If

If I had the opportunity to do it all over again, I would.
My friends and I have debated about this - given the chance, would you go back to high school? While many of my pals have said 'No way,' I would do it in a heartbeat. I'd certainly change some things about my high school years, but thinking about those days make me wish that life was as easy again. Worries mostly revolved around what to wear to school, who is fighting with whom, what to do on the weekends mixed with anxiety about tests and research papers. I was a decent student who enjoyed the principle of learning something new everyday. It all seemed to come so naturally.
That's not always the case with my brother, Seth, who graduates May 27 from Plano High School. His ceremony is on my birthday, which is pretty cool, but I don't understand why a school would plan graduation on Memorial Day weekend. Don't they know I'm supposed to be up north camping at Silver Lake?
Seth's a good kid. He's served as a captain of the football team (which went to the state finals, by the way) and he works his butt off. He makes decent grades, although I think he could try harder sometimes. But that's only because I want the best for him.
We don't come from a well-to-do family. In fact, graduating from high school is a milestone not everyone in our family has celebrated. And the next step in furthering his education, college, is an opportunity few in our family were afforded. Except me.
I remember being in college and going to vist my mom and brothers a few times. I recall a time when I showed up with a backpack full of homework. My brothers were amazed by the books and the notes filling the pages of my folders. They were awed by the amount of homework that's involved in college. I hoped it wouldn't deter them too much.
We didn't grow up in the same household. My brothers don't attend the same high school I graduated from 11 years ago. I could tell them how to prepare for a biology test with Mr. Ruble and tips on acing mastery tests with Mrs. Kane, but it wouldn't do them any good (plus, both those teachers have since retired).
But what I can do is to serve as a positive role model in their lives. I can tell them how to choose Community College courses smartly, how to transfer those credits over to a four-year university and how important it is that they get their degrees. There's a million excuses they could use to hold themselves back. But our lives have constantly revolved around excuses and I WILL NOT let them take the easy way out.