Many times in a person’s life they are forced to make some tough decisions in their social lives.  Some of these decisions could end up effecting the rest of you life.  Sometimes these decisions can affect you in a good way, but sometimes it can come around to hurt you.  In the case of Ben in Better Luck Tomorrow the majority of the decisions he made ended up being bad ones.  As most seniors in high school, Ben had a lot of pressure on him to make his decision on where he is going to college.  Because of this he needed a release, which was a contributor to all the decisions he made.  Lots of times Ben knew the decision that he should have made, but he didn’t always make it.

The things that Ben did as a release from all his surrounding pressure started out pretty small.  It started out by scamming some stores and he was making some money from it.  It then started to escalate.  They started stealing computers from the school, and making cheat sheets for tests at their school.  They were getting away with everything they did because they were all on the scholastic scrimmage team, and they all got good grades in school so no one expected that they would do anything wrong.  There were many times where Ben felt that he should leave this group, but he always got pulled back in.  All he needed to do was do what he knew was right and things wouldn’t have spiraled out of control.

Ben finally did leave the group and things were going back to normal.  He was shooting his free throws again and everything was getting back to normal.  Then a friend came to him with a great deal.  After talking it over with his group they talk him into doing it even though he knows it isn’t right.  On the night of the job it was his job to keep watch.  When he heard a gunshot go off in the garage he ran in and grabbed a baseball bat and knocked then gun out of Steve’s hand.  He then paused and and proceeded to hit Steve in the head several times knocking him on concious.  They eventually kill Steve manly because of what Ben did.  Ben never turned himself in but he knew what he did was wrong.

I feel that it is necessary to give Ben some advice.  The advice that I feel that Ben needs is to do what he knows is right and not break down to peer pressure.  Before all the things that he did that was wrong he knew that he shouldn’t be doing it, but in the heat of the moment his friends pulled him in and it is taking him down the wrong path in his life.  Ben needs to have stronger morals and do what he knows he should do.

One thing that I always remember my parents’ saying is how fast their life has flown by and how it seems that their childhood was way to short.  Whenever they say this I always think that as the generations have gone by the childhoods of children are going by faster and faster.  Today more and more responsibilities are placed on kids and forcing them to grow up faster.  More and more kids today are forced to get a job at younger ages to help support their family or for other needs that are needed to live these days. 

Advance in technology as been a big reason for kids having to grow up faster these days. Many kids these days have a vehicle that they can drive around and many of them have to pay the expenses of having a vehicle.  Because of this they have to get a job to help pay for the car, gas, and insurance. 

Another reason why kids are growing up faster these days is because of college.  My parents did not have to pay for college because their parents saved and were able to pay for their college education, and that seemed to be the norm for that time period.  Now many of my friends were forced to get a job so that they could save to pay for their college education.  Their parents were unable to save for them because of more expenses that they had to pay.  With kids now having to pay for college they are entering the work force with a great amount of debt.  So instead of kids being able to go out and having a good time they have to be very frugal with their money to save to pay off their debt.

Kids today are growing up way too fast.  Many kids are forced to work at a young age to help pay for certain expenses that past generations didn’t have to worry about.  The advancement in technology and the importance of education are key contributors to the increase in the speed kids grow up.

For all of my life and for a few more years my parents will be taking care of me and paying my bills.  Little by little they place more and more responsibility on me, but they know I’m ready for it.  Eventually it will get to the point where I will have to take care of everything myself.  My parents will still be there for support or to advise some of my decision but when it comes down to it, it will be my decision. 

One thing I will always know is if I am living under my parents’ roof, I will have to follow their rules.  As long as I am living with my parents I will have to be home at a certain time, I will have chores to do, and I won’t be able to do whatever I want.  Once I start living on my own I will have no one to answer to about how late I can stay out or who I hang out with.  If I want to spend the night with another person while I’m living on my own then so be it, my parents will have no say over it.  This is how I think it should be too.  Whenever your parents are still providing food and shelter for you, you need to abide by their rules.  Once you start living on your own, you can do whatever it is you like because you  don’t have anyone else supporting you. 

