7,000 Miles

Created by Hassan Abuabdallah Illustrated by sick Photoshop skillz

To Daniel, I don’t think I ever deserved to call you my friend, but I thought of you as a brother.

You inspired me.

I’m sorry for everything.

I got a ton of advice before I left him for college

cheap, cheap ThingsShop like shopping

don’t panic over currency,

You know, that kinda stuff

My family and friends wanted me to be ready, they wanted me to know what to expect

Fact is, I can’t name a single thing I was told to remember.

my name is Hassan,

and I have four lessons that took me 7,000 miles to learn.

It doesn’t matter where you come from; There will always be labels stuck on you.

Some are good, but some are bad as well.

Loud clucker Friendly with humans Tastes so good with 11 herbs & spices Has nice feathers

Lays small eggs Hatches beautiful chicks

What you won’t be aware of are the labels that you made up,

things and ideas that you placed on your own kind.

As a teenager, I hated being associated with my own home. I compared it with all things bad.

But being misplaced so far away from home, I realized that it’s a big part of my identity, it gave me a new perspective on who I am.

It’s what made me

It made me

I found a new appreciation for the amazing values people carried from back home

GENEROUSITY

FRIENDLINESS

At first I only saw the bad, obnoxious traits, but now I found a new objectivity that I never had before.

KINDNESS

SOLIDARITY

There are things about you that you can’t change.

And you can either fight them...

Or you can accept them.

Embrace who you are.

You will eventually leave the people you thought you will have forever.

And the people who thought they have you forever, will also leave you.

Unlike the people I’ve known for the first 18 years of my life, the people in the last 4 never stayed around long enough.

People came and went in a

I can’t begin to count how many people I thought of as my best friend.

People can’t always give you what you need, the people who are usually there for you can’t always be there time and time again.

Don’t box yourself.

Be open minded, but not just about other people,

but about yourself as well.

You’d be surprised by how little you know yourself.

You’re constantly growing as a person.

But that takes a lot of effort, maybe even

It’s easier to stick to what you know, but that’s when you miss on chances to discover sides of yourself you had no idea existed.

When change comes, don’t resist it.

Just go with the flow.

At certain points in your journey, you will be faced with a Catch-22.

And it will seem like all answers are bad, or the better options aren’t all that good.

Sometimes it’s okay to be a little selfish!

Make peace with your choices,

and they won’t be as bad as they seem.

THE END!!