Poverty a retrospect of beliefs with the wrong reality Essay

As children we see heart through a incompatible set of eyes than a nonher(prenominal)s, and we shoot the candor of our surroundings by how others arbiter us. We were the miserable kids of the neighborhood and the others kids let us hunch forward that. My parents divorced when I was 5 and issues were rough for my mother with 3 kids to sneak on welfare. We thought we had it bad. Some quantify, we didnt know where the next meal was coming from or who was spill to help if things got worse I remember we would stand in aura to receive the nutriment box for the month. mum would vex meals together and then she would get around for several weeks at a clipping, be on the road working for the roll Derby. We never knew who our babysitters were going to be or if they were going to tr kill us with about sort of dignity and appreciate. Many times we took matters into our own hands and got rid of them and others honest left, because we were non al looks the best be switchd kids in the founding, and we were al authoritys in whatever gracious of trouble. The cops would bring us home at least 3 times a week for doing some crazy thing in the neighborhood, or stealing something from the local store to eat.After a patch the cops and the store owners would just ask if we had something to eat or if on that point was something that we needed. Those were the days when good negociate did come together and help others that were less(prenominal) fortunate, and we definitely needed the help. Our cousins lived in Firestone Park, a suburb of Los Angeles. They had some of the selfsame(prenominal) obstacles to conquer except they did not moderate the confederation incite that we received. My aunt was a atomic number 53 mother and did not receive food stamps. As I think stomach now on the difference in the midst of our lives, and the obstacles they faced compared to ours, we had it made.We faced ch completelyenges just as they did I keep up been behind d ebar many times in my look. both I and my older brother had interventions that changed our lives. My brother found out that the only style to change his life was to change his surroundings and look for other ways to support himself and his family than drugs. in that location were no food boxes purchasable to my cousins and the cops were not as forgiving as they were in our neighborhood the cops took my cousins to juvenile h all last(predicate). thither is one difference between my cousins and my family they were half(a) black and white.They were not looked at with the same sympathetic eyes as us and they told us about the way they were handle by the large number of the metropolis, and putting you entirely behind bars was the only way to solve the problem. From early on in their lives, they had to face the harsh reality that they were not treated the same as others correct in their own familiarity. Being called call by the other kids in the neighborhood, they had to ma intain e very(prenominal)day just to earn respect and they became the aggressors. They did things that we never thought of at our age, simply that was the live they lived.My cousins went to juvenile hall very early on, and when they would get out, it did not restoration long for them to be locked up again. hot picnic of my cousins has spent over 3/ fourth of his life behind bars, and that is the only life he knows. We had spent a couple of days here and there in juvenile hall where they spent months throughout their teenage years. They did not be in possession of the same kind of caring community members as we did in our little break-dance of the world being a big city, iniquity was a way of life for kids there. There were not many options for the young stack and joining a gang and the reality of death was just an everyday part of life.Drug abuse was prevalent and my cousins excelled in the life of crime. If it had not been for the YMCA in our community and the people that were placed into our lives, things for us could have been just as it was for my cousins. Both of my brothers have been in jail a time or two, except for my youngest brother who is outlay the rest of his life in prison. He was sentenced to 25 to life, 25 to life and 18 years for crimes he was involved in 1994. I travel away from Stockton, atomic number 20 in 1996. My older brother moved away several years aft(prenominal) I did and he now lives in Waldport, Oregon. He is a well value part of the community.My journey began in 1995, subsequently suffering a heart pom-pom behind an overdose of Methamphetamine I knew that I needed to change my life when I woke from the coma, and the charges that I was facing from zip from the law for over 2 years. The strain whom I went in front of gave me my way out, yet the road was not going to be easy. I had to complete a drug program, pay up all my fines and go to parenting classes. My kids had suffered long enough they had to deal with all my addictions, the stealing, lying and cheating. It was going to be a battle, only I was uncoerced to do what it was going to take to put my life back on the objurgate track.The valuate looked at me and told me that if you do not complete this program and do all the requirements that I have set forth, that I would be facing 15 to 20 years straight time. thank to the Veterans Administration and a Stockton Sheriff named berthr Garcia, the judge was going to give in me a get hold of a lifetime. All of the charges against me were to be dropped, and my records slicked and I would have a refreshing start in life. The judge tell it was against his better judgment to give me this opportunity, tho I had a lot of people willing to give me a chance. He was looking forward to putting me behind bars.My cousins never had any kind of opportunities such(prenominal) as the one I was assumption and they were criminals and they would be punished to the full issue of the law. All of my co usins are in prison for life because of 3 strikes law. One of my cousins was not so lucky He was shot and killed by the Los Angeles police that said he had pulled out a gun but none was ever found. They called it justifiable shooting, as well as known as guilt by association. I look back at the events of my life and realize that we were not poor by any means compared to other families in the Los Angeles area.The opportunities we had been given were not there for them and although we committed some of the same crimes, their penalization was more severe. I could never reckon being where I am today. I thank God for the people I have had in my life that gave me some different perspectives and hope that I could have more than I ever dream of. I look at how my cousins were brocaded and they way we were, and there are similarities, but we had it easy compared to them. Being of two different nationalities and dealing with the everyday stresses of the big city life essential have been a burden that I am not sure if we would have survived.I must admit that life was not continuously rosy and wonderful, but we always had a roof over our heads and we might not have had the best meals but at least we had one. I am grateful to all the people I have had in my life that thought there was something to fight for and never let me give up hope. I pray for my cousins every day and give thanks to the victor for all that I have been given. industrial plant Cited . Howell, James, Decker, Scott H. The Youth Gangs, Drugs, and Violence Connection Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, January 1999. U. S. segment of Justice. Boyz N the Hood Singleton, John. 1991. Columbia Pictures