My Own Cultural Clash Analysis

My Own Cultural Clash

All parents have high hopes for their children, they want them to become a: lawyer, doctor, engineer, or something along those lines, most adults just want their children to be successful. My career was practically chosen for me as early as the 3rd grade. I stood above everyone in the crowd, literally, I was 5’4”. I’m tall and black, so everyone had assumed I was either heavily into some kind of popular sport, but stereotypically the question I was most frequently asked is “Do you play basketball?”. What made it even worse is that my mom expected to me play basketball, in fact that’s what she would tell my whole family.

My career or future, was basically chosen for me, because of my height I was expected to pursue a certain career, specifically in basketball. However, my mom had never forced me, to play the sport, in fact she had made me play every sport, except for basketball. My mom had put me in soccer, flag football, baseball, swimming, karate, you name it! Meanwhile, I had other interests, which I didn’t really pursue until the sixth grade. As a child, you always thought dancing was “cool”, every kid has wanted to try dancing, and usually they end up never doing it again, but I was different. Before I really started pursuing dance in the 6th grade, I did it whenever I could. For example, I did talent shows, I joined the school dance team, and you’d always catch me doing some dance routine I saw or learned in my chair! Although, my mom never took it seriously, because she said I couldn’t dance. My mother basically told me I had no rhythm, but I never listened, because she had told me as a child, but as years passed, I had changed. My mother was mentally prepared for me to become a basketball player, as well as the rest of my family. However, my first competition was not a game, or a track meet, it was a dance competition. In the sixth grade I had joined the school’s dance team, and I had made the competition team, and honestly it was quite the struggle. At the time, I wasn’t the best dancer, I had a lot to learn, but I worked hard, and even got a solo! My mother couldn’t believe it, I could tell by the look on her face! My mom did believe I was on the team, but I believe she had this idea that I was on some mediocre dance team for children, and didn’t really do much. My mom clearly did not know much about the Reed Middle School dance team, for a middle school they …show more content…
When my mom came to the realization that, basketball is not what I want to do, and that I now identify as a dancer, so did the rest of the world/family. My mom constantly showed the video of the team's performance, which ended up getting over 2,000 views on Youtube! This clash, helped me become the person I am today, because it helped me figure out who I was, and not what everyone thought I was going to be. I was able to prove that I can figure that out by myself, and that I didn’t need a pre-chosen career or destiny. This might not be what I want to do my whole life, but it’s a sign that I’ll be able to figure out what I want to do on my