More Than a Father

More than just a Father

There may be several people that come to mind when thinking of a favorite relative; here are a couple examples, an uncle, or aunt that gives the best gifts during Holidays or Birthdays, or that affectionate loving grandparent that always gives that warm Tender Loving Care. I am lucky to have a father that not only was there to teach me the fundamentals of life, such as work ethics, goals, values and morals, and virtues of respectable citizens, but also created priceless childhood memories.

It was at the age of ten that I remember my father coming home dirty and exhausted after a long day's work as a laborer at his construction job. I had observed countless days of my father's torture, so I finally asked him why he put himself through this torture. With a silence in which you could have heard a pin drop, his delayed response was, "torture or hard work?" Not knowing what to say, I shrugged my shoulders and gave him a short response of "I don't know." He talked about hard work ethics and explained the reasons why he worked so hard. To name a few reasons, in his words, were "this house we live in isn't free, the cars we get places in aren't free nor is the gas, and the food we just finished eating didn't come in here walking."

I can remember the summer vacation before I entered middle school we went on a camping trip. As the only child, I was stuck helping my dad pack for the trip. Loading heavy camping supplies, food and clothes, was not easy. This is when I asked, "Why do we have to do all the hard work?" He explained what expectations and responsibilities of a young boy up to becoming a man were. When my father gets started on one of his lectures, he always seems to gather an audience, which inspires him to continue sharing his knowledge. At the end of this lecture, he spoke of how to be a respectable citizen and the importance of obeying the law. He told me that J Walking through intersections and littering the streets with trash were serious offences, so I stopped this behavior after his lecture.

Now a teenager entering the first year in High School, I had come across some issues, in discussion we talked a little about the meaning of goals. The first being my academic progress was not very impressive, my father then told me that if my grades did not progress, I would not be able to continue in either of my passions basketball or football. Luckily, my father brought this to my awareness; I was capable of getting the grades I just needed to apply myself by setting goals. Next I remember the time he found me hanging out with the wrong group of kids, he then told me what would happen if I continued hanging out with them. He drove me through the streets of Downtown L.A. and he asked me if I wanted to live with the homeless there. I said, "no way!" My father and I share priceless memories.