How i help my character develop to a higher standard

Character traits make a person who they are. We get some of them from our parents and others we pick up along the way. My mother is a caregiver, a planner, and a helper. My father on the other hand is blunt with his words and does not plan for anything. Being a only child I am always spending time with my parents. As a result, I have picked up more traits from my parents than someone who is not an only child. I am pleased that I inherited the caregiver and helpful trait from my mother, but the bluntness and lack of planning from my father is the thorn in my flesh that lets me know that I still have to improve these traits.

Growing up I would always here my elders say honesty is the best policy, but not my family when it comes to my bluntness, which is what my mother calls it. I just say I am a little too honest. I tend to show rudeness but I really do not mean any harm. I was a debutante in a local Ball. Practice was every Tuesday and Thursday. Three weeks before the actual ball our director told us on Tuesday that we needed to make and bring unique bouquet using household products or artificial flower arrangements by the next practice on Thursday. As soon as he said this I immediately started thinking where I would find the time to make a bouquet in two days and I go to school and had dance practice for the parade.

My mother and I are not creative people. We began to stress. My mother decided that we would not have time to create a bouquet for me and she had an idea. We were going to go to purchase a bouquet that was composed of artificial flowers with bright colors. One of my mother’s friends decided she would do the same for her daughter. The girl’s mother went and bought a bouquet from Michaels so my mother and I went to see if I could find one. We saw a few but to me they were distasteful. The dull pinks, purples, blues, and yellows were quite depressing. The size of the bouquet reminded of a mini action figure. I thought to myself, “ There is no way I am buying this bouquet and carrying it to the ball.”

It’s Thursday and I have no bouquet. I go to practice and let out a sigh because I am not the only one. My mom’s friend and her daughter approach me and begin to speak but I am not hearing anything she is saying because she has a bouquet in her hand and it’s the distasteful one from Michaels. My mother comes over to where we are standing and says, “ Anita do you like her bouquet?” Immediately without thinking I say, “ That is the same ugly bouquet from Michaels I would never carry anything as repulsive as that.” After a few moments, I realized what I had just said in front of the girl. My mother had a look of disappointment and dismay. She could not believe I just said that and surprisingly neither could I. While my bluntness also makes me stubborn, I knew that I would have to apologize. I did not mean for those exact words to come out the way they did but I felt that I had to be truthful. I may be harsh, like my father, with honesty but my softer side is helping others, like my mother.

There is never a day that goes by that I do not help someone. I am very religious, so whenever I go to church I always ask what I can do to help. I am very passionate about little children. When I was old enough to stop attending children church myself, I decided that I would give my time back by volunteering. Every 1st and 3rd Sunday at church, we have Church. At Church we sing, learn, play, and eat. As a volunteer, I fill out envelopes for the kids because some of the kids cannot write or their writing isn’t legible. I also teach them books of the Bible and read them Bible stories.

My helping does not stop at church it; continues into the community. Last year I volunteered at a service organization. Every Wednesday a few high school students from our school would go to a local elementary school to help Kindergarten-3rd graders with their homework, spelling, and review skills that they were doing in c lass. This comes natural, because my mother is a teacher. We would also do arts and crafts. The organization offered a summer camp in which kids all over the county participated. We would assist with academics, arts and crafts, and take trips to places such as the Indian Mounds taking the kids places that they might not have gone if they were not in a program such as the one I volunteered for.

As I continue to mature I often think of my future. I plan for everything. I have not always had this character trait. I am still improving my planning skills. In middle school and my first two years of high school, I would procrastinate or not do assignments because I forgot. My mom would always tell me that procrastinating would catch up with me. As a young child, my mother, would plan to do her assignments 3-4 days before it was due, where as my father would do work whenever he got the time to. My mother was right not planning would catch up to me and. I was on the verge of failing my AP Government class because I would not study or just could not remember when I was to turn in a project. During the second semester of my 9th grade year, my grade dropped to a 69. My mother took everything that she new mattered to me away from me. I no longer had my phone, my television, and I lost the privilege of shopping. When I was told I would not get these things back until I brought my grade up to at least a 80, I decided that I would take my mother’s suggestion and plan for everything.

Ever since this experience, I have always written down everything in my planner. Whenever I get an assignment at school, I do my best to complete it at least two or three days before it is due. As I continue to mature I see why planning is so important, so I make it a part of my everyday life. I even plan for when I am going to apply for scholarships and for college. Planning has helped me to learn that procrastination is not an option.

Although I am still developing a few of my character traits to a higher standard, I realize that my life has just begun. I need to control my bluntness just as I control myself with planning and helping others. Even though I have inherited traits from my mother and my father, it is now time for me to transform these character traits into my own.