Setting a Standard

Older siblings from the moment we are born, set a standard for the rest of the family. You are the person that your younger brothers look up to, you are the one that your parents use as an example “because you are their first child.” “From the moment you are born, your life is full of setting standards” and it is something that I have carried around forever. Being an older brother brings so much responsibility because setting a high standard is not easy, but maintaining that high standard is even harder. As of now, my brothers look up to me. My high school days have brought much athletic success but academics have needed work. I have worked at showing my brothers that perseverance and hard work are the key aspects into growing and progressing as a man. Showing these essential qualities and being a role model for them is hard, but necessary.  My parents raise me to be the best absolute person I can be and one slip off the wrong track can lead to losing that high standard that I have held for so long. The pressure is intense but carrying around high standards is something I try to maintain. Support and guidance may help but ultimately if we don’t hold yourself accountable to high standards then you are the one who is at fault and not reaching your maximum potential.

My family is full of laughter, joy, and sports. Now as much as my parents may disagree with this statement because school is extremely important, the nights when we are sitting down talking to each other it is almost always about sports. Our love and passion for sports comes from a long line of athletic men and women in past generations of our family. My parents and their siblings all participated in many varieties of sports and caused my brothers and I to pursue the same passions. Setting a high standard encapsulates a large variety of things. You are the one who has to build a strong personality that people like because your parents never meant to raise an inconsiderate boy. You have to develop yourself to become the best athletic and academic kid you can be. You have to work hard, in the classroom, on the fields, in extracurriculars, and most importantly you have to develop yourself into a boy that your parents look back at and say, “I am proud of him”. These are all examples of standards that make a role model.

Setting a high standard is not a requirement in modern day society, despite this, being in a family that provides limitless opportunities carries some pressure. Balancing a 30 pound round ball on your head is impossible, just like being a perfect human being. You are allowed to live your life with pressure and weight on your head. But say you put that same 30 pound ball on your head, but you use your hands to hold it. You’ve increased the support but the chance for dropping that ball is still there. Everyone lives life on the edge of failure and success, but not everyone lives life with endless opportunities. Having constant support from your parents and them always trying to make me the best person I can be is the most valuable thing I can hold; and in spite of this pressure, and in spite of these hardships, in the end the result is much more valuable than the process leading up to it. High standards is what I carry.