This I believe Speech

For my final speech i am going to talk about my family and how they have gotten me to where i am today as a person.

There are many high school kids that talk about how their parents were too strict or how one of their siblings was extremely annoying and the hate they had towards them.  This is the opposite for me.  My family has made me the person that I am today.  Yes my parents were a little strict as I grew up but this was for the better.  They were strict to where they got the point across that I shouldn't do something, other than that they let me make a lot of decisions on my own.  They raised me forcing the act of kindness into mind telling me to be kind to others and you will only receive kindness back.   Growing up in my house wasn't the hardest thing but my parents were always on me to get my school work done or to get better with my athletics.  I had to work for a lot of the things that I received, I was not just granted everything.  If I wanted to purchase something for myself I had to use my own money.  This led me to my first job when I was 16 years old, I have had this job since then working summers when I had time on top of baseball.  I also had to do a lot around the house which many kids do not have to do.  In the spring and summer it was cutting the lawn, the fall raking leaves every weekend till there were no more and then in the winter I would have to shovel my driveway, my walkway and deck.  I feel having a job and having to work around the house has helped me today to make me a hard worker.
It is not just my parents that have helped me get to where I am today.  My older sister Jess, my only sibling that I have has helped get me here today.  With sports she has pushed me more than my parents have.  She played softball in high school and then in college so she knows what it takes to get there and how hard you have to work.  She would always talk to me and tell what I am doing is not enough and that I have to do more if I want to play and succeed at the next level.  I know I can count on my sister to be there for me whenever I am in need of something no matter how mad I can make her sometimes.  We have gone through a lot of ups and downs and no matter how low the downs are we always seem to come back together and become best friends again.
My family has gotten me here today and I can not thank them enough for this.  They have been so helpful shaping my life to what it is today.  I love my family and wouldn't want them to be any different.