This I Believe: Familial Responsibility

Up until now, my posts have generally been directed toward innovations and advancements in the field of physical therapy. For this week’s entry, I am going to follow the steps taken by thousands of writers that took part in the This I Believe project and share with the world what it is I believe in, and how this belief affected my aspirations to become a physical therapist. This I Believe is a “national media project engaging people in writing, sharing, and discussing the core values and beliefs that guide their daily lives.” Simply stated, my belief in responsibility has led me to my career choice, which, in turn, sparked my interest in the field and led to the creation of this blog and all the posts within. Responsibility can be directed toward anyone or anything, but in this post I am going to concentrate on my belief in responsibility toward family.

Ever since I was a child, my parents have always pointed me in the direction of pursuing a career in medicine. They would always mention how my father (pictured to the left), grandfather, great grandfather, and so on have all been doctors and how it is the best field to go into. This pressure to become a doctor did nothing but push me further away from the profession. Not surprisingly, therefore, with the start of my college career, I majored in business. The subject interested me, and I loved the thought of becoming an entrepreneur. Needless to say, my parents were disappointed, but, at that time, I was too stubborn and immature to realize why exactly they were disappointed in me. It was not until the middle of the first semester of my sophomore year that my belief in responsibility truly formed and propagated.

At this point, my mother had already accepted my career choice outside of medicine. She sat me down to have a talk, and it was this talk that triggered my realization of my belief in responsibility to my family. My mother’s intent was not to convince me to go into medicine; it was just to inform me of the reality of the situation that we were in. She reminded me that we are all living a privileged life because of my father’s physical therapy clinics. She explained that the clinics’ success relies heavily on my father and his reputation. He puts his heart and soul into these clinics, and it has unfortunately taken a toll on his health. The reality of the situation was that my dad was aging, and his health was deteriorating. My mom was unsure of how long he could continue working as hard as he works to maintain these clinics, which are the source of financial support for our family. The reality of the situation was difficult to take in, but it was nothing but the truth. He no longer has the health or energy to continue running the business for much longer. The business would suffer greatly without someone to take it over and I am the only child. It was at this exact point in my life where I truly realized my responsibility and what I had to do. The combination of self-growth (age, maturity) and my mother’s talk allowed me to come to my belief.

I knew that at this point in time, I had to drop my immature and stubborn act and accept the responsibility to my family, specifically the responsibility to my father. I realized that the right thing to do was to pursue a career in physical therapy and ultimately help my father with the clinics. I finally made sense out of all his speeches about how he accomplished everything he did just for me. He started and developed these clinics so that one day I can become a physical therapist and take over from where he left off. I realized how monumental my father’s accomplishments truly were. He is an immigrant who has lived in the United States for only sixteen years. He left behind a surgical degree (and countless years of education to become a surgeon) in Russia to come to the United States in pursuit of a better life for our family. We came here with nothing, and my father had to start his education from scratch. I can only hope to one day comprehend the sacrifice and hardship that my father went through to get to where he is today. He worked very hard throughout the years and took a huge risk when he decided to leave his job and open his own practice. It all paid off in time, and I am thankful for everything that he has done for the better of our family. It is with my strong belief in responsibility toward my family that I made the decision to pursue a career in physical therapy. I feel responsible to help my parents with the business and allow them to rest easily knowing that all their hard work and sacrifice throughout the years to accomplish what they did with these clinics will not go to waste.