Prompt: Describe the world you come from and explain how it has shaped your dreams and aspirations
I am filled with personalities of blacks and whites, of superheroes and super-villains, of evil and good, and the interesting in-betweens. My mind is fueled by the myriad of books I have read- Tom Sawyer, Nancy Drew, The Kite Runner, Tuesdays with Morrie, and countless others. Ever since I was a toddler, I tagged along with my dad every time he went to the library to borrow books to improve his English. While he busied himself with adjectives and adverbs, I escaped into the realm of imaginary friends or the adventures of Garfield. I would spend hours in the library, buried behind books, slowly enveloping myself in the world of literature, developing a love for words and wit. But my love would only have remained a stagnant interest if I hadn't picked up a certain Calvin and Hobbes. Where a routine trip to the library, and the occasional dose of Batman or Arthur nudged me along, Calvin and Hobbes became my catalyst. The ridiculous escapades of Calvin urged me to venture into the daring and outlandish, tipping me to give my own teacher the same smart-aleck responses he gave his. The stretches of his imagination, from T-rex to slug to jungle animals, once kept me occupied when I never had a friend to talk to. The grotesque and mutilated snowmen he created inspired me to draw and paint outside of the norm, to breathe life into monsters and the bizarre where others draw stick figures or smiley faces. The sarcastic cynicism and goofy compassion of Hobbes have become my advice, and over the years, I've adopted Hobbes as my own nagging conscience. And until recently, I've finally understood the depth of my favorite comic book characters- the irony, the witticisms, the analysis of anything and everything. Calvin's thorough, accurate, and precocious scrutiny combined with Hobbes's pithy interpolations motivated me to find my own niche in writing, my own style, words, and voice. There is something so idealistically beautiful in Bill Watterson's words, in Calvin's childish antics, in Hobbes's dry humor that has inspired me to write and read, and above all else, to learn.
And it is because of this catalyst that I have decided to pursue a degree in Education. Through Calvin and Hobbes, a switch flipped inside of me. All of a sudden, school wasn't just about memorizing multiplication rules, abstruse vocabulary, scoring a 3000 on the SATs, and being the first kid out on the playground- it was about learning, to truly love what you learn. Most students never realize what their education really means until they've met that one special teacher, someone who motivates, provokes, questions, inspires. For me, Calvin and Hobbes, in all their whimsy, their adventures, their moral lessons, their irony, their sarcasm, their love for learning, have always been my teachers. I want to be able to inspire kids, preteens, teenagers, adults. I want to instill a love for knowledge that I now have. I want to make people question, criticize, realize. I want to educate. I want to dole out moral lessons for them to ponder. I want to help them accept. I want to teach them that life isn't about memorization, scores, and being perfect, it's really about learning, always learning. I want them to explore. I want to be able to influence others like how Calvin and Hobbes influenced me. I want to become a teacher.
I am filled with personalities of blacks and whites, of superheroes and super-villains, of evil and good, and the interesting in-betweens. My mind is fueled by the myriad of books I have read- Tom Sawyer, Nancy Drew, The Kite Runner, Tuesdays with Morrie, and countless others. Ever since I was a toddler, I tagged along with my dad every time he went to the library to borrow books to improve his English. While he busied himself with adjectives and adverbs, I escaped into the realm of imaginary friends or the adventures of Garfield. I would spend hours in the library, buried behind books, slowly enveloping myself in the world of literature, developing a love for words and wit. But my love would only have remained a stagnant interest if I hadn't picked up a certain Calvin and Hobbes. Where a routine trip to the library, and the occasional dose of Batman or Arthur nudged me along, Calvin and Hobbes became my catalyst. The ridiculous escapades of Calvin urged me to venture into the daring and outlandish, tipping me to give my own teacher the same smart-aleck responses he gave his. The stretches of his imagination, from T-rex to slug to jungle animals, once kept me occupied when I never had a friend to talk to. The grotesque and mutilated snowmen he created inspired me to draw and paint outside of the norm, to breathe life into monsters and the bizarre where others draw stick figures or smiley faces. The sarcastic cynicism and goofy compassion of Hobbes have become my advice, and over the years, I've adopted Hobbes as my own nagging conscience. And until recently, I've finally understood the depth of my favorite comic book characters- the irony, the witticisms, the analysis of anything and everything. Calvin's thorough, accurate, and precocious scrutiny combined with Hobbes's pithy interpolations motivated me to find my own niche in writing, my own style, words, and voice. There is something so idealistically beautiful in Bill Watterson's words, in Calvin's childish antics, in Hobbes's dry humor that has inspired me to write and read, and above all else, to learn.
And it is because of this catalyst that I have decided to pursue a degree in Education. Through Calvin and Hobbes, a switch flipped inside of me. All of a sudden, school wasn't just about memorizing multiplication rules, abstruse vocabulary, scoring a 3000 on the SATs, and being the first kid out on the playground- it was about learning, to truly love what you learn. Most students never realize what their education really means until they've met that one special teacher, someone who motivates, provokes, questions, inspires. For me, Calvin and Hobbes, in all their whimsy, their adventures, their moral lessons, their irony, their sarcasm, their love for learning, have always been my teachers. I want to be able to inspire kids, preteens, teenagers, adults. I want to instill a love for knowledge that I now have. I want to make people question, criticize, realize. I want to educate. I want to dole out moral lessons for them to ponder. I want to help them accept. I want to teach them that life isn't about memorization, scores, and being perfect, it's really about learning, always learning. I want them to explore. I want to be able to influence others like how Calvin and Hobbes influenced me. I want to become a teacher.
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