What it felt like

Daily writing prompt

Describe something you learned in high school.

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It was 1974 and the one thing I learned for the first time in high school had nothing to do with algebra, history, or science. I learned what it feels like to be the victim of a crime.

Back then, my bicycle was freedom. It was transportation, independence, and part of my everyday life. Like a lot of kids from that era, I rode it everywhere. To school, to friends’ houses, to the store, and all over the neighborhood. It wasn’t just a bike. It was my way of getting around in a world before kids had cars or parents driving them everywhere.

One school day, I parked it where I always did, went inside, and thought nothing of it. When the day ended, I walked out expecting to ride home like always. Instead, it was gone.

At first, I thought I had the wrong spot. I looked around, checked every rack, and walked the area twice. Then that sinking feeling hit me. Someone had stolen it.

If you’ve never had something taken from you, it’s hard to explain the feeling. It wasn’t only the loss of the bike. It was the shock that someone would do that to you. It was anger, confusion, and that strange feeling of being violated. I had worked and saved up the money myslf to buy that bike, taken care of it, and trusted that if I left it where it there when I returned and school let out.

That day taught me something adults already knew: there are people in this world who will take what isn’t theirs without caring what it costs someone else. It also taught me that the value of something is not always in its price. To someone else it was just a used bicycle. To me, it was a big part of my daily life.

Funny how school is supposed to teach you from books, but some of the lessons you remember most come from life itself. I honestly don’t remember much from trigonometry, but I still remember standing there staring at an empty bike rack.