Paul James Youngbauer III: My Best Friend

Paul James Youngbauer III, my best friend and my biggest problem. From the first time I met him, Paul was like something out of a movie. With the general demeanor of a cartoon character and the passion of the hero of a Shakespearian tragedy, to describe Paul as unique couldn’t be more of an understatement. That was the quality that made him my best friend, and the quality that caused me more trouble than I’ve ever had to deal with in my life. He had a knack for getting himself into trouble, and I had a knack for dragging him out of it. His problems played a major role in the friendship we shared, he needed assistance with the craziness of his life, and I needed a challenge to occupy my mind. I can’t say that I entirely regret the friendship, we had a lot of good times hanging out together. Going to the movies, playing Call of Duty, hanging out in the woods, it was a lot of fun when things were going well. But when a friendship consists mostly of one dragging the other out of the metaphorical gutter, it’s just destined to fail.
Paul and I met in our freshman year of high school, but didn’t become friends until sophomore year. A spinal condition forced him off of the football team and he found himself in need of a new peer group, that’s how he ended up in my circle of friends. The problems truly started when …show more content…
Paul thought he was the hero of his story, when in reality, he was just the victim of circumstance. And that’s not to say that it was of no fault of my own. In hindsight, I must admit that I didn’t really want a friend out of Paul, I wanted a hobby and a minion. Our friendship existed as a slow burning stick of dynamite, it could only last so long before it blew up in everyone’s face. What else can be said, it never stood a