Personal Essay In Response to “Musee des Beaux Arts”

Many times we don’t realize some things that may be going on in world, or maybe just around our city, or maybe in our school, or maybe even in our own home. Yet there are other times when we can see things that others can’t when we notice something that others don’t, when we know there is something we can do to help but others can’t. Similarly there was the time where I saw a certain Icarus drowning in the sea as others just walked by, such as in the events of the poem “Musee des Beaux Arts”, by W. H. Auden. Back in 7th grade I was trying out for the tennis team and I was fairly good at tennis so I knew I would make the team. We had to find a partner to try out with. I was new to the school and therefore did not know anyone in particular at the school, so while I was looking for a partner I came across another kid who was also new to this school. Now I had seen this kid play and he was no Federer, so obviously most people didn’t want him as a partner, I could’ve gone with someone else at that point and I would’ve had a great season ahead of me because I would’ve surely made the team with someone else as my partner. But I decided that if I wouldn’t be his partner then no one would, so I walked up to him and partnered up. He was very grateful to me for this and I felt great that I had helped someone in need. We practiced the whole week before tryouts. I had pretty much taken him under my wings. On the day of the try outs we did really well. And sure we weren’t on the top of the list but we sure weren’t at the bottom either. To this day I am glad I made that choice of choosing the partner that no one else would dare to be with, because they were too engrossed in themselves and didn’t care about others. He is one of my best friends at the moment and we still go hit the courts at times. This just comes to show that you should always make sure to be careful of your surroundings and always know that when you help others you are also helping yourself.