The Facts and Memories of My Father: Benjamin Perez

People have figured out that no child or human being can live an undisturbed life with one or no parents. That is why I am glad that I have been living my life with both of my parents especially my dad. I have known my dad since I was born, and from what I can remember, he has gone from family repair man to car fanatic to great father. My dad has always been known to be picky and stubborn with certain things, but always seems to catch the right ideas first and always has the right information. These are all reasons why my father interests me the most to figure many events that have happened in his past. Three events that I have chosen are ones such as: the beginning and building of technology, rules and thoughts of education, and common every day favorites and desegregation in the schools of Los Angeles in the 1970s. My father has been careful to focus on the things that mattered most to him and cautioned to stay away from dangers.

As I have figured things out about my dad, I have noticed that I have many memories of him but I do not truly know him. I have shared some of those memories but not all for I have my purpose that I have stated: the beginning and building of technology. My father was very fond of technology, but did not use it very much like teenagers do today. In the earlier years of my fathers’ time, the economy was still expanding in various ways such as the television becoming a big hit all over America, “In 1978, 98% of all American homes had a television which began to feature special events like the Olympics and the Super Bowl.” (The People History) This displays that all over America people were getting excited over watching the television which soon became color, but even though it was thrilling for my father at first, he didn’t always watch it because he would be doing other things like playing sports or fixing things outside. Before my dad came to the United States, he lived on a ranch with nothing but crop work, land, and daylight to support his way, coming to the U.S. was a whole new experience for him but he still stuck to his old ways. Since people began to look at things in a more technical way, inventions sky rocketed to mention interesting objects such as the cell phone, “Illinois Bell Company introduces the first ever Cellular Mobile Phone System.” (The People History) This proves that Americans were coming up with different ways to communicate, but though my father was, in his time, quite young to have a cell phone, he had no interest in the idea nor does he remember the exact beginning stage of the cell phone. This also verifies that my dad is more of the outdoor true breeze kind of person than the average indoor technological air conditioning kind of teenager. Learning that all the technology that is building up does not interest my father very much teaches me that teenagers today are spoiled and enclosed by technology.

Everyone has their own opinion and perspective of education which brings me to my following event: rules and thoughts of education. In my opinion, my dad’s point of view on education is completely different from mine. Although my father came from Mexico, his English is just as good as his Spanish, but he still had trouble in school, “My worst subject in high school was English, and I failed English 1 once.” (Perez) This may expose that me and my father have something in common, but in other means it exposes that my father understand me somewhat to a certain extent, even though school has changed over the years. This also demonstrates that education wasn’t quite easy for my father and it isn’t for many teenagers that are in the situation that he was in. Though my dad had trouble in school, it wasn’t all that easy living in his neighborhood, “When I was at the age of 15, I had to deal with the dangers of the streets like all the gangs that were out at night.” (Perez) This supports the fact that the streets of L.A. were and still are dangerous for many new and native teenagers of this country. This also demonstrates that my dad knew of the dangers around him and did his very best to stay away from them. Understanding the kinds of experiences