There is no one event that tells someone that they have become an adult.  Becoming an adult is something that happens over time.  Little by little parents should give their children more responsibilities that will eventually prepare them for living on their own and having to pay their own bills.  For some people this happens right after high school, or for others it can happen a few years after they graduate college, one never knows when they will become an adult, but it will eventually happen.

The perfect life should be subjective to the individual, but over the years society has shaped its own idea of a perfect life so that everybody sees it that way.  Society has formed the perfect life and lots of times you can see it on television shows.  Most of the families on television live in a nice house, they buy pretty much whatever they want, the husband always marries a beautiful wife, all the kids are good looking, they all have nice friends, the husband makes lots of money and lots of times the wife doesn’t even have to work.  Because of what people see on television that is often the type of life they want to live, even though families who live like that are few and far between.

Even though I know that living a life like what we see on television is highly unlikely, there are some characteristics about it that I would like to have in my life.  In my perfect life I would live in a nice neighborhood, close to all the local schools.  I would also like to have a nice house, and a separate building, like a garage, to put a home gym into.  When it comes to my family I would just want them to be healthy and happy.  Not unlike what we see on television, I, the man of the house, would like to be the one who supports the family, but I would expect that my wife would have to work for us to live a little better. 

The perfect life that is set by society and often shown on television probably won’t be within the realm of possibility for most families.  Families, on the other hand, can pick a choose characteristics from that type of life and put it into their own to make their perfect life.  A person should not live their life to make society happy, they should live their life to make them and their family happy.

Many times in people’s lives they are forced to make a decision whether or not to believe in a bias or to resist a certain bias.  One never knows when they’re going to have to make the decision, but they have to be prepared.  Lots of times the way their parents raised them help decide what decision they are going to make and whether or not it is the one that is best for them.  These biases that people have to make a decision on can range from sports to being a nerd, from being a wimp to being a tough guy, and even someone’s sexual preferences.

In my high school people were forced to decide on how they feel from the three bias groups every day.  One of the first biases I had to deal with was whether to be a jock or a nerd.  I was always one of the smartest kids in my class, but I never really considered myself a nerd.  I played both football and basketball all year round, but I never considered myself a jock.  Due to this I really did not know what to pick.  I had friends who were considered either jock or nerd and I didn’t want to make either group of them mad.

One of the main people who were pushing me to make my decision was a guy named Roger.  Roger was a stereotypical jock from the movies.  Roger was a fairly big guy and was on the football team and he was two years older than me. He was about 6’2″ and probably weighted about 250 pounds and he was fairly muscular.  He was quite stupid and he was quite the jerk and was a very ignorant person.  He thought he was the toughest guy in the world, even tougher than Chuck Norris.  He always walked around with his chest out and wore tight clothes to make him look even bigger.  Roger believed he could get away with anything.  I had Spanish class with him my freshman year and everyday he would chew tobacco in class, and he would often spit on the carpet.  He thought he was cool because he always got away with it. 

Roger felt that you were only cool if you were a jock.  He kept trying to tell me how awesome it was to be a jock and all the things you got to do if you were considered one.  However, I didn’t really do these things at the time, like get in to all the good parties, get away with anything, and have people do my homework for me.  I knew that all these things would not be good for me in the long run, so they failed to affect my decision.  Roger also told me what he believed to be the negatives of being a nerd to try and deter me from choosing them.  One of the downsides was that nerds are looked down upon by most people, and I won’t have any friends or be invited to any good parties.  He also told me that if I were a nerd that I would probably not get much playing time on any team.

