I have lived in two different worlds my entire life being raised one way at home/church and another way in the streets. I was raised by a religious family that was very strict and traditional. Even though I did not understand what was really going on in church, I tried my best to understand the bible,the commandments and how to show respect. My family is Pentecostal, which is a form of Christianity, however, I attended a Catholic school from grades 1st through 8th. By the 6th grade, I was already exhibiting signs of a rebel, I was a curious and crafty kid. I was looking forward to high school, I wanted to go with most of my friends and I was really excited about all the fun we were going to have. The school we were going to attend was another religious school named Bishop Loughlin unfortunately for me the tuition was too high. I was really upset about it, it fueled me with negative energy that was building up that led me into more trouble. My mother wanted to keep me away from trouble so she tried to send me to a school that just opened up, I did not know anyone I was alone.My mother was in for a rude awakening, it was like giving a puppy to a pack of wolves to train it I had to adapt to survive. I had so much going on that I could not control my temper or stop being disrespectful.
By the time I got to high school I had already chosen a path that was the opposite of what my family wanted for me. My personality attracted the wrong crowd which led to me adapting to survive and got me sent away to Plainfield, New Jersey. From there on I only got worse my attitude and my actions caused karma to come back around but when you’re younger you never think twice in the heat of the moment I got so deep into street activities I almost lost my freedom and my chance to finish school. I managed to graduate on time thanks to my intelligent sister, she always kept me focused on whatever I was doing. After finishing school I spent a lot of time in the street and at work, it was not until I lost friends that were murdered that I knew I needed to change. I was angry, confused, and sad I could not believe that innocent people got their lives taken before they even reached 18. I did not think I could make it to the age of 18 yet alone hear about good people dying from gun violence. Losing them made me realize how much I did behind the scenes, and how I managed to do bad things and still have my family believing that I was an innocent person. To my family I was known as the good young man that went to church, in reality I was the person people called on when they needed help. I was very loyal and always watched my friends back like I did my family, there was very little I would not do to help or protect them. The more friends I lost the more time I spent at work and away from the street, I cannot count on my fingers how many times my life was spared. I felt bad leaving some friends behind, some of them needed me, others did not want me to succeed, and just did not want to grow up. It took me a while to grow up I had to go through a lot, I came a long way Im respectful, mature, and more open minded to being positive. I took a lot of losses and I learned from them as well as others, I also have a great support system which is my family. I’m not the man they hoped I would be but I definitely exceeded expectations these last couple of years and graduating college is going to make them that much.
