Biographical Narrative

 

     “Great play!  That was awesome!”  Those are remarks I have frequently heard from my father, who has always been around me.  He is an excellent influence on me, and by following his example, I have become a better person.  My father has had a profound effect on me that is paralleled by none.

     From the tender age of four, I have been playing sports.  Throughout all my years in sports, my father has helped me improve; not just physically, but as a person as well.  I remember in my first season of Pop Warner football, I was playing wide receiver, but for some reason I was having trouble catching the football.  Now, if you don’t know me, I’m not one to let things go easily, so this catching problem was really getting to me.  My dad saw the anguish I was going through.  Although the problem was not large, it was to me.  To get past this problem, my dad took me out to our local park and threw passes to me.  He tried to point out what was wrong, and made suggestions at what I could do to improve.  After a couple of these little sessions, I was catching better and confident as ever.  Now, had my father not taken time to come help me, I probably would have been fine, and started catching well again; however, the time he took to be with me to work on something so insignificant as pass catching was important to me.  I realized, as I had so many times before, that my father cares so much about me.

     Another experience that stuck with me was an example that everyone should strive to follow; one that came as a big help to me.  As a group of friends, our church has flag football games every Thanksgiving day, known as the Turkey Bowl.  I look forward each and every year to this game.  My father led me to some insight during this game that he has always had, however, that changed my perspective on sports in general.  One year I was talking to him about how excited I was to be able to play in the Turkey Bowl; I was anticipating that he would echo back the same feeling; however, what he said was somewhat of a surprise to me.  After my praise of the game he said something to the effect of, “Yeah, but what I don’t like about it is that everybody gets too much into winning, and do not care about having fun.”  I had never really thought of it that way.  Of course, in Little League the coaches were always saying, “Just have fun, guys,” but everyone wanted to win.  I figured that it wasn’t fun unless you won.  I learned from my dad however, that you can have fun even if you do not come out victorious.  This helped me in the last couple seasons of sports I have played, considering I have had a winning percentage of about .350; good for baseball batting, but horrible for everything else.  Now, I play for fun win, lose, or draw.  (I still think that winning enhances the fun level of anything, though).  The lessons I learned about winning and having fun from my father have and will continue to help me throughout my life in sports, or life.

     Yet another great lesson I have learned from my dad is that of loyalty.  I have seen him endure countless stresses of deadlines at wok.  He always seems to get them done.  One particular time, after an employee was let go, my father had all the work dumped in his lap.  A person could easily say, “It is not my work to do, not do it, and let his company pay the price; however my dad is not that way.  He took this responsibility on, undoubtedly frustrated, and finished what he had to do.  Granted, he and our family did have to endure extra hours apart, but I am proud of the loyalty my dad showed to his company, CSC, which has had the privilege of his service for thirteen years.  This example of hard work sets a precedent that I want to follow.

     My life would be undoubtedly different without my father, who sets a wonderful example to me.  I love him so much and am so very grateful for him.  I just wish that all young men could have great fathers like I do; but unfortunately, that is not the case.  So, I must shed a good example for them, the way my father has for me. 

 

Biographical Narrative Reflection

 

     In September of last year our class was assigned to write a biographical research paper about someone who greatly affected us; the choice for me was easy, I was going to write on someone I have known my whole life, my father.

     One of the major parts of the essay was to write about how the person you are writing about affects you, and what your feelings are toward them.  Obviously this was easy, considering that I have had many experiences with my Dad.  Writing this paper brought back memories, and really made me realize how much my Dad does.  It made me more greatful for him, and for my family.  It showed me that I could express y feelings on paper.  I was also pleased because I received an A on this paper.  I learned much about writing for a purpose in this assignment, and it was fun to do.