Humans of Parsippany | Teen Ink

Humans of Parsippany

February 5, 2024
By mollymautone26 BRONZE, Parsippany, New Jersey
mollymautone26 BRONZE, Parsippany, New Jersey
3 articles 0 photos 0 comments

“I’m gonna say Mr. Matarazzo because he taught me how to work. Hard work. Work ethic. He was kind of like a second father to me. I mean my dad was always there, but he was working a lot and so when I started working, Mr. Matarazzo was pretty much there for me. When I was going through my school issues, I actually started working there on the weekends, and it definitely helped me grow as a person in many ways. My anxiety would always hit me in the morning when I woke up, give me a stomach ache and I was always scared to go to school. After years of therapy, and medication, it helped my anxiety and I would go back and forth to go to school a couple days here, a couple days there, but I’d still get the scared feeling. Finally, in twelfth grade, I was able to go back. I was just tired of being where I was at. When Mr. Matarazzo died, it came to a shock to me because I was with him when he passed out, but I didn’t know that he wasn’t ever gonna come back. When I got the phone call from his daughter, I was very shocked. I was definitely upset. I couldn’t come to grips that he actually was gone. It affected me because he was a piece of my life that I’ll always remember. He helped me with working and my work ethics, and I’m always gonna miss him, but I know he was always a big part of my life and it was hard, and still is sometimes. If I’m doing gardening, I think of him because he’s the one who taught me everything.”


The author's comments:

This piece is a live interview about a man who was heavily impacted by his mentor. 


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