This essay is due in two days and I was really looking for some feedback on it before I submitted it! Anything would help really, thanks in advance. The prompt is:
Describe a setting in which you have collaborated or interacted with people whose experiences and/or
beliefs differ from yours. Address your initial feelings, and how those feelings were or were not changed
by this experience.
Everybody is different. I learned that in elementary school. Actually, I probably learned that before elementary school. It's a basic idea that everybody understands. We are all you unique - diverse, uncommon - and while that seems like a straightforward concept to ingest, we often let it slide when it comes to our roots. But, is everyone's family the same? I don't know anybody that would be able to say yes to that. As for my own family and line of heritage, I've noticed that we are completely different. As I have grown, matured, and taken my own future into consideration, I've noticed contrasts in traditions and values within my own roots.
For the longest time, the only kind of family I ever knew was my own. Now, I don't mean this literally, but as far as family structure and beliefs go, I would always default to my own immediate family. Here, I was always raised to follow my interests. Whether it was music, swimming, or being a scientist, my parents were never hesitant in encouraging and enabling me to pursue my passions. With that, I was allowed to participate in things like summer camps, piano lessons, swim teams - the list goes on. With that encouragement, though, came the silent expectation that I would make the most of these opportunities given to me, each and every time. I learned to be grateful because of this, and I grew up with an appreciation for working my hardest. As years have passed, I've really embraced this idea of encouragement and expectations, always pushing myself out of my comfort zone with new people, instruments, and even workplaces.
The way my dad raised me is not the same way he was raised, and the way my grandfather raised his kids was not the same in following his own siblings. Of the members I have met in my lifetime, I am able to trace the Alvarez family back two generations, following the roots of our tree from Austin, to Houston, then to Corpus Christi. That is where a big part of my family started - Corpus Christi - and that's where a big part of my family has stayed. Although I had made visits to them as a toddler, I didn't truly meet them until I was a teenager, and, upon doing that, I noticed that the family atmosphere was completely different from what I had in Austin. Even something as simple as how many people were there - how many of my aunts, uncles, cousins, and now even their kids had decided to stay in Corpus Christi. And, just being there, I could tell that this was not the first weekend cookout my Uncle had had, after my parents and I were the only family members there that were introduced. It was obvious to me that this part of my family was closely tied together, and while it sounds heartless, that was something unfamiliar to me, at least with my extended family.
When I finally got to sit down and open up, I felt pretty welcomed to this side of the family. Needless to say, the appearance of a close family was genuine. One of the stories that really clashed with me was about my cousin, Mia, who had turned down a paid internship in Florida. "We just want her to stay around the house," my aunt told me. Stay around the house, I thought, now that is not happening. Hearing that made me imagine myself in her place - having to stay at home instead of taking ahold of an opportunity like that. An adventure like that. But, even though it did not click in my brain, it was pretty clear why she stayed in Corpus Christi: to stay with her family. It wasn't that her parents wanted to hurt her, or hold her back; they just wanted her to hold on to the family tradition, and the family value of taking care of one another even if opportunity knocks.
And, while that is heartening to think about, it's something I wouldn't want to happen to me. As much as I love my family, I have always expected that day that I leave the nest, that day that I create my own opportunity to pursue my interests. Being a part of that branch of the family in Corpus Christi and being able to contrast myself to it is something that has motivated me to stick with that pursuit, wherever it may take me. I take value in my family, but I want the opportunity to shine my best; I want to follow my interests, stretching the Alvarez name just a little further. And I know - when I start my own branch on the tree - that I want to continue that belief for generations to come.
