It's just a part of Life
by Robert Naraja

It is October 20, 2021 and I am eleven years old, living in the island of Saipan. My dad is a sports jock and I guess that is what he wants me to be too. My dad was a really good basketball player, one of the best, actually, until he blew his knee cap after dunking on a guy and landing on his foot. The one thing that I hate about parents' that they always try to push you to do something that you don't want to do. And that is what my father is doing to me, he wants me to be a baketball player, just like him. So his plan is to train me everyday for atleast an hour and thirty minutes and make sure that I got the fundamentals down.

Sports are fun and all, but they're just not for me. I mean, I'm pretty good at football, but I'm better at basketball. There are times when they're both fun, but I just don't feel the love for the game the way others do. I try to talk to my mom about it and I ask her to help me out, but in my house, my dad's the boss and everyone has to listen to him, or else there is going to be a huge argument in the house. My mom's a houswife and my dad's occupation is a businessman, he also does some commercial's for addidas.

My dad can never stop talking about his accomplishments in basketball and how devoted he was on his path to become a better player, and it just got old. It did, and I just felt like killing myself whenever he would talk about it. I just wish that my dad would let me do what I want to do and not what he wanted me to do, because that is just not right. He always said that it's for my own good, and that he doesn't want me to mess up my life by playing video games and going out with my friends.

The truth was, though, that being trapped in my house and in that basketball court messes me up right there. Especially the fact that I can't even hang out with my friends. He doesn't know that by stoping me from hanging out with them, he pulls me away from them, little by little. I mean, I'm just a kid and I'm not ready for that kind of commitment which he wants me to follow, all I want to do is have fun, that's all! I know that he is just trying to look after me since I'm the only boy and all, but all he has to do is help or guide me to have fun. I think that my dad is like this because no one was pushing him and he had nothing else to do, I'm really not too sure, but hey, I love him too, and I guess that it's just a part of life.