Fatherlove - Keeping Fathers Connected

2001 Father of the Year Essay Contest

XAVIER GREEN
FIRST PLACE WINNER
GRADE EIGHT
School: Holy Family School
Teacher: Ms. Nancy McDonnell
City: Seattle

My relationship between my father and me is something of which I am proud. The relationship is more like a friendship. I think of my father as more of a role model than a father. My father dedicates endless hours to the elderly and making sure they are safe and taken care of. My father James Green 111 has been a well-known dedicated person in the community. My father has served our country for almost 20 years in the army. After he retired he did not stop there in helping people. He went on in being a drug and alcohol counselor helping kids get off the streets and pointing them in the right direction. Now he works with the King County Housing Authority in helping people who are evicted out of their homes. He is giving them help and again pointing them in the right direction. I see my father as a role model for these reasons. Not too many people can say that they have a good role model with their father or that they look up their father, but I’m proud to say that I can. Once in a while when I make mistakes and like any father my father punishes me with restrictions, but I didn’t really get why he did. Now I can look back and see what he was trying to do. That is for him to push me to my abilities and to make sure I become the best that I can be. Day in and day out my father makes sure I do things around the house because he thinks it builds character. I’m glad he does because I know he wants me to become what I can be; not what I can’t be.

My father and I do a wide variety of things from fishing to mountain biking. Sometimes it’s just relaxing at home watching a good movie or sports game. One thing I wish for my relationship with my dad is for more time to just go and spend time with each other. I’m growing older and more things come up and distract me for what is really important which is family.