What my parents want for my career

I remember the first time my mom said she wanted me to be a doctor. We were in the living room and watching a movie about a girl who was in high school. It was her last year in high school, so she decided to become a doctor. 

She went to university and started studying medicine. The first year she was happy and did not have any trouble with things like how to work, money, or anything else. In her third year, she started to get nervous and didn’t want to stay at her university anymore. She called her parents to tell them she would go back home because she thought she had to take some time to be sure what she liked and wanted to study. The worst thing was that her mother died after her daughter called her because she dreamed for her daughter to become a doctor, and her daughter didn’t like that idea. After the funeral, the daughter told her father that she would go back to the university to continue the doctor’s study. Her father said she didn’t have to, but she said it was her mother’s last wish, so it’s decided “I’m going to go back.” 

After watching, my mom said, “I love this movie.” She said she loved the lesson that the girl learned in the story — that is to say, she needs me to be a doctor.

I participated in a debate with some french students at Harvard University. I was the second place winner, and I won $200. My mother was angry because it was not related to the doctor thing, but my father was really happy for me. This happened because I was good at French. I was there to take my English class, and it’s a university so the other people were there. I was excited because I knew I would win; it was really a good experience. I had more than one emotion of course, because it was my first time, and I felt like I did it before. I was thinking how proud my father would be if I won, so I could say I did it for him.

This experience was on my mind when I started thinking about becoming a lawyer. My father wanted me to be a lawyer because he saw me discuss arguments really well in the debate, but my mother sees me discussing things with a patient instead. How does she know that I can be a great doctor? 

But it doesn’t matter. I think I prefer to be a lawyer more than a doctor. Sometimes I like to discuss, but I really hate blood. Sometimes, my father calls me to discuss politics in my country. We are like two adults who are in the parliament — always talking about them.

My mom wants me to be a doctor because if I accept the challenge, I will be the first doctor in my family. One of my cousins started that career journey, but she stopped and did something else instead. She always said I would be a good doctor, but I don’t know why. Maybe it’s because I know how to act when someone has mental or physical pain.

I think that this is a normal thing that parents want because when you take all this time to educate your child, you probably don’t want him to be just anything. You will make sure he is in a field that could be useful to him, and you tomorrow.

My mother thinks that I have to be a doctor to be successful. I think this idea came from my grandparents, and I think they started to think about it when they saw that my cousin didn’t choose to be a doctor — they just chose me. I think they see something in me that I don’t see in myself. That said, I don’t think my personal experience changes the way I think about the situation.