In Anne Morgan Gray’s essay, “Daddy’s Loss,” she discusses her time growing up with her father and his missing hand. An aspect of the narrative that stood out to me was Gray’s father and his self-consciousness about his hand. I have tried to conceal many things in my life, therefore I understand the fear and dismay that Gray’s father must have gone through, even if my experiences were not as extreme as his. My experience in childhood sports was very similar to Gray’s father’s experience with missing hand. Sports have always been something that I enjoyed. I would participate in almost anything growing up if it had to do with athletics. I idolized the idea of recreation and competition. When I was in middle school, I discovered two unusual sports that I instantly fell in love with. Wakeboarding and snowboarding were uncommon among my peers and appeared exotic to them. I was excited to find two sports that I ended up being very talented in, but I was timid and unconfident in being open about it. When I began telling my …show more content…
However, we share commonalities in respect to dealing with your insecurities and trying to hide them. Fear of embarrassment and being judged by others is one of the greatest fears imaginable. Now that I look back on my days of being shy and hiding from not only others, but also myself, I regret it. It would have been better to open up to others, be honest, and be satisfied with myself and who I am. It is difficult to have the unpopular opinion or be something other people do not find “normal.” As of now, I try to be as honest as possible with people, and be content with myself. I realize it was much more difficult for Gray’s father and dealing with a missing hand, but I feel opening up to others is always the best option. If Gray’s father could have opened up not just to his family but in public also, he could have breathed easier, knowing he had nothing to
Brad Manning’s “Arm Wrestling with My Father” and Sarah Vowell’s “Shooting Dad” are two readings that are similar in topic but are presented in different ways. Manning describes his relationship with his father was a physical relationship. Vowell describes her relationship with her father as more political. In both Brad Manning’s and Sarah Vowell’s essays, they both had struggled to connect with their fathers at an early age and both come to a realization that their fathers aren’t immortal.
From the time that I could walk I had sports on my mind, walking around with a little baseball and bat or even a football. But as I grew up I found out there are even better sports than just your basic everyday high school events. The first one I seen was snocross, racing snowmobiles at high speeds with only one thing on your mind and that is to win. Soon after though came the introduction to the X-Games and it became my childhood dream to perform there with everyone screaming my name.
The essays Arm Wrestling with my Father and Shooting Dad explore the interesting relationship between father and child through the narrator’s emotions. The narrator in Arm Wrestling with my Father finds enjoyment in physical activity, but as time continues the same activity that brought him enjoyment, led to frustration. The narrator in Shooting Dad encounters a similar situation, but as both narrator’s age, they develop an understanding towards their fathers. The authors in Arm Wrestling with my Father and Shooting Dad use progression of time and the emotions: enjoyment, frustration and acceptance in the narrators: Brad Manning and Sarah Vowell to explore the rocky relationship between father and child.
As a child I was not in to many sports or involved in school activities. Going through high school I figured out that being involved in a sport or a school club would make my high school experience better. The first and only sport I chose to do was track. Track changed my whole high school experience and life. I learned to never give up, and it kept me out of trouble throughout my four years of high school.
Growing up, my father’s absence played a major factor in my stride for success. His absence was the scapegoat for why I always felt like I may not be good enough – or why I’d be looked at as an outcast. I’ve always made it my first priority to overcome his negligence by attempting to do my best in school – earning good grades, joining school clubs, giving back to the community. However, never did I receive the recognition I’ve always dreamed of and never was I satisfied with my outcome, but never did I think that I would find through the one who seized it all.
