author: ERALIEVA UMUTKAN POLOTOVNA (KYRGYZSTAN)
Asan is a sixth-grade student, an exemplary and accomplished boy. In the evening, he finished his homework, learned his poems, tidied up his briefcase, and went to bed. He woke up, as usual, early in the morning. He went to the bathroom, washed, toweled off, combed his hair in front of the mirror, ate breakfast in the kitchen, and put on his school uniform.
He came up to his mother, caressing and hugging her neck, and asked for 50 soms for the road. Mother also affectionately turned to her son:
– My dear, do not turn anywhere, go straight to school and after lessons return home immediately. Learn well!
After kissing her son on the forehead, she went to her daily place in the bazaar.
In truth, she had little time to nurture, as she left for work early in the morning and returned late. She had to provide the family with the most necessary things. Therefore, she was often disturbed by thoughts
– Whom will my boy be friends with? What kind of person will he grow up with?
That day, on the way to school, Asan met his classmate Kanat, a spoiled child from a wealthy family, students with an average grade.
After walking a little, Kanat said:
– I go to the computer club every day. It is very interesting there, the same students, like us, come there to play. Let’s go, I’ll show you this club. Let’s play Counter-Strike; Dota; GTA; World of Tanks, these are cool games! Let’s go, try, compete, which of us will win?
Asan, unaware that he was straying from the right path, followed Kanat to the GAMER computer club. There was a large hall that seduced players. It was a richly equipped room: bright, beautiful, gleaming with new computers that seemed to say: “Come and play with me.”
There Asan saw the same guys as himself, his peers.
And classmates, taking money out of their pockets and paying the cashier, settled down comfortably and began to play.
At first, Asan felt guilty because didn’t go to school, but he soon got carried away and lost track of time.
Asan did not notice how time passed and lived and accused himself of his weakness, but he could not help it. His mind and body began to suffer from this. Spending too much time on the computer made him feel dizzy, he lost appetite and sleep, and the first signs of malaise appeared. Nevertheless, he continued to go to the computer club and played despite his tiredness and depressed mood.
Spending his time at the computer for four days, Asan missed classes.
That day he was clearly out of luck. He lost to Kanat in a game of chance, but insistently continued to play and did not notice that he had sat without taking his eyes off the computer for five hours. And even when the cashier reminded him that time was running out and he had to make a payment, Asan could not restrain his desire. He spent almost all the money so that his mother wouldn’t distract him from his games, he turned off his cell phone, scraped up the remaining money, paid, and sat down to play again. He was so engrossed that he didn’t even notice how the limit of the game had expired. Without thinking twice, he gave his cell phone as payment for the debt. In the heat of excitement, he forgot how his mother had saved up the money to buy it.
Asan went outside when it was already dark, but he did not dare go home so late. The computer player did not know what to say to his mother. He decided to spend the night at the club.
Meanwhile, Asan’s mother, concerned that her son’s cell phone was not answering for a long time, called the class teacher. The teacher said that Asan had not come to school for four days. Hearing this answer, the mother was confused. In desperation, she started calling his classmates and friends she knew. Nobody would give her any information about Asan’s whereabouts and the only thing left was to inform the police.
Kanat’s parents were also worried about their son’s absence and also called the class teacher. The teacher, hearing the unexpected news, became alarmed. She called every student, and one of the students turned out to be aware of the matter. He told her that recently Asan and Kanat had been visiting a computer club. The teacher found out that the kids had been going there since morning and were playing games there. When the teacher heard about it, she went to the computer club early in the morning. The administrator confirmed it:
– The boys spent the whole evening playing and stayed the night.
Indeed, the teacher found the boys sleeping in the club. They competed all night, spent all their money, and enthused further, continued to play indebtedly, falling asleep only in the morning.
The teacher, having paid the debt to the club out of her own pocket, bought Asan’s phone and took the boys to school but said sternly to the administrator.
– Why did you let the boys spend the night at the club? Their parents were exhausted looking everywhere. Today they already wanted to report it to the police.
“What can I say to my mommy when she comes to school? How will I look at my mother’s face?” – thought Asan at school.
He couldn’t find an answer … He remembered his mistakes, and his body shook a little, throwing into a chill. He couldn’t find his place, and he didn’t know where to hide and thought about it. He lowered his head in embarrassment.
He didn’t notice how he had lost his way and was rethinking his recent actions again, replaying them in his head.
The sleepless nights he spent playing computer games were in vain: his eyes were swollen and red, his appetite lost, he became a liar, and his attitude toward people changed dramatically. He felt depressed.
The boy remembered that some teenagers doing the wrong things might end up getting completely confused and take their own life, and the thought made him feel uncomfortable.
Then his mother came into the classroom, and without raising his eyes, Asan said sincerely:
– Mom, forgive me!!! I don’t know how to look in your eyes. I lost my way!!! I lied!!!
Tears streamed from his eyes:
– I promise in front of my teacher and classmates not to repeat my mistakes for a second. I want to live up to your trust. I give you my word it won’t happen again!!! Now I understand the meaning of the proverb, which I always heard from you: “The purpose of life is to live correctly, think correctly, and act correctly”, because the proverb is taken from life. Mom, now I know that becoming a real person is very difficult!!!