How much do your parents influence the decisions you make?

I believe that parents are the biggest influence in peoples lives.  If you look at your friends and then their parents you will realize that they have very similar opinions. People mostly inherent their opinions on politics, sports, cars and etc. from their parents.  From things as simple as what the best car brands are, to your favourite sports team, to your political opinions, you are most likely very similar to at least one of your parents.

parents influence

My parents have influenced me throughout different stages of my life. They decided to have me play soccer and hockey, and I still play those sports today. My parents influence me in a different way. I like to do the opposite of my parents. They describe it as being difficult or having attitude, but I describe it as wanting to be independent. My dad was not a good role model as a teenager, and my mom didn't go to a post secondary school. I am unlike this. I don't drink or smoke constantly like my dad did, and I do want a post secondary education. My dad confronts his conflict face to face, whereas I prefer to let it fade away and avoid it. My mom likes to worry about things that haven't happened yet, whereas I take things one day at a time. This may seem like the opposite of influencing me, but it isn't. They have told me that they don't want me to be like them. They want me to be me. They want me to get a good job, find a wife, stay away from drugs and alcohol, and do things that i love to do. My parents have the biggest influence on my life, it's just not the normal way.

Defining moment

My defining moment was when I met a guy named John Flowers. John was a family friend but he lived in Parry Sound so I only saw him once a year if I was lucky. To say the least, John lived life to the fullest. He had ATV's, he lived in the middle of no where, he used to help with race cars in the pits, and he was always laughing about something. But on my third visit to see him and his wife, all they were talking about was how john was sick. I was younger at the time and didn't truly understand what they meant by sick. Six months later when by when we got a call from John's house, it was his wife saying that we should come down and see them the next time we go camping. Unfortunately that wasn't the only reason as to why she called. She wanted us to come down and see them so that we could say goodbye to John. Surprisingly the visit wasn't full of tears, in fact John was still making the same old sarcastic remarks to my mom that would embarrass her and cause her to go red. Finally the question came up, ḧow are you doing John? After john was able to catch his breath from his previous smart ass remark, he said something that gave me his up most respect. He said, it's amazing, I have these hot girls come in constantly to give me baths, feed me etc, I wish I had cancer earlier. John never allowed sadness into his life, he only treasured it with happiness. Six months later, we got a call saying that John had passed. I had only seen John 3 or 4 times, but I have never taken something so hard. That's when I thought to myself, what have I done in my life that's memorable. What have I done that makes me special? To this day, I refuse to pass up an opportunity for the pure fact that I might die at any moment. So what have you done, and do you cry over spilled milk, or do you stand up on the roller coaster. Personally, I'm gonna stand up on that roller coaster

Being kind is the way of life for Canadians. This is obvious when one of the stereotypical words for Canadians is sorry. But that's just a stereotype, so are there any real facts that can prove this? well one comes from a pretty well known man called Steven Harper. After years of neglecting the issues of the residential schools, Steven Harper finally came out in public to say that the country of Canada is sorry.This isn't the only point either. There was a survey on the radio to what people were stressed about for Christmas. 15% of people answered that they were stressed about being extra nice. This means that people were actually worrying about being nice to people. Canadians are in no means perfect, but even our neighbours (America) admit that we can be too nice. Its not done on purpose though, Its just a way of life for Canadians.

Parental influences (Cameron sheedy)

Parental Influences (Creation of perspectives)

"The apple doesn't fall far from the tree." Often the expression when explaining the negatives of an individual and his or her parents. The reality is that this term applies to basically every individual who has been raised by parents, however its not necessarily negative. People may argue that they feel worlds apart when considering their relationships with their parental figures. The answer that I feel best explains these emotions, boils down to a couple key reasons. Primarily I believe time is what creates negativity and lack of care in these relationships. For example too much time around your parents, and your bound to end up in arguments or debates. Of course too little time can create a gap in the relationship that will end up providing less context among families and could decrease memorable moments in ones child hood. The next reason that one may see them selves different from their parents is simply because they are so similar to them. I have personally came across this circumstance in my own father son relationship. Me and my dad have so many similar views that for the most part we are happy. The unfortunate part is that once one small view on a topic differs our argumentative nature creates unnecessary tension between us. So, because me and my dad share the quality of creating debates, we often will be at odds with each other due to have being worked up over a small disagreement. All in all I believe that no matter how different you may feel from your parents, there are small reasons for this and they have the ability to change.

Parents Influence on my Decisions

"No you cannot go out", "Stop that"! These are all phrases we have heard come out of our parents mouths. But its all for the better of our future. For the most part I get to do as I choose now because I have earned a lot of respect and trust. Even though I have a lot of freedom I do not abuse it as I rarley go out  or cause trouble. My parents have always been the people I look up to the most; my Dad, strong, independent, firm and respectful and Mom smart, hardworking and successful. They never spoiled me as kid and taught me to work hard for everything. Unlike most kids that want to be spoiled on birthdays and christmas I rarely ask for anything for the reason that I know how hard money is to earn and I would rather everyone save it. My parents implanted themselves somehow in my head and influence a lot of my decisions, they made me the man iI am today.

Negative Contrast Between Individuals

                      Can Differences Between Individuals Be A Negative Thing?

                                      Negative Contrast Between Individuals

Everybody is different. I think contrast between people is a good thing. I mean if we were all the same, that'd just be boring. However, there are those in the world who don't like others who are different. These people will often perceive one's differences as a negative thing. And sometimes, this can lead to discrimination.

