OR Card Quarter 3

This I Believe essay draft

Learn from yesterday, live for today, hope for tomorrow. The important thing is not to stop questioning.

Albert Einstein

From what I can remember, my life has always been about school work and keeping up my grades. I always kept my head in the books. Even in elementary school, if my teachers didn’t assign me any homework then my dad would MAKE homework for me to do. Everything was about studying, finding vocabulary words, reading about life situations, and doing math problems. I have to admit, I hated the feeling of not doing anything but stay home and do work. I would have rather been outside having fun with all my other friends. I knew that if I tried to go play outside without studying or doing my dad’s homework then I was going to be in deep trouble. Around middle school, my parents decided to get separated. My little sisters and I went to go live with my mom. We left Houston to move to Hawaii with my aunty and my grandpa. After the separation, my dad wasn’t there to force me to do his homework.

I got a call one afternoon from my dad. When i saw the caller ID, I was scared to answer because I knew I haven't got in touch with him in a very long time. Although i was afraid, I still picked up the phone because he was my dad. The conversation started off simple with a "Hello?" and "How have you been?". When things were going good, he asked how I was doing in school. At first, I didn't know what to say because there was just so much going on and I simply didn't have the nerve to say that I wasn't little miss perfect anymore. He also asked why he hasn't gotten a call from me in months. I told him it was because I was busy. The other line suddenly went silent. I knew right then and there, I just hurt his feelings. He let out a sigh and started this long lecture about how I was irresponsible and how much I wasn't trying enough. In the back of my mind I was thinking "No matter how hard I tried I'm never good enough for anyone." My vision became blurry with tears cause it hit me. Everything he was saying was true. I cant do anything right and I always screw up. While my dad kept lecturing me, I took a very deep breath and took all his words into consideration. By doing this, I realized how I simply lost track of what was important to me and got lost in all the corruption with my friends, family, peer pressure, and keeping up with school. There's so much more to life then high school. After high school, everyone goes their separate ways into the world. Even though friends may be my friends now, they wont be there for me in the end. They have their own dreams they need to follow and so do I. It may seem like all fun and games right now, but once I took a step back and looked at the big picture I could see that none of it will matter in the end. Playing around and getting sucked into peer pressure will not help me grow as a person and get to where I want to be.

I realize now that as I grow up, life will be complicated and tough whether I want to face it or not. Although I should keep doing my best in everything and work hard, I can’t forget to be happy. When things do start to get complicated and I start dwelling on the past, I know that what the future holds is much more valuable. Instead of grumbling and whining about what happened, I should make the most of it and look on the brighter side of life. Once I have a more positive mind set, I allow myself to be happier. As I grew up, I look back and realized the point that my dad was trying to make. I knew he just wanted the best for me and for me to make the most out of my life instead of being sucked into my friends and peer pressure. Learn from yesterday, live for today, hope for tomorrow. The important thing is not to stop questioning. This, I believe.