The Pleasure and Pain

While reading Frederick Douglass's experience on how he learned to read and write and how he came to terms that he is a slave. Everyone I know has either had a pleasurable, painful, or both of them in more then one experience they have had. For me my most pleasurable and painful experience I learned was when I started playing softball.


I love playing sports but the sport I love playing most of all is softball. I have played softball for three years. The first time I became part of a team is when my family and I moved in with my Uncle and Aunt in Temple City. While there, my Uncle thought it would be a good idea to sign my sister, brother, and I up for softball and baseball. When he told me that he signed us up for the Temple City League, I could not believe him. I was in shock. I didn't think that I was good enough to play on a league. I only played softball with my friends for fun, I was scared of what the coaches and team members were going to think about me. Here I am going to be on a team with a bunch of girls who have been playing since they were about six years old, and then they are going to have me, a girl who has never been on a team and who plays for fun.


The first time I meet my team and coaches I wanted to run from them because I kept thinking about what they would think. But I think my fears got the best of me because my first practice was not that bad. In fact it was great. The team and my coaches could not believe that it was my first time playing. They told me I had a good arm and batting stance. Hearing this I could not wait for my first game.


During my first game I was pleased with myself because I was the one who helped my team win. We were down by one and when the batter hit a pop fly I was the one who caught it and won the game. After our first game we kept winning. We won seven of our games, but the winning streak we had soon turned into a painful and horrible streak.


It was our eighth game and we thought we were going to win like always, but that thought turned into only a thought. We lost four to twenty, which basically means we were mercy out. Then for our ninth game I was the one to blame for losing. I didn't catch a pop fly and instead of throwing it, I threw a lollipop, which means I threw the ball straight into the air causing the other team to score three runs. After that game my teammates and I were in so much pain because we were punished for making small mistakes.


During practices my team and I were punished for every little mistake we did. If we missed a ball or over threw a ball, we had to run. I felt like I was on a track team instead of a softball team. But the worst pain I ever felt was when I sprained my ankle during one of our practices. I felt like I let my team down and myself. But by spraining my ankle and sitting on the bench it helped me understand that going through life without making mistakes is kind of, well, boring.


My pleasure and pain I got while playing softball has helped me see that it is o.k. to make mistakes because those are the ones we learn our lessons from. However, while making and learning from my mistakes I know that I gave it my all while trying to do my best, and that is all that really counts. So by spraining my ankle I didn't let my team or I down, but instead gave it my all at practice in order to win games. However, instead of winning, I got a sprain.