Today’s interviewee is Matthew Davidson

Q. What is your full name and age?

A. My name is Matthew Stillman Davidson, and I am 17 years old.

Q. What grade are you in?

A. I am in the twelve grade.

Q. How many siblings do you have?

A. I have three siblings.

Q. What are your sisters names?

A. Kristen, Amber and Kendra.

Q. What was it like for you to be the only boy and the youngest?

A. It’s honestly fun because I get to have older siblings to show me a good path. All of my sisters tend to be successful in some way, and I am happy to take something from their lives. They are role models to me.

Q. Who is your best friend? What are their names?

A. I have a lot of best friends. My girlfriend, Vanessa would be my main one right now. I would also consider Charlotte a best friend, even though she is six or seven years old, she’s an awesome human being.

Q. What does it take to be your best friend? What is it that you would like about them?

A. You have to be there for that person. You have to want to talk to them and have fun. Anything that you can think of that’s positive about a relationship is the main thing about being a best friend. You always have to be there for that person and act as though you are related in a way, like a sibling.

Q. What are your favourite things to do… besides school?

A. I love playing sports – hockey, basketball, volleyball and golf. I love being around my family, friends and my girlfriend. I love going outside and also love having a healthy mindset – wanting to workout, eat healthy and take good care of myself. Being able to relax is nice as well.

Q. What do you think you’d like to do after graduating?

A. I think I’d like to be a police officer. Mainly because I think there is a lot of hate in the world. There are a lot of people who have anger towards others. Being a police officer makes me feel like I’d be a hero and would make the world a better place.

Q. You have a big family… which family members influence you the most?

A. All three of my sisters do. They are all different in their own ways. Kendra is very personable. Amber is very hard-working. Kristen is very good at sports. David and Brendan are both amazing role models. My parents. Everybody in my life is truly amazing.

Q. Are you a spiritual person? Do you believe in God?

A. I’m not quite sure. I’m agnostic about it. I think there is something worth believing in. But I also think it’s hard to say. There are so many things you can deny, but I also think that there can be some form of power or hierarchy that is watching us. I’m still thinking about, and I have time to do that.

Q. How does God affect the things that you do?

A. I think about there being a God mainly when someone is ill in my family. I tend to pray when people are ill or I’m struggling in school, sports or in general. I feel like people don’t always want to go to their parents or siblings and don’t know who to go to instead. I do sometimes pray, but I think my first option is usually my parents, friends or girlfriend. I do go to God about those situations at times.

Q. What is the worst thing that has happened in your life?

A. I would probably say when my grandfather passed away – my papa. It’s pretty sad for me to still think about because I don’t remember all the memories or his voice. What really warms my heart is how my mom said the last time I saw him was when we were about to leave their house and I just decided to run back to give him a big hug. There’s something about that that makes me feel satisfied – how I was able to give him one last hug.

Q.What accomplishments make you most proud?

A. I have many. I would say my accomplishments in sports. We won gold a couple years ago in hockey, so I was really proud of that. At the end of a year of playing sports, I’m satisfied with myself knowing that I put in the work to become better. Same goes with school – hopefully by the end of it I pass everything and I’ll be satisfied with myself. Those are my main two accomplishments.

Q. Which of your parents give you the hardest time? Which one disciplines you?

A. I would say both my mom and dad, but my mom is very much vocal about it. She’s always telling me to study and asking if I did my homework. She just wants the best for me and that’s what I love. My dad is the exact same way, but he doesn’t say as much because he knows my mom has it down, doing the dirty work for him. She is always putting up with me, I’m not sure how she has for the last 17 years, but she’s still going.

Q. What things make you want to jump out of bed and to start your day?

A. Just knowing that there’s a whole new day out there and you could do so many things. You’re given sometimes up to 9 hours of sleep and that leaves you with 15 hours of your day. In those 15 hours you could do so many things that could change your life. You can go to school, become more educated, put in good work and come home and still have a couple hours before bed. You can read a book, eat something healthy and much more within a day. And that’s just one day out of 365 in a year that can completely change your life. It’s amazing how much time we have but at the same time, we don’t have much time – it feels like it flies by.

Q. If you could be any superhero which one would you like to be? Or what superpower you would you like to have?

A. I would love to be Batman, mainly because he doesn’t have powers but still goes out there and protects his city. He has one motive and that’s taking care of the city. He doesn’t care about having a wife or kids, only about being Batman. It just seems like there’s a real side to him that when you find it, it’s the true human of Batman. I just love the fact that he’s 100% human and is a really cool character.

Q. If there was an emergency, perhaps an earthquake or a flood, where would you go first?

A. I’m not quite sure. I think my first reaction would be good, but then my second reaction would be way better. If there was an earthquake I’d go to a lower shelter, somewhere like my basement. I think if there was a flood, I’d be dead. I’m not good with floods. But I’ll try my best.

Q. Is there a heaven and hell? If so, what does it take to get to either place?

A. I’m not sure. But this is my motive – if there’s a heaven, then there’s a hell. But if there isn’t a heaven, there is no hell. There can’t be just one. There’s always good and evil. That’s just life. It’s amazing, crazy and wild. If there is heaven and hell and if you are true to yourself and you love everybody, you will most definitely go to heaven and God will accept you. I think if you go to hell, you’re not necessarily a bad person but you’ve done some horrible things and continue to do them without knowing they are horrible. I think God wants to help bad people, but at the same time it’s hard for most people to come back from what they are. It’s unfortunate that life tends to be that way sometimes.

Q. Is love a real thing? If so have you ever experienced it?

A. Yes, love is absolutely real in my mind. Out of everything, love is something we all need to believe in. Right now, I think I’ve experienced love for my parents and family. With my girlfriend, I’ve never really had a relationship like this before. We do say “I love you” to each other.

Q. What things are you most scared of?

A. I used to be terrified of ghosts and all that stuff on TV but then I realized there’s other things to be scared of like losing somebody. I’m pretty scared of psychopaths, pedophiles, and murders. But that’s part of the reason why I want to become a police officer, so I try my best not to be scared of them. I think even if I can’t help them, I just want to make sure they are in a place where they can’t harm anybody.

Q. Who is your hero or heroes?

A. I think I have many. A couple would be Mohammad Ali and Michael Jordan. At the end of the day, it comes down to my mom and my dad. I think I lean more towards my dad. He’s had a hard time growing up. I don’t know much about it but I know enough to know he did not have an easy life. Now he’s here paying for my hockey, basketball, and spoiling me because I’m his only son. It’s amazing to think about how far he’s come from what he was dealing with years ago.

Q. Thank you very much for answering my questions.

A. No problem.

Transcription and editing services provided by Shalyn Arseneau