There was also a nerd who was trying to push me to pick a side, his name was Max.  Max was a stereotypical nerd.  Max was a very small person, he was probably 5’6” and weighed 100 pounds soaking wet.  He wore thick rimmed classes, always had his pens and pencils in his shirt pocket, and he was awful at sports.  He walked through the halls in between his honor classes reading a book, and he always took the hardest classes.  Max was the captain of the chess team, president of both the student council and the math club, he was in the book club, and he played the triangle in the band.  He didn’t have much of a social life as he spent most of his time studying, or working on an experiment.  In class he always tried to suck up to the teacher and do as much extra credit as possible.  He always tried to give a very extravagant answer instead of just giving the simple and most logical one. 

Max kept trying to tell me all of the advantages to being a nerd.  He told me if I were a nerd and did all of the things he did that it would look amazing on my college applications.  He also told me that not having much of a social life would give me more time to study so I could be more advanced and prepared then the rest of the students.  Max was also telling me all of the negatives of being a jock.  One of these negatives was that a lot of people think that jocks are stupid.  He also told me that in the long run that being a jock will kill my joints since I am such a big person and I will have trouble walking by the time I’m sixty.  

After listening to what both Roger and Max had to say and I tried to find some middle ground and sort out some of the ignorant opinions they had.  I knew that a lot of the reasons why I should be a jock from Roger were things that would hurt me in the long run.  I also knew that the coaches would play the best athletes and not base it on whether or not I was a jock or nerd.  From what Max said I knew that being involved in all those activities that lots of the nerds are in would look good on a college application but I also knew that sports look good on college applications.  From the negatives that Max said I knew that some people might think I wasn’t smart if I was a jock, but I knew once they got to know me they would realize they were wrong. 

So after considering what both of them had to say I found that they didn’t help me at all and unfortunatley, I was back to where I started.  After a while I began to think, why do I need to pick a side?  Why did I have to be either a jock or a nerd?  Why couldn’t I be both?  It was then that I realized that I was just going to be a student-athlete.  I would put my academics first and concentrate on them the most, but also work hard to be the best athlete I could be.  This made some people mad but the majority of my friends agreed with my decision and I didn’t lose any true friends after all.  I felt good about my desicion because I knew that I was doing what was right for me.

Lots of times in a person’s life they have to choose a box that they fit into.  I don’t really see the point of this.  I feel that a person should just live their own life and not try and live by a certain group of people.  People should do whatever makes them happy, and all their true friends will not leave them, no matter what they decide to do.

Many times in people’s lives they are forced to make a decision whether or not to believe in a bias or to resist a certain bias.  One never knows when they’re going to have to make the decision, but they have to be prepared.  Lots of times the way their parents raised them help decide what decision they are going to make and whether or not it is the one that is best for them.  These biases that people have to make a decision on can range from sports to being a nerd, from being a wimp to being a tough guy, and from someone’s sexual preferences.

In my high school people were forced to decide on how they feel from the three bias groups every day.  One of the first biases I had to deal with was whether to be a jock or a nerd.  I was always one of the smartest kids in my class, but I never really considered myself a nerd.  I played both football and basketball all year round, but I never considered myself a jock.  Due to this I really did not know what to pick.  I had friends who were considered either jock or nerd and I didn’t want to make either group of them mad.

One of the main people who were pushing me to make my decision a guy named Roger.  Roger was a stereotypical jock from the movies.  Roger was a fairly big guy and was on the football team and he was two years older than me.  He was quite stupid and he was quite the jerk and was a very ignorant person.  He thought he was the toughest guy in the world, even tougher then Chuck Norris.  He always walked around with his chest out and wore tight clothes to make him look even bigger.  Roger believed he could get away with anything.  I had Spanish class with him my freshman year and everyday he would chew tobacco in class, and he would often spit on the carpet.  He thought he was cool because he always got away with it. 

