I choose gender. I was brought in this world a female. I grew up with 2 sisters & one much older brother, which was from my mother's first marriage. Us girls basically seemed to run the house, since my Dad was always working. Our Mom stayed at home with us doing household duties, as well as being "girls". My brother was much older & was rarely around. I learned to respect people, especially when my dad slept, since he worked long hard days. We were all quiet at the dinner table & sat together every evening. My mother brought us to church every Sunday. There would never be any cuss words in our house, any ill behavior, disrespect (which was a big one) etc. It was hard to deal with now that I look back, since one of my sisters was always running away. I barely remember her being home much either. This was hard for my other sister & I to watch her get punished when she was home, which was very little. Therefore, we never wanted to bend the rules of respecting Mom & Dad, bad behavior, etc. Of course all kids get wound up, but we made sure to never cross those boundaries. I respected & loved my parents. I was much younger (by 7 years) & actually felt I learned a lot growing up with all these different things going on in our home. My Mom would always expect us to look decent with our clothing, she liked us in dresses, & talk polite to everyone outside of our home. As far as school went, when I was about 10 we moved to Oregon. I had to fit in & live up to my expectations of being in the clique. Thank goodness I got in this clique, due to my neighbor being a popular girl. I lucked out just starting in a new school. The girls in our clique were always together, had sleep overs, went to movies, etc. Until high school came along, we were all more interested in guys. In high school I made sure to maintain a good name. I was a member of many clubs & student council 2 of 4 years. This kept me busy & I always did like everyone. Since I was raised to respect people & not judge them by looks, I was always open to everyone. I never put people down & therefore, I had lots of friends. Even if I didn't hang out with them, I never thought low of them. I adjusted to school work pretty well, & respected all of the teachers. But I guess I had to get along with them, as well. Being on teachers bad side was usually not a good place to be where I went to school. Besides, you would never want a teacher to talk to your parents, at least I didn't. As far as the media is concerned, the having to look like a model was hard to keep up to. I was & never will even be close to looking like one. I was never the skinny girl, but not fat either. However, I always felt I needed to look skinny. I always felt that everyone wanted to look like those women on TV. The trends that start seem to start in Hollywood, right? Not only this aspect of the media, but ,materialism. Advertising of expensive clothes, etc. It was hard to live up to these expectations to look this way. There was always a lot of sex, violence shown on TV. Music also was changing when I was in high school A lot of rap, etc seemed to be the big thing back then. Therefore, you'd always want to listen to what was hip, etc. Even if you really didn't like it. Leading up to today, I look back on that life & think I am the way today because of it. I look back & know why I respect people, am open to people & am a very understanding person because of my family. I think they are the roots. The biggest impact on who I am though lately has changed. Especially after the very recent loss of my father, I can look back & say, he had a great impact on my life & I am a wonderful person who strives for my goals because of him. He always encouraged me to do my best & that I could do or be anything. I am now living up to my promises to him, to become who I wanted to be. This loss of my father has also really turned my life around, understanding how important life is, how soon it can end, I can do anything with my life, & has opened my eyes up once again to religion. It's a warm place to believe that my Dad is still living on somewhere, watching over me. Looking back at high school just makes me think, who cares about what to wear, what music you're listening to? I do it all for me & my own family now.I'm not concerned about impressing people. I just live up to my expectations in trying to do good in school & becoming what & who I am.