I wouldn’t be the person I am without the support and care of my parents, the opportunities granted to me only available due to their unconditional love have supported and built me over these school years. I will forever be grateful for my mother and father and love them, for they are the reason I will continue to strive for success as they will support me through thick and thin. I am still inspired by their meeting as workers in a run-down Mexican restaurant, raising my brother and me with the endless challenges two boys can conjure up, and even finding success through their hard work. In their later years, I intend to be there for them as they are for me, I will try to support their lives whenever possible and towards others as they have shown me. My mother usually was there to emotionally support me through the trials and stipulations that school may throw at me. Whenever I would come home I always knew I had an ear to talk, cry, and laugh to. My mother always told me to keep my chin high, supported me through wonderful food unparalleled by the love devoted to it, and dealt with school such as dragging my cello every week. My father was always there for me when I needed guidance, talking about the daunting future, learning skills, and financially supporting me with the high school fees, and a roof over my head. I could always go to my father if I ever needed help, or simply wanted to have fun as I cherish the joyful moments I have with him. I am forever grateful to them not only for my existence but for caringly raising me and helping me form my identity, when I look upon my parents I see a reflection of myself, their influence upon me everlasting. Through all the hardships, they never stopped loving me and I shall do the same towards them. My father has never forgotten his roots, always making great strides to help his family back in Mexico, never hesitating to send aid, only for the thought of bettering the life of his family. I will attempt to be as generous as my father is to his family, helping friends and family, only fueled by the devotion I have for them, whether it be financially if they need a hand, or emotionally if they simply need an ear to listen to. In 2016, after the damages from Hurricane Harvey, my mother signed up to volunteer in the Community Emergency Response Team, out of concern for strangers needing help, and later volunteered for the Red Cross and various community fundraisers. Whenever I see her ready herself for a day of volunteering to help those in need, I’ve never been more honored to be her son. In return I am going to try to follow in her footsteps, to volunteer to help those who I do not know by name, but just that they need assistance, only for the notion that the burden of life may have eased a little. My parents have given me a loving life, and I attend to pay it forward not just to them, but by paying it forward to the people close to me, and the people that life has not been too kind to only out of empathy and generosity whether it be volunteering for more events, helping financially to those in need, or simply helping a friend through a troubling time just like my parents have done to me.