Roger felt that you were only cool if you were a jock.  He kept trying to tell me how awesome it was to be considered a jock.  He kept telling me things that you got to do if you were considered a jock.  All of these things were stuff I didn’t really do at the time like get in to all the good parties, can get away with anything, and I could have people do my homework for me.  I knew that all these things would not be good for me in the long run, so none of those things really affected my decision.  Roger also told me what he believed to be negatives to being a nerd to try and deter me from choosing them.  One of his reasons was that nerds are looked down upon by most people and I won’t have any friends and I won’t be invited to any good parties.  He also told me that if I were a nerd that I would probably not get much playing time on any team.

There was also a nerd who was trying to push me to pick a side, his name was Max.  Max was a stereotypical nerd.  Max was a very small person, he was probably 5’6” and weighed 100 pounds soaking wet.  He wore thick rimmed classes, always had his pens and pencils in his shirt pocket and he was awful at sports.  He walked through the halls in between classes reading a book, and he always took the hardest classes.  Max was the captain of the chess team, president of the student council, president of the math club, he was in the book club, and he played the triangle in the band.  He didn’t have much of a social life as he spent most of his time studying, or working on an experiment.  In class he always tried to suck up to the teacher and do as much extra credit as possible.  He always tried to give a very extravagant answer instead of just giving the simple and most logical one. 

Max kept trying to tell me all of the advantages to being a nerd.  If I were a nerd and did all of the things he did that it would look amazing on my college applications.  He also told me that not having much of a social life would give me more time to study so I could be more advanced and prepared then the rest of the students.  Max was also telling me all of the negatives to being a jock.  One of his reasons was that a lot of people think that jocks are stupid.  He also told me that in the long run that being a jock will kill my joints since I am such a big person and I will have trouble walking by the time I’m sixty.  

After listening to what both Roger and Max had to say and I tried to find some middle ground and sort out some of the ignorant opinions they had.  I knew that a lot of the reasons why I should be a jock from Roger were things that would hurt me in the long run.  I also knew that the coaches would play the best athletes and not base it on whether or not I was a jock or nerd.  From what Max said I knew that being involved in all those activities that lots of the nerds are in would look good on a college application but I also knew that sports look good on college applications.  From the negatives that Max said I knew that some people might think I wasn’t smart if I was a jock, but I knew once they got to know me they would realize they were wrong. 

So after considering what both of them had to say I found that they didn’t help me at all and I was back to where I started.  After a while I began to think, why do I need to pick a side.  Why did I have to be either a jock or a nerd, why couldn’t I be both?  It was then that I realized that I was just going to be a student-athlete.  I would put my academics first and concentrate on them the most, but also work hard to be the best athlete I could be.  This made some people made but the majority of my friends agreed with my decision and I didn’t lose any true friends after all.

Lots of times in a person’s life they have to choose a box that they fit into.  I don’t really see the point of this.  I feel that a person should just live their own life and not try and live by a certain group of people.  People should do whatever makes them happy, and all their true friends will not leave them, no matter what they decide to do.

1.  Seniors get fed first at pre game meals.  Before all away games our headcoach’s mom would cook us dinner and the seniors would always get their food first.

2.  Seniors always got to sit in the back of the bus.

3. Seniors never had to double up in the bus seats for away games.

4. Freshmen and sophmores have to load and unload the bus for away games.

5.  Before home games the varsity team goes to the Downtown OIP to eat.

6.  Only people who play a decent amount of time get to shoot around before games, the rest rebound for them.

7.  Seniors get to shoot at the main baskets during practice while the rest shoot at side baskets. 

8.  Big men do not get to shoot threes during a game unless we are up by a lot.

9.  Seniors get first dibs on the protein shake before practice.  Before practices that were right after school we got protein shakes to help fuel us, seniors got first choice to what flavor they want.

10.  Seniors get to drink at the water fountains first during breaks.

I do not feel that this is a good way for somebody to live their life.  People need to be able to do whatever they please, as long as it’s within the law, and travel anywhere they desire to go.  Everybody on the cast his keeping him on the island because they don’t want him to find out that he is living a fake life.  Life is something where people should not know what to expect.  After a while Truman begins to realize what is going on and he knows what is going to happen next.  Life is all about how you handle the unexpected and being able to keep moving forward.  In Truman’s life all these life changing events are done so that he reacts in a certain way, and that is not a way a human should live.

