Sisters are supposed to support each other. They're supposed to take each other's hands and wipe the tears from each other's eyes. They're supposed to be the one person that you can always turn to. In my case, my sister is the person I turn away from.
My sister and I are polar opposites. She loves basketball, math, and playing the piano. I, however, need art. I need creativity. I could not go on if it wasn't for dance, music, writing, my friends, and my guitar. I find myself through my dancing, my writing, and my music. My family and friends are my foundation, and I build my life on their support. Lately though, my sister's support has been hard to come by.
At my school, when you get into seventh grade, you're allowed to join the dance team. Since I love dance so much, I decided to try it out. The team goes by the high school's team name, and we travel with the Varsity and JV teams to competitions.
My sister is in high school and knows some of the girls on Varsity and JV. She hates them. She thinks they're superficial and have nothing better to do but worry about their hair. My sister thinks everyone who dances is like this, so she insults the sport and its athletes (YES, we're athletes!) . . . to my face.
The first few times she did this, it bothered me, but only a little. I figured she was just mad at some of the dancers and decided to take it out on us all. I asked her to stop, but she didn't. Over time, the insults started to dig deeper and deeper, and hurt more, and more, and more. Some of you may be wondering why I care if she slams dance. The answer is that I don't care if some kid at school says, "Duh. Dance is stupid!" I don't care if some boy across the street thinks I'm superficial. I don't even care if my own sister thinks these things. What I care about is if she says them.
Sisters are supposed to be supportive of each other, but I do not feel supported when my sister insults the things I love; when she degrades what makes me who I am. I do not feel wanted or understood when she tells me I'm just too sensitive. I do not feel loved when my feelings are thrown in the corner and ignored.
As I said, my sister loves math. She seriously LOVES math. So, being a math-lover, my sister is a mathlete. I'm always a bit embarrassed when someone says something like, "Your sister? Oh yeah! She's the one that's on the math team!" But if anyone ever makes fun of her for it, I'm always the first one to defend her, because even though I'm embarrassed and think she's a bit of a geek, at the end of the day I'm proud of my sister.
I only wish she could say the same about me.
~caliebabi
