My Valentine

Sam's Valentine

I found Sam's Valentine very enriching because of the fact that the author talks about her son being inspired by a teacher. She said that everyone should have at least one teacher that he or she is inspired by.

This rings true to me because when I was younger, I wanted to be a teacher so badly. I would set up a mock classroom in my family room. TV Trays would be desks, an old whiteboard would be the classroom chalkboard, and I made worksheets on Microsoft Word to try and look like real worksheets. My brothers were the students whenever they actually listened to me, which was not that often. With me wanting to be a teacher, I always appreciated the teachers I had and looked up to them. I always thought that they never got enough appreciation for all of the tiresome work they put in outside of the classroom as well as in it.

Hearing Sam's story makes me want to hug my past teachers because there were some that completely put us, the class before all us and catered to us in order for us to learn the material. If one doesn't have an inspirational teacher, then one won't want to learn and will have no motivation. Teachers are the basis for the next generation's future.

This I Believe

When I was going up, I always gave my parents grief because I would be the sassy one of the house. I always threw fits for everything and anything I did not get or was not allowed to do. I always thought I knew better than my parents, so it was dumb that they were telling me what to do or who to not hang out with. I remember always being in constant fights with them whether it involved yelling or tears from me or just saying mean things to them. I could say that it was the typical child parent relationship, but it just felt wrong after awhile.

Then in middle school I would go to my friends' houses and see their relationship with their parents. And what I learned was that the friends who were dear and true to my heart, treated their parents with such respect that I felt shameful of the way I acted towards my parents. But, the friends who treated me rudely also treated their parents the same way. So I came to a conclusion that the relationship I had with my parents can be transferable to the way I treat other people. It's hard to keep those two things separate even if I wanted to.

So after seeing my friends' interactions with their parents over the years of middle school and high school, I realized it wasn't right what I was doing. I especially realized this is high school when I went through transitions of friend groups and boy drama and heartache. My mom became my ultimate best friend because she knew me better than anyone and she knew exactly what to say (or not to say) and when I needed her to say it. All these years I under appreciated the best friend I ever had and she was living under the same roof as me.

After undergoing all the troubles high school had to offer, my senior year I became very close to my mom. I would run to tell herself things that no one at school would understand or know how to listen like she did. Especially with college around the corner, I valued the time we spent together and held on to her a little bit tighter than normal. I valued the person she was and the way she treated me despite me being immaturely rude to her all those years. This is what made it hard to leave to come to Santa Clara because I was leaving behind the best friend that knew me best and knew how to make me feel better.

I believe that every interaction I have with my parents should be a positive one to show them how grateful I am for growing up in a blessed environment with great values. I believe the way I treated my parents in the past has made me more appreciative for them now. I believe that no matter how old we get, we never stop leaning on our parents for physical or moral support. I believe we are who we are because of who they are.