The Advantages We Forget About
When people think of the advantages they have compared to others, they often relate advantages with money such as Nick in “The Great Gatsby”. True, money does have it’s advantages like being in a safer environment and being given food along with other essentials. However, money can have it’s disadvantages like making someone lazy and unmotivated, like the other characters in the book save Gatsby. My father once told me, “Those who are given everything end up having nothing”, meaning it is better to earn something rather than just being given it.
We often forget about those who provide these advantages to us. I personally believe God provides everything we need in order to succeed. We just have to be motivated and recognize them in order to do so. Not everybody believes in God, but something we might be able agree on is the advantages of parental figures.
The three basic qualities needed to raise a child are food, shelter, and love. Having parents that care for you and raise you with their knowledge to be the best person you can be is crucial. Parents are the very first role models a child has. Everything they become can be led back to what they were taught. In the song “Watching You” by Rodney Atkins, it depicts how a child learns from a parent.
Parents that have good morals are good role models. An even greater advantage is having successful parents that lead groups and organizations along with raising their children. This provides a child on an understanding of how to take action. In the song by Atkins, the actions done and words the father states leads to how the son acts.
Some people do not have the advantages of being raised in a stable family. It is much more difficult to have a stable family when one or more parents are missing. It could also be the parents themselves are unstable. I am lucky enough to have birthparents still together that are willing to teach me right from wrong.
Those who aren’t taught by their parents are going to have to learn from another source. This can be from peers, teachers or media. If one or more parents is missing and is replaced by another source of information, the more likely they are to make bad decisions. My father often tells me that, “People in the world will take advantage of your ignorance”. This being said, someone who isn’t educated enough to understand how the world works, will believe anything they hear.
The advantage of having parents that are able to care for a child, can be the difference on how that child acts in the future. Due too how Nick was taught at the beginning of the book, I am positive it will have an effect on how he acts at the conclusion.
(Official), Rodney Atkins. “Rodney Atkins — Watching You (Official).” YouTube, YouTube, 22 Sept. 2011, www.youtube.com/watch?v=2uzK3VwzraM.
