Life's Lessons

My name is Chad I’m in the tenth grade at Florida High School. These nine weeks I read the book “The Last Lecture” by Randy Pausch. This book teaches us how to live when you know you are fixing to die. Randy has pancreatic cancer which is very deadly. This disease only allows him to have a few months of good health, but his dilemma is that he wants to finish what he started. He decides to go through with the lesson to show people how to live with a person. Through this book we learn to never give up and always live with a purpose.

One of my teachers in life is my dad. Throughout my life my dad is constantly giving me life lessons, whether it’s about financial things or just how to enjoy life. He is man that is full of information and is always sharing it with people. He does not do it to boast he does it to make the other person better. He is a man that has worked hard in life, and through his hard work came to managing businesses. His hard work and knowledge inspires me to always work hard and keep learning.

One teacher that I have been very close to since I was born was me. Although I have never been able to warn myself in advance of things, I have learned a lot not only from my mistakes by accomplishments. Mistakes and failures are similar in the fact that we are promised to do them, but they should not be looked at negatively. They are what separate people in life by how we respond. We all make mistakes in life but the importance of mistakes is the fact that we learn from them and move forward. My accomplishments on the other hand help me to see what I need to do and where I need to be in life. They help me realize what to do to be successful and how to stay successful. My dumbness and achievements although both made by me teach me a lot, and help to make me a better person.

I was in the fifth grade and it was my first day of school and this was the first time year I would not be homeschooled. From the first day she had one saying the she never seized to repeat. Her saying was “obedience brings blessings” and she was right. Whenever something is asked of you it is best for you to do it then. Doing it will let people have more trust in you and then in turn will give you more privileges.

Ever since I was a kid my parents were always brutally honest with me, even if I did not want them to be. They also never seemed to have a problem punishing me for something I did, but I know that they hated it as much as me. They have never stopped doing these things even to this day I still get punished and they are still brutally honest.

It was Sunday afternoon and I was in another baseball tournament at Washington High School. This was by far the worst day of baseball I have ever played in my entire life. After I practically lost the game for I went and talked to my dad about it. When we talked he just looked at me and said “Well you sucked today.” Obviously that is not what I wanted to hear especially from your parent, but it’s what I needed to hear. The lesson I learned from my parents is to be hard on the ones you love in life.

Three years ago I played football at Ensley. I was on the gold midgets and played right guard. This was the first time I played football in five years. When I started I was not in as good of condition as the rest nor was I as good. One thing I have always been told was if you’re going to do something give it your all. Since I was behind I started working and doing extra things to make me better. Later in the season we were in the playoffs and still undefeated. By the second game in the playoffs I was starting and we went on to win the championship. My football experience taught me that giving it your all will never have a negative effect.

Another thing my parents have done for me is make me work. A very hard thing to do in life is have a good work ethic. People are naturally lazy that is why it is hard to get things because we must work. People that are giving things constantly will have it harder in the real world than the ones who work. The ones that are giving things will struggle in life because they have never learned how to work for what they want. My whole life when I tell my parents I want something they start telling me how I can work to get money to get it. I thank them for this because I now have not a good but better work ethic than I would if they would have just giving me the things I asked for. Working for what you want does more than teach work ethic, but also responsibility. A good work ethic will become helpful especially later in life when you are working to support a family.