The Chosen Path

"What am I going to do," Aaron muttered to himself. He knew his family would not be happy about him choosing to become a teacher, especially since his parents, grandparents, and siblings all went into the police force. Aaron knew that if he said something, his parents would not be happy about it.

"How will I tell them," he muttered. He was only twenty two and knew that law enforcement was not the right career path for himself at any point in time.

"Tell us what, Dear," Aaron's mother asked as she and her husband entered the house, tired from a hard day at work. Aaron's mother, a thin woman in her mid forties had been working as a guard for the jail and was often tired from dealing with inmates all the time.

Aaron's father, a proud, muscular man, who often patrolled the rough streets in town spoke up. "You know you can tell us anything at all. We will help you get ready for the police force in no time at all."

Aaron, shaking as he spoke, asked, "How would you feel if I decided to go on a different career path?"

"That's just nonsense," replied Aaron's father. "Everyone in our family has been an officer of the law. As part of the family, it is your responsibility to continue the legacy."

Aaron, feeling frustrated, started to shake again, "Look, I'm struggling with this career path of going into law enforcement. I prefer a quieter life. The one career I really feel good about is education. I want to be a teacher."

Both of Aaron's parents stood there by the kitchen table, mouths wide open, obviously in shock about their son choosing a different career path than the one they had expected him to follow. A couple minutes later, Aaron's father spoke, and said, "What makes you think you will be a better teacher than an officer? Everyone in our family has been in law enforcement to some capacity.

Aaron's mother, looking disappointed, said, "We were counting on you to follow in the family tradition of being in law enforcement. You can help make the streets safer for everyone in the community by doing this. You know, for a career, teachers don't make a ton of money."

"Both of those may be true, but I have never been passionate about law enforcement. Its nothing personal against the police, but I would not be a good fit there. I knew you wouldn't approve of my passion for teaching. I need to go for a walk," Aaron said as he walked towards the door. He glanced back to see his parents looking in his direction. He opened the door and started to leave.

Once he left, Aaron's mother asked, "Why didn't you stop him? You know that he may be wasting his time as a teacher."

"Its true that his announcement about wanting to get into education is a shock, but I can't say that I'm surprised. You remember how during his high school years, Aaron never showed any interest in going into the contact sports. Everything that he would have to do is exactly what he avoided. I just hoped that maybe we just missed something there."

"I guess you're right. It's not like we didn't try to keep him motivated or interested in law enforcement. I'm just concerned because no one else in the family has been involved with education, except for when we had gone to school ourselves. How will we make it up to Aaron?"

"I don't know what to do yet, but we need to show our support of everything he wants to do, even if we don't approve of his decision. It will be hard to do, but we can do it one step at a time," replied Aaron's father.

"I suppose you are right. Why don't we get cleaned up. When Aaron gets back, we can take him out to dinner and try starting to make amends for our shock. This couldn't have been easy on him to tell us like he did. I think I will go take a shower now," Aaron's mother said.

"That's a good idea. I will take a shower after you. Hopefully, Aaron is back soon so we can show our support for him. See you soon, Dear."

Ten minutes later, Aaron came back home, looking confused and unsure of what to do.

"There you are," Aaron's father said. "Why don't you get cleaned up? Your mother and I want to take you out to dinner tonight. It's our way of trying to make things right and tell you that we support you becoming a teacher."

"Do you really mean that? I can be ready soon. How long until we take off?"

"It will be soon. I still need to shower and your mother is cleaning up now. Maybe around a half hour or so."

"Great," Aaron responded. I will go get ready now." And he went to his bedroom to start getting ready to go out.

Thirty minutes later, the three of them left to go out to the Chinese buffet to eat. Aaron's father chose this one in particular because he knew it was Aaron's favorite restaurant.

Once inside, the three of them took their seats and ordered their drinks. A minute later, they went through and filled their plates with all kinds of food.

After returning to their table, Aaron's father asked, "Do you know which college or university you want to go to?"

Aaron, who just took a bite of food, swallowed and said, "I'm looking at the University of Texas. After gathering the information, I am impressed with the way they have the course for secondary education set up. I want to teach English in the high school here in town." Aaron said.

"That is great to hear. Sounds like you have really thought this out. I'm impressed," remarked Aaron's father.

His mother replied with, "That is amazing to hear about your plans for the future. I'm sorry that I reacted the way I did. I was in shock and didn't control it very well."

"I'm sorry too son. I should be happy that you have a plan for your future, even if it's not what we were hoping you would choose. I apologize."

"It's ok. I was expecting a reaction. Maybe I didn't bring it up very well and should have been better prepared," Aaron said.

"I think we just overheard you ask yourself how to tell us, and you were surprised when we responded," Aaron's mother said.

"That's right," His father agreed. "We were caught off guard by the announcement of you wanting to be a teacher, even though we both wanted you to be in law enforcement like us. It's ok to go against the grain. This time its family that is the grain. Nothing wrong with breaking tradition. Yes, we are sure about this, too."

"The two of you are amazing. I'm sorry if I disappointed you in not following in your footsteps but I know I need to make my own way in life. Thanks for supporting me through this."

"That's what we are here for now that you are an adult. We will tell the rest of the family after you start college. They will be disappointed but they will get over it," Aaron's father said. The rest of the time passed joyfully. That night, Aaron slept feeling like he had lost a heavy load and glad that he was able to share his career path with his parents. He slept well that night.