This I Believe
I believe that no matter what a person goes through that is negative in their life; they can learn from it and allow it to become a motivation for them to achieve something greater. I understand that some things we go through may be so painful that it knocks us off our feet and sometimes throws us on our back. However if we can look up and still see the sky there is hope for us yet.
I’ve come to this understanding of life through my own personal experience, such as while my mother was busy getting high, drinking alcohol and sleeping around with different men, I became a mother to her eleven children and a subject of attention for her drug addicted husband. I was molested day in and day out, I changed diapers, made bottles, got up throughout the night to comfort the crying baby, went to hunger center to get food, and took my siblings to every free lunch available to the community. While doing these things I managed to go to school some days, drop off and pick up my siblings, go to church and still keep my faith in God that my troubles wouldn’t last always. I had to keep my faith; it was the only thing outside of school that kept me from going crazy.
I have always been strong, wise, and determined; no one had to tell me these things because my life itself told me. I have always known that I had a greater purpose in life because my church often taught that you have to suffer onto the Lord, so I knew that my suffering wasn’t without a purpose. My experience with my mother should have made me an evil, bitter person, even towards her, but it did not and it has not. I know this because many times I could have ran away, turn my mother in or blatantly not gave a damn about anyone or anything, and caused as much harm and hurt as I was experiencing, but I did not let my horrors keep me down, because when I was down I could always look up and see the sky. So as long as the sky was there when I looked up I knew I could get back up, dust myself off and keep going. I learn from my past and I let my past shape my future. I knew never to do drugs, overly consume alcohol, and use my body as a way to gain means, along with many other things. I even learned that often someone is always worse off than you are. So I’m very glad I learned these things, I’m grateful for my life experience because I know that no matter what anyone goes through, you can rise above it, learn from it and move on. This I believe!