(Letter to a character)
Dear Mick Johnson,
As I was reading Gym Candy, by Carl Deuker, I chose to write you a letter because you are a very talented student athlete. I was captivated because I also am a student athlete and I know the struggles and pressures that come along with the expectations. I was amazed that you started on varsity football as a freshman which is extremely difficult and overly time consuming! You take pride in your athletic and what I was most intrigued is your excelling academics. A question that I have for you is how you managed to keep your GPA at 3.8 and a starting position at running back?
As the story progressed and you felt additional pressures to perform and you started using performance enhancing drugs (steroids). Didn’t you worry about getting caught? As a fellow athlete, I don’t see the positives of this decision. In the story you explained your reasoning; you stated that you wanted to get the next level of competition which is college, however, colleges drug test every student athlete. There was no way that you could have kept your body at that shape without steroids so the coaches would spark question about your honesty. Was there ever guilt about cheating and did you ever think about the physical repercussions steroids have on your body? It was easy for you to buy this illegal drug that made you faster and stronger in a short amount of time. In the story you experienced some of the side effects such as: roid rage, emotional atrophy, and your social ability were harshly impacted.
At the climax of the story you reached a level of unimportance which made you want to take your own life. The steroids started to mess with you mind. The rage you had even put you in a position to hurt another person. From reading your story, I learned that the use of steroids is like an addiction and to know that you can bypass the hard work to get stronger and faster by taking a pill is enticing. As I read this section in the story I felt empathy for you because there is a lot of stress in your life, however, we all have stress in our lives. I think you are lucky to have an amazing counselor in the rehabilitation center. It was unfortunate that you became so desperate that you turned to a weapon and almost took your life and another person’s life. We all have baggage in our lives and I am relieved that you were given a second chance and hope that the rehabilitation center cures your disease of addiction to the steroids and all of your other emotional issues. I also pray for you like that you find peace and realize that you have many blessings.
Sincerely,
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