Personal Narrative Essay

Submitted By CarlT113
Words: 1418
Pages: 6

Knucklehead Hero
I must be crazy, insane, a certified lunatic for what I’m about to tell you. I have been influenced by someone who doesn’t technically exist. I bet you didn’t see that one coming did you. I’ve been influenced by some of my family members as well but the reason I am the person I am today is because of a show I first saw when I was thirteen. I’ll tell you about the people in my family who inspired me first since they were a part of my life before I ever watched anime. I’ll start with my father. Most of my family thinks my father is a real jerk and for most of my life, I thought the same thing. My father was always criticizing me and telling me I could do better no matter what I did or how well I did it. My father picked on me more than the bullies at school so had no real safe place to go and hide from my problems. He made me feel like I wasn’t a good son and that I didn’t deserve to exist if I couldn’t do something right but one day, I heard a saying that helped me deal with his criticism “sticks and stones may break my bones but words will never hurt me”. That simple phrase made anything my father or anyone else said that was hurtful mean nothing to me. My father and I got into arguments and whenever he called names or said I was useless, I just ignored it because I learned that my opinion is the only one that matters when judge my value. Now that I’m older, I see that my father was just trying to push me to do better than him because even though he won’t admit it, he has a soft side to. Next is my mother, she is one of the kindest people on the planet and it is because of her that I go out of my way for people who I don’t even know. My mother will do anything to help no matter how big or small the challenge is. One good example of her generosity is when she helped me after I got back from the army. I had moved into an apartment and was having trouble paying all of my bills on time and as a result, my water had been turned off and I would not be able to turn it on for at least a week. When my mother heard about my situation, she used the money from one of her jobs to pay the bill even though I hadn’t asked her to. I was glad to hear that she got a bonus check two weeks later for all of her hard work. She is a kind woman who will help anyone in need and doesn’t expect a reward for her kindness. I know I could never pay in full what I owe to my mother but I try because she taught me that everyone is equal and that the colors of your skin, the language you speak, and even your religious faith don’t make you different. Ok I know what you’re thinking, when is he going to get to the part about his anime ideal. I’ll get to him but first let me shine a little more light on my life. Like I said, my father picked on me and I wasn’t good at making friends so I was picked on at school a lot but I learned to deal with it but that didn’t solve my problem. Just ignoring what people say doesn’t mean that the words don’t hurt. I felt alone like I didn’t even exist and the only person that helped me with the pain was my grandmother. I could go to my grandmother with any problem and she would have an answer. She was a strong prideful woman who would protect her family against any threat and she was full of wisdom and guidance. She encouraged me to follow my heart and to never give up on my dreams. Even with her there to guide me, I still felt lost and like I was the only one who felt the way I did. Like most preteens, I started looking for something to do on the weekends and since I didn’t go to parties, I stayed at home and watched television. While I was watching the usual boring re-run cartoons one Friday night, a new show aired called Naruto. I figured it would be like dragon ball z or some other show that had nothing but super muscled idiots beating each other senseless but it turned out that this show was focused on something other than fighting. The main character who the show is named after is a young ninja in