Who respects Who

WHO Respects WHO?!

To respect someone or to respect something is one of the most valuable things to know. Many people lose friendships, spouses, even lives over this powerful word. In my opinion, people who have no respect for other people should not be respected. I believe that in order to get respect you have to show it and earn it. Some would argue that this is a thuggish mentality, and that respect is something that every person disserves; maybe so, but following this rule that a lot of people believe in… almost got me paralyzed, or killed!

I moved from California up to Washington when I was 5 years old. A couple of short months after the move, I was put into adoption. I moved from house to house till I ended up here in auburn. I lived here for some time before I was allowed to hear from or even see my mother. When I had turned 6 years old I had a choice if I wanted to go back to California and visit my family, so that I would not loose sight of whom and where I came from. So ever since then I have been going back during the summer to visit my family. As I got older, every summer I went back, it seems to get worse and harder to smile while walking down the streets.

The summer of my 13th birthday I went down to California; this was one of my scariest summers I have ever witnessed. My brother was a big shot in my neighborhood; a lot of people respected him and definitely didn’t mess with him. I had been running around with him and his gang since I was in the 6th grade, everything I did I made sure to show respect to those who respected me, and forget about the ones who disrespected me. I was still new to the game when I was 13 years old. I had walked into the wrong side of town on the way to the corner store. As I was walking down the ally-way someone from another gang came outside on there back porch and started shooting at me with a 22; I felt a burning sensation from on of his bullets, I stumbled and rolled to my shoulder that was hit. I remembered what my brother told me about what It feels like to get shot, and what to do when it happened “KEEP RUNNING” I rolled over to my stomach and sprinted to my cousins house that was just 4 blocks away. My cousin called my brother and told him that I had been shot at and that one of the bullets grazed me at the top of my shoulder. When my brother showed up my cousin had already started to sow up my wound. He left quickly with about 6 other guys; I don’t know what he went to do, but I know it had to do with that guy. All in all, if I had known that you can’t just walk into someone’s territory without someone checking you, I might have a different story to tell, and a different outlook on respect.