I think that this can begin at a very young age, and a good example of this is bullying. As sad as it may sound, I’m sure all of us in this room have been bullied or witnessed someone being bullied before. And I believe that part of why people bully is because there’s something about the victim that the bully doesn’t like or there’s something about them that they do really like and they’re just jealous of them. Either way they are still taking something about this person that is different and turning it into something negative.

As you can see in the picture to the left, this is what appears to be happening. In the image it shows the boy to the right is holding up the other boy by his shirt. But it is unclear why he is doing so, however, it really could be for any reason. The fact that the boy to the left is shorter, or that he is of different race could be among the many reasons. Also, as you can see in the image they seem to be in a tight alley or catwalk looking area with absolutely no one around and I think this just shows how often times stuff like this goes unnoticed and sometimes that can encourage it to happen.

Sometimes they can go hand-in-hand but for this example I’m using this image. This image is a cartoon depicting the Treyvon Martin incident. Basically part of the reason that man shot him was that he claimed that he was black and he just felt unsafe. Even though George Zimmerman was the only one with the gun as you can see in the image

here and Treyvon was simply just getting skittles from the convenience store. There was simply no reason for him to feel unsafe in this situation. He was just being racist by taking the fact that he’s different, he’s not white he is black, and that he is wearing a hoodie.

As you can see in this image George Zimmerman is the one standing to the left pointing a gun at the unarmed Treyvon. The words “HE’S WALKING AROUND WHILE BEING BLACK! I MUST DEFEND MYSELF!!” demonstrates my thesis because it shows that there was simply no other reason he had other than that he was different and he didn’t like that. And also you can see that Treyvon is very submissive and is not fighting back, he’s simply scared and he says “he’s following me..” showing his terror and shock. Also in this image you can see the different sizes in texts from both people in the image. Zimmerman’s is much larger, whereas Martin’s is a lot smaller and I think this is representative of the amount of power each person held in the situation.

Now I am going to be talking about the effect that perceiving someone’s differences as something negative can have.

Now I’m sure none of you are familiar with this image but you are all familiar with whom this painting is of. This is a painting depicting Amir and Hassan from The Kite Runner. And as you know, Amir and hassan are similar in some ways but they’re different in a major way. Amir is a Pashtun and Hassan is a Hazara. Also, as you know Hazara’s were treated with much disrespect because of their history. They were almost treated as if they were second class and barely people at all. Hassan w

Hassan was picked on by many things about him such as his cleft lip. And even though Amir was sort of his friend, he still wasn’t completely close with him because he was still a Hazara and Amir was still Pashtun and Amir knew that that wasn’t right.

I think that this painting is quite symbolic of the aftermath and effect that discriminating someones differences and turning that into something negative can have. Something I noticed about this image is the blood or pomegranate juice stained on Hassan’s face and on Amir’s hands. I think this represents the differences from the Hazara people and of Pashtuns. The Hazara’s were treated with such disrespect that they’ve essentially been scarred and the hurt is so deep it’s just indented in them or stained on them. Then we have Amir’s hands that are stained representing Pashtun people and how they’ve wronged the Hazara people and they’re guilty for it- the blood is on their hands. Another thing about this image that I took note of was that Amir is staring down at his bloody hands or the bloody hands of the Pashtun people and Hassan or the Hazara people are facing forward. And I think this represents that Hazara people have persevered through everything they face they just keep going but Amir or the Pashtun people are stuck gazing down at their hands representing that they possibly feel guilty over what has happened and how they’re stuck feeling regretful.

This is another image of what the outcome of discriminating others based on their appearance and turning that into something negative can be. When you take someones difference in appearance and make that something negative, the result you get is making this person feel insecure and unconfident. Which then results in them not wanting to

be themselves, and making them wanna change. In this image we see a young black girl revealing herself from a mask of a white woman. This could be because still today some parts of America still treat black people with such great disrespect simply because they’re skin is darker. In societies in history and still some to this day, white people are valued a lot more. So, she masks herself as a white girl so she won’t face the ridicule as she normally would as herself. As you can see in this image, she is looking over to the side. This shows her fear in the situation that shes scared to be herself as she is afraid of being judged for her colour.

As you can see often times one will perceive one's differences as something negative. Sometimes, this can lead to discrimination. This is shown in many examples in today's society and in the past. A person who does this to an individual can sometimes live their life with regret. However, the effect left on the victim will always, always be much more colossal.

                                                                      Works Cited

Gilpin, Sharon. The Kite Runner. Digital image. Deviant Art. N.p., n.d. Web. 23 Jan. 2015. <http://face-of-lie.deviantart.com/art/The-Kite-Runner-210701848>.

Hing, Julianne. School Police and Principals Forced to Undergo Trainings in Implicit Racism. Digital image. Alternet. N.p., 25 Feb. 2013. Web. 23 Jan. 2015. <http://www.alternet.org/education/school-police-and-principals-forced-undergo-trainings-implicit-racism>. 

Tim. Why Bullying Is Hot Again and What You Can Do. Digital image.Growing Leaders. N.p., 13 Oct. 2010. Web. 23 Jan. 2015. <http://growingleaders.com/blog/why-bullying-is-hot-again-and-what-you-can-do/>. 

Zimmerman Artist Rendition. Digital image. Trayvon The Hero. N.p., 04 Aug. 2013. Web. 23 Jan. 2015. <http://trayvonthehero.blogspot.ca/2013/08/zimmerman-artist-rendition.html>.