Webster

Words by Melissa Maldonado

web·​ster Someone who has all of the knowledge of the world

When my father came to this country, he knew little “proper” English. He met and fell in love with my mother, who taught him how to read with her high school textbooks. (That’s some cute shit, right? Right out of a Romantic Comedy that will never get made.) He would meet up with her after school and they would sit under a tree and read together.

He always understood the importance of education – of being knowledgeable and using it to your benefit. But he also understood that we are all so very human. That sometimes life gets hard and it doesn’t always work the way we want it to.

My life in education has been marked with the constant question, asked when I doubted myself, when I doubted my own abilities as a child of hard –workers: did you try your best?

Because that is all my father ever asked of me, of my brother, of my sister. He didn’t want A’s he said – he said he wanted us to try our best and that’s all he can ask of us.

My father has always equated the Meriam-Webster Dictionary with complete knowledge. You didn’t know something? Look it up in the dictionary. It also helped that I practically begged to go to the library any chance I could, to read and get books on random subjects that interested me.

As my inclination for learning grew and I began to expand on my own knowledge outside of school, my father dubbed me his “Little Webster”.

I am still, to this day, his Little Webster. Every time I succeed – when I won awards, when I made honor roll, when I graduated with honors, when I was accepted to college, he would call me his nickname and I would feel embarrassed, but really, I was glowing on the inside. He has so much faith in me, that he equates me with a dictionary.

And for that, I will always thank him, for giving me the confidence and love and affection. For giving me the opportunity to succeed, for coming to this country and taking a chance, for letting me know that I have worth and that I matter.

But really, I just wanted to make my family proud. To pay them back somehow for all that they have done for me. Their job is to go to work – my job is to go to school and get good grades. And I will. Because I am your Little Webster.