The Choice: Giving Thanks to Parents

Avery DiUbaldo is one of six seniors at Cherry Creek High, a public school in Denver, who are blogging about their college searches.

I am an exceptionally average pool player. When faced with a game of billiards, I turn mediocrity into an art form, spinning with my cue a beautiful tapestry of mild competence.

“I’m a bit rusty, so go easy on me,” I ask, like the pool shark hustling his target, but unlike the pool shark, I really am a “bit rusty,” never quite capable of giving a performance that’s anything more than ordinary.

This frustrates me, because, fundamentally, I know how pool works. At its heart, pool is just an exercise in Newtonian physics: one action, the strike of the cue, giving birth to new reactions, the soft clicks of the balls as they collide against each other with the ultimate goal of making it into the pocket. Every motion is connected.

There’s a philosophical train of thought along these lines called “determinism,” whose subscribers believe that all events are connected in such a way that every event is determined by the events which came before it (thanks, fourth-period philosophy class).

Taken to its logical conclusions, determinism implies a lack of free will, an idea that I’m either unable or unwilling to entirely accept, but there’s undoubtedly truth in the premise that our lives are in large part a product of the past, bound tightly to the wills and rhythms of the world around us.

The influence that the actions of other humans have on us is vast and incalculable, a tremendous net of kind words, criticisms, gifts and advice.

With that in mind, and with my high school graduation looming, I feel that a great deal of gratitude is in order.

I’m grateful for a family that not only tolerates my insane dream of becoming a professional actor, but encourages it, and is willing to shell out an absurd amount of money to help make it possible. My character would be nothing without them.

While some teenagers may balk at hearing that they’ve picked up the mannerisms and habits of their parents, I see it as a compliment, and as a point of pride.

Even though at this moment they may be chastising me for having waited until the last possible minute to write this post, I know that it’s because they truly want what’s best for me (which at the moment would be a good night’s sleep for a change).

I’m grateful for teachers and directors who have worked countless hours with me to develop my passion for learning and love of the arts, often with dismally little compensation in return.

I’m grateful for friends who’ve kept their sanity (and helped keep mine) through days of applications and auditions, tossing aside mountains of their own paperwork at a moment’s notice to catch a movie or talk late into the night, knowing the often underestimated value of a good conversation.

I’m grateful most of all to the universe, or to God, or to chance, for granting me the luxury of being able to take my pick of five incredible acting programs at five equally incredible colleges. The sheer luck I’ve had in my college search continues to amaze me even now, as my senior year draws to a close and UMich orientation rushes even closer to meet me.

If, as the determinist is inclined to believe, I am nothing more than another billiard ball on a huge, global table, then at least I’m a fortunate ball. I stand firmly on the shoulders the giants in my life who support me now and who will continue to support me as I pursue a career path that is most optimistically described as quixotic.

For all those reading, whether you know me personally or not: thank you. This may not be my last post (I’ve got plenty to say, I’m sure; I just haven’t thought of it yet), but it’s certainly the last that I’ll be writing while still a student of Cherry Creek High School.

I don’t think I quite understand exactly what that means yet, but I will, someday, and when I do, I’m all but certain that I’ll look back on my adolescence with a newfound wisdom, satisfied that I didn’t waste a single opportunity.

Also, I’ll hopefully be better at pool.

Mr. DiUbaldo is one of six seniors at Cherry Creek High School in Denver who have been blogging their college searches for The Choice. To comment on what he has written here, or to draft a gratitude list of your own, please use the box below.