The hardest experience I have ever gone through was when my dad kicked me out of his house and made me live with my mom. I was about fourteen years old and me and my dad, Brett, were constantly arguing about every possible topic and we were not getting along well at all. After this went on for about 6 months, I came home one day and he told me I was going to live with my mom. I was very sad because I had lived in his house almost all my life. I loved my mom very much and still do, but I knew she did not make enough money to support us and that I was going to live in a different city, far away from all my neighborhood friends. Once I got settled in, I began to like it somewhat, but it was nothing compared to my dad’s house. I changed my whole personality, got all new friends, and started to struggle in school and with family. After about a year, I apologized to my dad and asked if I could move back in if I promised to behave better. He said yes and we get along very well now and I still live in his home. Although I did not like my mom’s as much, living with her did teach me a lot of independence skills and gave me a couple of valuable traits, such as how to stand up for myself and how to support myself when my mom could not.
Throughout my educational career so far, I have not had many significant barriers or significant opportunities. However, one ongoing barrier in my life that always holds me back is how pointless I find the material and teachings that my current school utilizes. I believe that almost all the things that we are taught, from math class to astronomy class, will never be useful to us in the real world. I do not understand being able seven pi radians on a circle graph could ever help me get to where I want to be in life. In my opinion, we high school students should be given the option to have more time in order to start working on themselves personally, make money to support themselves, and begin to prepare/search for a career or decide what they want to do in life. I also personally believe that the methods most of the school’s teachers use are very inconsiderate and unfair to the students. They expect us seventeen-year-olds, who have so much going on in life everyday, from growing pains and illnesses to losing family members or being let down by something, to be able sit in an uncomfortable chair for six hours a day and read out of a boring textbook or watch a pointless video that is almost impossible to stay focused on. Most of the videos, and even sometimes textbooks, are hard to learn from because the teachers usually do not give us any context or information about the topic previous to the activity, so we don’t even know what is going on in the video which makes it much harder to stay on task. This is the hardest barrier I have dealt with school-wise, and what I believe is not only hurting my grades and opportunities later in life, but is also contributing to a horrible and fake-like upcoming generation in America.
Although I do not have many significant talents in particular, I believe I am very talented at two things, math and basketball. I have played basketball since I was about 12 years old and have been getting better every time I play. Playing this sport came naturally to me and I have never participated in any serious or hardcore training camps. My biggest achievement related to basketball is probably when I placed in the top three for state in the free throw shooting contest. I play basketball as much as I can and it is my favorite thing to do during my free time. My other talent, math, also came to me very naturally but I do not enjoy it very much at all. I do not enjoy it very much because I find it boring and, at this point, pointless. I find it is pointless because the material that we are taught in eleventh and even tenth grade is useless and will never be used in the real world. I have never received, or really even wanted, any recognition or rewards for my skills in math. Some talents that I would like to add to my personal traits are fishing and giving speeches/making points. I say this because fishing is one of my favorite things to do and although I have caught many fish and am decently good at it, I would like to be a lot better. I would also be very pleased if I was better at giving speeches or making points with my words. I want to improve on these traits because I believe they are very important in terms of making the changes I would like to see in the world.
I do not think I am a very creative person in most ways. One way I do think I am creative is in coming up with my own ideas. I have the same ideas and interests as many people but I come up with them on my own. What I mean by this is I am rarely inspired by others or let other’s feelings or judgements influence my actions. I have not always been like this though. When I was younger, up until I was about sixteen or seventeen, I was very shy and cared way too much about what people thought of me. I was trying to make them happy instead of focusing on myself. I do not know what made the person I was in the beginning or what caused my recent changes, but I am very glad that I changed in the way I did. One example of me not being influenced by the what people think of me or say to me is when I tuck my pants under my socks and someone tells me they don’t like it or it looks bad, I make sure to always wear them like that when I am around that person. I do this not to annoy them or make them unhappy, but rather to show them and to remind myself that I do not care about what they think. This is just one of many examples of me not being inspired by others and coming up with my own ideas. That is the only way I find myself creative.
I believe that the most contributing factors to my identity are my love for basketball and my ability to be honest and to keep my word. My love and admiration for basketball is a big part of my life because it takes up a lot of my time and has allowed me to meet a lot of new people. I usually play at least one time each day for a couple of hours. When friends and family come over, they often ask “How is basketball going?”, or “Are you still playing basketball?”. My answer is always the same, “It is going very well and yes I still play every chance I get”. People that know me know me as a basketball player and I am very pleased with that. What most people don't know about me, is that I am very honest and I will always keep my word, no matter what it is. I think I got these traits from my father, who always told me “I don’t care if you do something bad as long as you are honest about it and own up to it”. He would also tell me “A man is not a real man if they do not pay their bets or keep their word”. I could not agree with him anymore than I do, and have even lost some of my close friends due to them lying to me or not keeping their word with me. For example, about two years ago I had a pretty close friend named Deshawn, who I had been friends with for almost three years. One day when we were watching tv, he bet me ten dollars that his favorite basketball team would beat my favorite basketball team next week when they played each other. I said deal and we shook hands on it. The next week, my team beat his by fifteen points and we joked around about it for a little and then I remember we had made a bet so I told him to give him the money he owed me. He said no and I asked him why not. He said “Why should I?”. I was shocked and angry. I told him he should because we made a bet and even shook hands on it. He said “Well I’m not going to, so”. I have not hung out with him since that day. If he ever decides that he wants to pay me then I would accept it and forgive him because I believe in forgiveness, but only if the person fixes their wrong-doings and gives me a reason to forgive them. I am very thankful for my dad raising me like this and think it has allowed me to become a much better person. Those are just a couple of reasons that I believe basketball, honesty, and keeping your word, are the most meaningful segments of my identity.