Bye bye college, hello San Francisco
Hi, my
name is Francis, fresh out of college and I got a call from an accounting firm in
San Francisco before I graduate and drove here right away when school finished
for my interview at the firm. I had plenty of calls for an interview but there’s something
about San Francisco that aroused my interest. I came from San Deigo and was
raised by a typical American family and grew up like a typical kid from
California. I got into skateboarding like most people do and thought it would be the greatest thing
in the world to make a living as a professional skateboarder and travel around
the world for free to skate the best skate spots outside of America. Sadly
I couldn’t commit my time, energy and brains to skateboarding a hundred percent
because my parents don’t want me to neglect my studies. I love skateboarding so
much but my parents promised to support my skating if I promise to study my lessons by buying me boards and other skate stuff skaters need for skating
just so I would promise to do well in school... and I did. My skating friends
used to envy me because I never had problems with saving my allowance to buy my next board. I used to tell my friends
that my sponsor are my parents. So anyway, I did well at school because I study
well, a bit good on skating and sadly not enough to be a professional skateboarder,
but happy enough about how good I am at it. I wear all the nice skateboard brand
clothes and shoes like the pro’s and felt like one. I was so proud of my
parents that I wanted to make them proud that they supported my skateboarding
that I did very well in school. I mean, all A’s are my grades and I’m not even
a natural genius. Here’s how it paid off the money my parents spent to support
my skateboarding so I won’t ignore my studies, I got a scholarship to go to
college instead. Ain’t that the greatest? I could see the pride on my parents
face and mother cried when she heard the news because when I started my
senior year in high school, my college education had been hovering over my
parents heard and they thought it was hopeless because we're not rich. We weren’t really making that much but enough to get by and pay for
mortgages and raise two children and just want them to grow up like normal kids
in a normal neighborhood and become good persons and raise their own family one
day and raise good children like themselves. Sadly, spending money for my
skateboard is not an indication if there's a good chance I'd go to college.
But they thought that things would get better though when I reach senior in high school and they would be able to pay for my college tuition...
but sadly our financial status did not improve as I entered my senior year. So when I told them I’m going to college on scholarship and they
wouldn’t have to spend a dime, my mother cried and told me they haven’t save
enough for my college and that they were just hoping that I would get a student
loan like most other kids and mother apologized tearfully that wouldn't be that easy for me. I told her that I wouldn’t have minded to make it to college on my
own because it’s really not there problem anyways; if I want to go to college and I want it badly, I would do everything I can to go to school with there help or not. Anyway, they've already gave me the
greatest gift of all a parent can give to their children: Education. One that no one could take away or steal from
me no matter what because it's in my head. My education is not over yet because I’m going to another
chapter of my life as a student: going to college where I’m going to study the
profession of what I’m going to want to do in my life till I retire but thank
you mother, father for keeping me at school. I would have given it up just so I
could make a living doing what I really love to do: skateboarding. But it’s a
profession that is risky and dangerous and I might enjoy it for while and then get hurt so bad and I
won’t be able to continue skating professionally and I might end up regretting
that I won’t have a chance of a better life because you just condone me on my
choice of path of life. To which I couldn’t be really sure anyway since I was very young at that time a I haven't possibly realized what I want in life. I love you mother, I love you father, you’re the coolest parents in the
whole wide world because you were not the coolest; you were not the smart and you were not beautiful for there child to be proud of to show off to their friends, but I feel so lucky
that I wasn’t angry at you that I would hate everything you liked and want even if it is
for my own good. Raising children is the hardest thing to do, trying to get
your kids into the right path of goodness is like finding a needle in a
haystack, but you actually found the right path for me in that haystack by
searching with your caring, loving and sincere touches for me. I did not hate
authority and I did not hate my teacher, as you respected me for being a child and being not smart which shaped me as a person who is a gentle person and not arrogant. I respected the authorities at school and even my teacher that
they are smarter than me and that would be enough to learn what I need to learn
to make it into life because you gave me a pride that would shut a door on good things because I hate school. It is all proven that too that what I've learned from you and from school and from my being a person as I grew up is useful now that I am on my own. Tears are willing now
as I got off the freeway and entered the city of San Francisco as
I thought of you mother and father and who are the coolest parents in the wide
world for not being the coolest. Wish me luck for my interview
