I believe in hard work. I believe that nothing worthwhile comes from being lazy. All good relationships, possessions, and knowledge that I have came from hard work.
It would be easy to just say, “I’m not going to do my schoolwork,” or, “I’m not going to forgive him for what he said to me.” However, I do not believe that that is the way things are supposed to be.
My brother got involved in the wrong crowd at a young age. He chose a path that hurt, deceived and alienated his family from his life. He would not change, and eventually moved out of the house because of it. He soon hit rock bottom when he was evicted from his apartment, lost all the possessions in his apartment, and was facing living in his car. By the grace of God he made it to rehab in a city 20 minutes away from my house. Every Sunday my family has the opportunity to visit him, and I have gone almost every time.
I believe that this hard work of going to visit him really matters. Our relationship was destroyed a long time ago, but it is beginning to come back one baby step at a time.
It will be a long time before my brother makes it out of rehab. It will be a longer time still until my family can trust him again, and it will be an even longer time before I can learn to trust him again. But, I believe my hard work will be worth it.