The Apple Tree

by Jacob Zlot

“Both my parents, and I would go to great lengths in order to show off our side of the story.”

There is an old adage that goes, the apple doesn't fall far from the tree. But let's be honest here. Do you really feel like your mother or father when you think about your traits? I am a libertarian. While on the contrary, my parents are basic Marin Democrats. My whole life I was close to my parents and I would still consider them as my role models. Their views greatly influenced the way that I saw the world for the first fourteen years of my life. My knee jerk reaction during this time, when I heard the word Republican, was one of absolute hatred. I vividly remember, then, kindergarten. There was one kid in our class whose parents didn't vote for Obama. This led to the whole class ousting her, even though she had no insight on our political system. Even in the face of discrimination, she still held up her parents' ideals.

Parents have a big impact on their kids, sometimes so much that the kids will take up their parents' ideas and make them their own. Now, I'm not saying that I'm the first person to ever go against my parents. The counterculture movements that came around in the 1960s, had kids go against their parents as well as mainstream society. These differences all began to reveal themselves for me when I decided to take an economic class at my local community college. I had heard people always talking about how a class changed their life, and frankly, I always thought that this was B.S. But, after this class, I ended up realizing that this was way off. This class completely changed my outlook on the world. The outlook I had on life and… the government completely changed. Unfortunately for me, my parents do not believe in my new ideas.

Now, every news story became a debate and family dinners devolved into heated arguments. I felt ostracized and disconnected from my parents. Both my parents, and I would go to great lengths in order to show off our side of the story. We'd present arguments as if this one point would completely crumble the other one believed in. This however, wasn't sustainable in maintaining a healthy relationship within the family. Luckily, we were able to catch these faults before they tore our family apart. We both reached a compromise and we would no longer try to shift each other's view and fight over small things.

When a controversial topic comes up, rather than tearing each other down, we are able to accept that we each have our own different views and no amount of arguing will change them. We have been able to develop mutual respect for the diversity of views held between us. I'm glad that my parents were able to accept me for who I am and that I can accept them for who they are. Even though we might disagree on most things, we all agree on the values and ethics and my family holds most dear. Throughout life, whenever I need help, I always knew that I could come to my parents and get honest advice. They would always tell me that they would be open and welcome to whoever I was and still love me. Looking back on this, I think that they were talking about me being gay or not being motivated to achieve my goals, because they sure as hell weren't talking about my political ideology.