Still A Friend Of Mine

I had one friend during the days I was a med student. This one friend had to repeat multiple courses like me, so he was held back several years and more or less got stuck together with me for the span of 5 years. But even before we both ended up failing on or academics, his very first approach was to invite me to the world of Kemudian.com, and later on, LCDP and BoR. Had he not been there to pull me in, I might never made so many online acquintances who shared the same passion on writing and drawing, and I might not even be encouraged to explore my passion at all during the college years.

On one hand, I fully admit that doing creative works is more or less a form of escapism for me under the stress of medical college pressure. As I never could made a name of myself in academic achievement, I somehow got a great feeling of acknowledgement in the creative field. Of course, I never actually made it big. But the time I spent doing what I think I love is enough to make me enjoy every moment of it

Now back to the point of my friend. Despite sharing the same passion and bad grades, gradually I noticed some differences between us. While I feel satisfied with doing whatever I want to do, he actually took one step ahead. He socializes. He builds relations, getting to know more people than I was. This also shows when we had to repeat with underclassmen younger than us. Whereas I still keep my introverted persona and never bothered to make a move, he makes an effort to get close to them. He felt so outgoing to the point I can't follow him anymore.

To add to those difference is the difference on our religious view. He felt almost like he's a syncretist or pluralist, while I tried hard to show a conservative and fundamentalist approach. Later on, he got a position on game dev company, became part of a big local fantasy writing project, and even applied to write a script for a TV program. The last hit was when he passed an exam that decides whether we can still continue being a med student while I'm not. After I dropped out, I almost feel that there's no longer any point on having contact with him. Not only our view and interest don't meet, I also don't have any reason to meet him on regular basis anymore.

But there's one instance where he asked my condition after someone he know died from meningitis. At the moment I think he just thinks about me as an afterthought, just because I remind him of that person since we had the same disease. But now that I think about it, there's also a possibility that he genuinely worried about me after so long without any contact. Now that I have calmed down, I think I forgot to be grateful that God has made him as one of prominent character of my life story during the previous chapter. Had he not been there, not only my life would be so dull, I might also get crushed easily when I found myself alone without a single friend.

To conclude, I owe to him for the short time he was with me. He may have many friends beside me, but he might be the only friend I had at that time. And for that, I should express my gratitude the next time I meet him.