My Choice Of Love

Submitted By Gerardo-Almonte
Words: 731
Pages: 3

“Only those who look with the eyes of children can lose themselves in the object of their wonder,” (E.A. 2015, pg. 6-18). Throughout our adolescent stage, many of us struggle to adhere to our parent rules and regulations, especially when it pertains to selecting friends who will have our best interest at heart. At least for me, during my teenage period, I thought if another teenage was kind to me, then she was automatically my friend. Declining to listen my parent’s assessment of some of those females, caused me to suffer unnecessary heartaches and embarrassments. For the reason that I had trouble listening, as well as refusing to listen to suggestions and demands made by my parents to dissolve certain friendships, only created uncomfortable and hostile environments between schoolmates who I thought were my friends, but who my parents warned me against. I believe it is fair to say that if I had followed the advice given to me by my parents, I would have had a happier junior high friend relationship experience. Unfortunately, I was too critical of the speakers who had my best interest at heart. Every time my parents spoke to me about how they felt regarding my choice of friends, I would block their words out, and accuse them of being too critical of people, without getting to know the people in which they were judging. With all the advice relayed to me through the wisdom of my parents’ knowledge, I found myself relaying that same advice to my younger sibling for the betterment of choices she made for friends. But, while I was still young, it was impossible for me to see the forest for the trees. Instead I was not focusing on the care and love transferred to me by my parent’s warnings, I was more interested in refusing to hear the messages and more interested in criticizing the messengers. Therefore, I would have to say that I was during that time in my life both a relational and analytical listener. Like shared in the text I will tend to focus on the facts, consider all sides of the conversation before me making conclusions; and be more expressive and emotional, by empathizing with the speaker. In this case my emotions were negative towards my parents and more influential toward my friends I would empathize with them more because I was criticizing my parents for making false assumptions of them. Both barriers contributed a whole lot in my inability to listen effectively to my parents because I had to learn the hard way. I gave more credibility to a complete stranger than to the two people who had been there since day one, watching me every step by being my protectors of all good and bad decisions. Learning to accept your falls and your bad decisions is indeed