“As soon as I got home, I put the uniform on and looked in the mirror. I liked what I saw. At this point, not a single Kelly Street friend of mine was going to college. I was seventeen. I felt cut off and lonely. The uniform gave me a sense of belonging, and something I had never experienced all the while I was growing up; I felt distinctive.” (Paragraph 9, Line 3)
This part of “My American Journey” by Colin Powell provides the reader with Colins’s experience while he was in ROTC when he attended CCNY. While he had been in school and in CUNY, he had begun to feel isolated, and his self-isolation coupled with his growing up in an immigrant family had coalesced in his mind. This moment influenced his perception by instilling an image, a representation of his values and what he was working towards. This was monumental for someone so young, someone who lacked direction, he finally valued the uniform and that changed his concept of himself and assisted him as one of the many steps he took to reach his achievements.
I like the quote you referred to, that was the first time he felt he belonged after a long time.
Good.