I know that most of the essays you’ll receive will be about mothers or fathers being the greatest influential beings in the lives of my peers, and while this is true in my life, the one who continues to affect me on regular basis would be my three year old nephew, Erick. Watching my nephew grow and learn has made me look at life in a new perspective. He looks at the world like it’s a new adventure to explore every day. If I were to look at life like this daily I would find that it is a much more magnificent place than one would think.
He also has a very creative way of thinking. Children do many things much differently than you or I may do them. Adults get caught up in the world they’ve accustomed themselves to. We are always doing what needs to be done the same way it’s always been done, whereas sometimes the best way to get something accomplished is to do it differently. My nephew is an incredible example of thinking out side of the box. It may seem unusual for a three year old to come up with the ideas that he does, but he continues to amaze me with his thoughts and plans.
Erick and I have had sometimes hilarious, most often moving, and always insightful experiences together, one of these being a trip that we took together to the mall. Erick had opened all the doors for me because he was the gentleman, and ladies get their doors opened by gentlemen. He was a great date for the evening and when a man had not opened the door for me my nephew took it upon himself to teach this man how to be a gentleman. Needless to say the man felt quite embarrassed. Erick has no unrealistic expectations of people but when you don’t live up to a standard that he was raised he will soon let you know.
My nephew is extremely inquisitive as well. If I have a question, instead of just asking, I will think to myself, “I’ll just look it up on Google if I remember later.” Erick, on the other hand, always has the passion, the desire, the curiosity to ask numerous questions...