I always felt as if I was a robot programmed to do whatever my dad told said. Because he was always right.
One day I was reading a book late at night and my dad told me to go to bed and finish reading in the morning. I asked why, and he said it was because "it's bad." I asked him again, and he responded with the same thing. I felt rebellious, and because I wanted to finish reading the book so badly, I didn't listen to him and kept on reading. It was like that for the next few days. Eventually I noticed that things looked blurry and sooner or later I wasn't able to see what the teacher was writing on the board. I needed glasses.
"Papa always told you," my dad would say.
My high school has a program called International Baccalaureate (IB), a supposedly prestigious program that many college from around the world recognize. I was pre-IB for the first two years of high school, but there came a time when I had to decide whether I wanted to join the program or not.
My dad, being a traditionalist, advised against me joining the program because he said all I need for college are "good grades and good test scores." I didn't believe him. I ended up not doing the program, mostly because I didn't want to take another year of Korean with the teacher I really disliked and partly because I felt I should listen to my dad. I ended up here fine. Most of the credit from IB ended up not being transferable for most students, and the tests wouldn't have helped with college applications, since I wasn't going international.
He was right after all.
Even though I really want to stick to my first decisions, whatever my dad thinks ultimately makes me change my choice. Since I was always scared of regretting the choices I made, I always resorted to the comfort in knowing my dad's decision would turn out right. Although it's college and individual thinking is stressed, I still honor my dad's opinions and never forget all those times he was right.
Comments