Describe a person or event that has influenced your life in a significant way and how you have grown as a result of this experience.
The person who has influenced me the most is my father. I think that he can be judgmental at times, but I think his judgment have matured me. His judgmental attitude has matured me, because even though I can still be rash, I think my way of thinking has changed. His way of thinking has influenced me because I'm now more inclined to think things through and look at things a bit more differently.
It all started when I met one of my friends on a poetry website, and told me his religious views of LeVeyan Satanism and Wicca. My dad is a Christian, so this didn't sit well with him. In fact, he banned me from the computer because he thought that my friend would try to "corrupt" my way of thinking but, at sixteen, my mind wasn't focused on being the Miss Goody Two Shoes I had been all my life. My mind was focused on on e thing--getting my friend to understand the damage I had done by letting it slip to my father that he was a Satanist. I tried explaining it to both my parents, actually, but they did not listen to me. They stuck with their narrow-minded views. The music he likes is everything that sounds good, but mostly metal and my family likes R&B and Hip-hop; my dad likes Christian music. I like the music that my friend likes. My friend's views on life are the opposite of what my family's views on life are just in general.
My father castigated him, blamed him for my changes. I attended church and Bible Study less and less, spent more time on the computer, enjoying the music my friend sent me. Metaphorically speaking, my dad burned him at the stake for his beliefs and that wasn't fair.
It took my dad time to come around and let me back on the computer. I did not use the computer for thirteen days so my friend and I call that the Thirteen Days of Exile. My dad stopped blaming him for the things I did wrong, like listen to the music my friend sent. We, my father and I, never got along well to begin with, so in my opinion, that made things worse. But thanks to him and my friend, I don't think my thinking will be the same and that's what I'll need to succeed.