Neither my parents nor I had that desire for myself; therefore not one sport was more central than the other. Academic success stood as the most valuable compared to athletic success. That environment placed less pressure for me to train with greater intensity and focus when it came to competitive sports. Sports were extra-curricular activities as opposed to a full-time job and the pathway to the subsequent level. I absolutely benefitted from playing multiple sports throughout my youth. I have participated in soccer, basketball, football, track & field, wrestling, and even taekwondo. Competing in all these sports developed me into a better athlete and enhanced my fundamental movement skills that are necessary for all sports. In addition, it gave me multiple perspectives that I might not have had otherwise. This improved my ability to be a teammate and instilled in me a more competitive nature. Although different sports brought different demands, the growth of confidence remained the same. I never suffered from burnout during my youth, nor did I detest my experience. Ultimately, participating in multiple sports gave me time to decide where my passion lied and what I preferred to play. As a result, my participation in high school sports was limited to only football and
I’ve always been the type of person that truly enjoys athletics and have participated in nearly all sports offered to me. I started playing sports in elementary with club softball and basketball. As I entered my middle and high school years I was able to add the school sanctioned sports to my list of activities. This afforded me the opportunity of competing in volleyball, basketball, golf, track and softball. The camaraderie and life lessons of sports seemed invaluable to me.
I have throughout my whole life been playing sports. I still play basketball competitively and now it’s at the university level. Basketball though was not my first love when it came to playing sports. It has though become my true focus since junior high school. Coming from Canada everybody plays hockey. Its almost as if as soon as you learn to walk you learn how to skate. Whether it is at the recreation centre or at the shinny rink around the corner everyone plays. Eventually I abandoned hockey to play basketball which I have done so for the last twelve years of my life and hopefully a few more years into the future.
Twenty-three, that's the percent of children who lived in fatherless homes in the U.S. in 2015 (Home). Scientists have done countless programs, research, and experiments to understand the impact fatherless families and fatherless children go through and what it could mean for their future. When there is an absent father the children’s rates for; drug and alcohol abuse, suicide, educational neglect, and poverty go up tenfold (Parentless).
During the early seventeenth century, poets were able to mourn the loss of a child publicly by writing elegies, or poems to lament the deceased. Katherine Philips and Ben Jonson were two poets who wrote the popular poems “On the Death of My Dearest Child, Hector Philips”, “On My First Son”, and “On My First Daughter” respectively. Although Philips and Jonson’s elegies contain obvious similarities, the differences between “On the Death of My Dearest Child” and “On My First Son” specifically are pronounced. The emotions displayed in the elegies are very distinct when considering the sex of the poet. The grief shown by a mother and father is a major theme when comparing the approach of mourning in the two elegies.
Sports have always been a prominent aspect of my life, it has been that way ever since I was very young. I began playing soccer, softball, and other sports with my friends when I was younger, however I never really took to liking these sports. As i grew up I stayed in sports switching from one to the other, until, when I was in second grade I discovered the sport basketball. I will always remember the day I found out about this sport; I was on my way home from tennis practice and my mom looked back at me in my carseat and asked if i was interested in playing this sport called basketball. Not really knowing what basketball was, or anything about the sport for that matter, I decided to go into it blindfolded and see how I liked it.
A relationship between a father and son can be very confusing, especially to a young woman. In the book, Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe, there are several relationships that Okonkwo has with his children. Throughout the book, Okonkwo fails with three relationships between his sons and daughter. This proves that even Okonkwo himself, a “strong man” in his village, is a “weak man”.
When finally overcoming my shyness, I feel this will be very beneficial for the rest of my life. Having more positive self-esteem that will come with this will also help me feel better about myself and that will show in every aspect of my life as well. People can tell when you are uncomfortable or unsure of yourself and that is something that I do not want people to think about when they meet me. This should also help open more career opportunities for me as well. Being about to show people that I have the confidence in myself will also benefit my working environment. Lastly, overcoming this fear of mine will help me build stronger and better relationships with people. I will not be so afraid of what others will think of me and hopefully be able to fully express and assert myself while also letting people know the real me, the true me.
My son,’ the father said, ‘you are always with me, and everything I have is yours. But we had to celebrate and be glad, because this brother of yours was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’” Luke 15: 31-32. The parable of the Lost Son has truly allowed me to come home this past summer. I had been wandering away from my faith, but I am back, I have come home to the Father.