People need to be able to live their life.  Someone’s life should not be determined by somebody else, who does not really know what they need.  We only get to live life once so we should be able to do whatever we would like and not have it controlled by someone else.

In my hometown high school sports are very important not only to the athletes and the school but also to the entire community.  One of the most popular sports to the community is basketball.  Between 1996 and 1998 the girls high school basketball team won back to back state championships and only lost one game.  From then on basketball was not just an extra curricular activity but a way of life.  If someone played basketball they were expected to base their entire schedule around it, not just during the season but after it too.  Many times it was frowned upon if some of the girls basketball players played other sports. 

My oldest sister started playing basketball in the seventh grade for the junior high team.  From then on basketball controlled much of her life.  It was made clear from day one that if she wanted to play she could never miss a practice.  From then until she graduated high school she played basketball year round.  During the season she would have practice everyday for the school, but during the off-season she would always be on an AAU team or have to attend open gyms.  Open gyms were “optional” but she always went.  I say “optional” because if you wanted to play you were expected to be at every practice.  When she was on AAU teams the family would travel all around the Mid-Atlantic to go to basketball tournaments.  My sister’s life was pretty much controlled by basketball all year round.

Luckily for me boys basketball wasn’t as bad.  I was able to play multiple sports and we were actually expected to.  I started playing basketball for the school in about sixth grade when I played on a traveling team.  We would go to tournaments around central Pennsylvania every once in a while but nothing major, and we only had practice like twice a week, but we were expected to be there.  Then as I got older more and more was expected from us.  During the season we h=would have practice everyday which would be expected.  Then during the off-season we would have open gyms two or three times a week and were expected to go, even if we were playing another sport.  We would also be expected to go to tournaments whenever the coaches schedule one. 

In my home town basketball has become a way of life.  It is like that for some of the other sports in my town as well.  If a kid is on the team they are expected to focus on that sport only all year round even if they play other sports.  Sometimes coaches try to forbid the athlete to play another sport so they can focus solely on that one sport.  At times this can be very strenuous knowing that you have to go to an “optional” practice instead of doing something else that you would like to do.

Throughout my life I have noticed many things.  One thing that I have noticed is that equal does not equal the same.  In my family I am the youngest person.  I have two older sisters, and all of my cousins are older than me.  Being the youngest definitely had its pros and cons.  There were times where being the youngest involved having more things expected of me because my two older sisters did it and there were times where I got to do things before they did because time changed and it was easier to let me do it then.

There were many occasions where being the youngest put added pressure on me.  Both my sisters always got good grades in school, so when I started school I was expected to get good grades too.  I don’t believe that this was fair because just because my sisters were good at a certain subject did not mean that I was going to be good at it.  Both my sisters played in the band and enjoyed it, so naturally my parents expected that I would enjoy it too.  After about a half-year of playing the saxophone I hated it.  I would always break my saxophone so I didn’t have to practice it.  My parents weren’t happy that I wasn’t doing well in it and forced me to be in the band for a second year before they allowed me to quit.

Being the youngest also had its upsides to it.  With technology growing exponentially as I grew up I was able to get things at a younger age then what my sisters did.  For instance, my sisters had to wait until the summer of their sophomore year to get a cell phone.  I, on the other hand, was able to get a cell phone the summer of my freshman year.  This did not sit well with my sisters, but it was something they had to live with.  Also when all the kids went to college my parents bought us computers.  Both my sisters received desktops but by the time I graduated high school it was cheaper to get a laptop, so I got a laptop.  This also did not sit well with my sisters.

When it comes to families, equal definitely does not equal the same.  Being the youngest had its advantages and disadvantages.  Either way you had to live with what your parents decided even if you didn’t think it was fair.