Personal Narrative: My Social Construction

My Social Construction

Growing up as a first-generation Muslim Ethiopian male living in a lower-middle-class society, I had to face plenty of challenges and changes because my parents were new to Canada, and had to work endlessly for me and my two siblings so that we could live a stable life.

When I was a kid my family had to move frequently. Since I started going to school I have gone to six different schools and constantly had to create and destroy friendships and every time I went to a new school the challenge I would have to face is people’s comments on how skinny I was. When people told me how skinny I was I got extremely frustrated because I am well aware of my body weight, and I knew my weight was not awful because I was still healthy. Another challenge I

faced was people would also be ignorant and always assume my ethnicity then get it incorrect. Later when I tell them my accurate ethnicity they don’t bother remembering and they just call me what they presume I am.

Throughout my life, my family had a massive influence in my life. When I was a kid, I had an immeasurable obsession for automobiles because my dad was a mechanic. My dad worked at a mechanic garage called “Ultramar “that was located across the street from my apartment in Etobicoke, and every day after school, I would go to his garage and play with the mini model cars behind the cash register. I also remember when my dad came home from work and spoke to me about all the cars he fixed before I went to sleep. Another person who had an influence in my life was my mom. The reason why my mother had an influence in my life was because she was never lazy. She taught me how always be productive and finish a job when the task is given. Finally, the last person who had a tremendous influence in my life was my older cousin. My older cousin taught me the game of basketball, which ultimately changed my whole life. The way I treated my everyday life included basketball since the day he taught me it in the third grade. At home, I was always pretending to play basketball, and when I threw out my garbage I would always have to shoot it in the

bin resembling a basketball net. I even got my parents to buy me a basketball net so that I could play at home and practice. Also, at school, in gym class, and at recess, I would always play basketball. In elementary school when I was playing basketball at recess there were other kids that loved the game, but never played with me because they did not think I was capable enough to play with them, so I was alone playing by myself everyday. Until one day a kid that was playing basketball with everyone else came to play with me. After he played with me people started to relies that I was decent and everyone began to play with me, however, I grew a solid friendship with the kid that played with me at the beginning. He even assisted me to get on my first recreational basketball team in the seventh grade. Where his dad was the coach and we won two championships in three seasons. Thankfully, I was really fortunate because his dad drove me to the games because my father was busy working. Other people I spend time with are individuals that appreciate playing video games. It’s enjoyable because I like to play games, but it is even more pleasurable when you have a companion playing with you.
Overall, life is a rollercoaster and you must try to find the positive in every negative. Like how changing school for me was a nightmare, but I try to make it a positive thing by saying “at least I get to see a new school and make new friends.” Or when people called me skinny I just said to myself I am “happy and healthy with myself.” However, I would love if people could show me some equity of treatment.