought my car for the first time. He was too energetic to stop talking with me, “how is it? Did you find anything wrong with it so far? What do you think about the price, good deal or not?”… It is a bright yellow coupe Ford Focus, not too old for its price. My point is it is a good deal. Everything is perfect except the motivation of buying a car for him I doubt. As a good friend of mine, I should prevent him from doing that previously, but I didn`t. We are living in the country of freedom, it is American Dream. Everybody has plenty of freedom to make decisions by himself.

Kai was struggling to argue with his parents so that he can buy a car in a reasonable way. The process was long and painful, and he never made it. Safety is the prior worry since he has not any driving experience ever. The only option for him is draw part of his living expense on his car so that his parents would not notice it. He has to spend the money on his car as low as possible in order not to get any trouble from his parents. I didn`t know that until he called me to help him to drive back his three thousand dollars Ford Focus from a private seller. I would not to do that if I were him. How dare he is I thought, first, he bought it without his parents` permission. Secondly, it is not a normal 21 years old young man should be, at least, you cannot cheat your parents. The third one and it is the most important one, as children, we are not just thinking for ourselves, we have to take the responsibility for our parents.

Make a decision is easy. Take responsibility for it is a different story. Just like Kai bought a car for himself. Write a check and you get the car. It would not be complicated to find an excuse to explain where the money goes. Nobody can take responsibility but himself. He might not think as far as I do probably, I guess he is still happy about it, just like he found his girlfriend already.