An Angel With Tattered Wings Chapter 1

An Angel With Tattered Wings    Cassin Muramoto

I believe I can fly. I believe I can touch the sky. I think about it every night and day; spread my wings and fly away.

Flying was always a dream of mine. I’d like to tribute most of the dream to R. Kelly. When I was 5, my favorite VCR movie was Space Jam with the real story of Michael Jordan and his favorite cartoon characters living with him, which happened to be my favorite: Bugs Bunny, Taz, Daffy, and Tweety. I could only imagine living with my cool hommies.

I decided a long time ago that the journey of life would not be as difficult as others saw it. There was a better vision than that which was seen. Dramatic news reports, short attention spans that caused drugs to become popular, and yelling of frustration was not the life that I wanted.

One Christmas, we were at Grandma & Grandpa’s house watching Hook with Smee, the ever so obedient slave to Captain Hook who’s sole mission was to take down Pan! Little did he know that it would lead to the destruction of his own life. There was a part in the movie that resonated with me: that there was a mentality in Neverland that when you were human, there was the possibility of getting old, that life would pass before your eyes and that when you were sitting on your rocking chair, you could look into the fire with peace that you did all you wanted, or you could stare with regret. That’s when I decided that I would never grow old.

I find that many people regret their past, but not sure why. I was heading off to the University of Dayton, Ohio and whenever I mentioned that I was leaving Chaminade after my first year to be an exchange student. There was so much excitement. My friend Ricky was so excited, he introduced me to a friend of his on Facebook, which I thought was quite revolutionary that you can introduce yourself, extending your arm for a handshake, which would only be a visual-please don’t give a handshake to a profile picture.

Being from Hawaii, I wasn’t sure what to experience in mainland life, yet alone Ohio. I figured it was just another state. It seemed like there were many who were obsessed with how bad the weather was. There was no fail to mention winter clothes, which by the time I was ready to take-off in my grand adventure, I knew all of the reasons to use the emergency exits and putting on an oxygen mask.

Music has always been a huge part of my life. When I was in 2nd grade, mom decided I needed an extracurricular activity, so I joined the community children’s choir. It wasn’t something that I desired so much, and you could tell that most of the other guys in the group were in it because their parents were looking for ways to get them out of the house as well. I don’t remember how good of a singer I was, but I remember that it was really nerve-racking to be up on that stage. Each of our performances were on a metal stage with 5 steps and a tall railing that prevented kids from falling off the back and parents suing the stage company. One time, I was put on the top step, and because I couldn’t stand for long, I’d begin to wiggle and make the stage creek, so I was put on the first row-steady ground. It was so out of proportion-short singers with a tall tenor at the end.