Overcoming All Odds

“Now shall we invite the next act?”

Four figures stand next to each other, gripping tightly while holding hands. They take a huge breath before stepping onto the stage.

Four very distinct types of people, coming together as one and overcoming everything that comes at them with all their might. That is something Sam thought only exists in stories, not in real life. Looking at his teammates, he sighs and worried a little. Tim excitedly tries to copy the moves in the video, only to end up falling on his bottom. Rain nervously looks around the room and awkwardly stands in the corner, unable to stand being looked at. Paul is not bad, but when in front of a large crowd, he freezes up. The class is participating in a charity show for the disabled and these few were randomly selected through drawing lots.

There are a couple of problems they must overcome such as breaking down social barriers, letting themselves get loose, and having to understand each other. From the first few practices together, their practice was smooth sailing and progressed slowly. However, once the music plays, they immediately go out of synch. In order to cover up for his lack of talent for dancing, Tim works harder at home. However, the fact that he must balance his schoolwork and squeeze out more time for practice leads to him often overworking and getting ill. Frustration grew and collated as this continued. He wanted to put on a perfect performance, but he keeps messing up his movements, causing the whole group to repeat a certain action countlessly. While Paul, Sam, and Rain encourage him to cheer him up, deep down this is starting to affect his passion for dancing. Due to this, he becomes low-spirited.

Sam became a mentor-like figure to the other three and is relied on by them. As the only one with some experience, all the responsibilities of a leader went to him. On top of the dance, he has to arrange the dance routine and is in charge of all the miscellaneous things. This gave Sam a lot of pressure. Determined to do his best for the charity cause, he puts in all his effort. He enjoys the pressure and lives up to his role as the class president. In practice, he usually makes little to no mistakes. This makes Rain and Paul look up to him.

As for Rain and Paul, they are both lacking confidences, hence Tim and Sam often give them compliments, which motivates them even further. In the beginning, the two will barely speak to one another. However, as time passed, they got closer as teammates and even closer as friends.

During rehearsals, through the help of his team, Paul managed to overcome his stage fright, which makes the rest of his group proud of him. Upon nearing a month before the performing day, their dance routine is confirmed and just needed a couple of adjustments. Tim felt relieved that he was able to catch up to the others despite his moves still being a little rough on the edges. However, to everyone’s surprise, an accident occurred.

When walking across the zebra crossing, a car was speeding and came right towards Tim. Without any time to react, he tried to dodge but ended up breaking his ankle. Considering it was a car accident, Tim came out almost unscathed except for a couple of bruises and scratches. However, the fact that he has hurt his ankle was almost as if the whole sky just came crashing down. The first thought he had was that he has let his team members down and ruined their hard work. Feelings of guilt and just pure disappointment overwhelmed him as he started to cry. He has worked so hard to overcome his lacking, yet now it has all come to naught. He feels very sorry for his friends and feels that he was the one at fault.

Upon hearing the terrible news, the trio quickly visited him at the hospital. Rather than being disappointed the dance is affected, Sam, Paul, and Rain worried about Tim’s safety. When Tim saw that they had come to visit him, he apologized profusely, only to get warmly hugged by the three of them. The dance is not important, their hard work is not important, especially when it is compared to his safety. Tim felt so grateful and appreciated that words cannot describe how he feels towards his friends. This is the first time that they have truly come together as one.

However, the show still must go on. In order to still have Tim participate in the performance, the teacher made an exception and changed their whole routine. They incorporated Tim being hurt and created a beautiful story of how anyone, whether injured or average, can still dance as long as they enjoy. The dance focussed more on the arms and facial expressions, allowing Tim to have ample rest to recover. Instead of gradually distancing themselves from each other, rather it made them more unified than ever. Receiving the support of his friends, Tim cannot feel more supported and grateful.

On the day of the charity performance, the children and the disabled all enjoyed their performance through their laughter and applause. The performance was a success! In the end, the four were overjoyed and hugged each other. Their efforts and hard work can be seen by the audience as well as the other classmates. Although this was just a simple act, the four overcame their differences, overcame difficulties and overcame sudden changes, which makes their hard-earned friendship so much more desirable and of importance. Despite the short time together, they have become such close friends that even after the performance, they started to hang out often.

While this one performance had the four experience different emotions and pessimistic thoughts at the start, along the way they became unified, and this is the true beauty of friendship. The shift in their perspectives towards each other allowed them to have a greater understanding of each other, allowing them to have greater empathy for others.