Heroes

In my life, I have encountered many experiences. The lessons i have learned have at sometimes been insurmountable, but somehow, I always find a way to overcome adversity. I believe everything happens for a reason. I wish sometimes I could go back and change the things I did, but I suppose it was all in God’s plan. I have always made my life more difficult than it nedded to be, but I am glad I still alive to share the experiences I overcame.

When I was just eight years old, my mother and father divorced. My older brother was thirteen and I know it affected him more than it affected me. At the time, my mother was an alcoholic, and most of the arguements occurred when she was drinking. My parents would argue well into the night, and it was hard for me to fall asleep. I remember going into my brother’s room so he could reassure me everything would be alright. There were seldom times me and him got along as children, and this was one of those times. There were many nights this happened. My mother would be more talkative to me once she had a few glasses of wine. I was always embarrassed when my friends came over because she would always try and entertain us when we were already in the middle of playing in my room. The hardest part about my parents separating was splitting the time between the two of them. I would go one with my mother and the one week with my father. My brother wanted to live at my father’s house so I only saw him two weeks out of the month. It was very hard for me to swallow all of this at only eight years old. I have always been the person to try to make amends with everybody, even when the situation had nothing to do with me. I would try to get my parents together by telling the other parent one of them wasn’t going to show up at a ball game I was playing. I would try and lie and tell my mother that my father missed her. I was trying to force them to stay together when in reality i couldn’t do anything about it. I still feel this way today. I try to help out with all my might, but I can’t help everyone. Some people you just cannot force their hand. My life wouldn’t have turned out the way it is now if they hadn’t been divorced. I was forced to grow up faster than the rest of my friends. I wanted to be a kid with both his parents attending the game at the same time, and sitting next to each other when they watched me. I felt a little nervous at my games because of this, even though I still was a very good athlete. They still do not talk to this day.

When I finally attended high school, I began getting into a little more trouble as I got older. I never knew why I was rebellious. I think maybe my friends in my class looked up to me because I didn’t care about anything but sports, and I hung out with the older classmen and did the things they did. My freshman year I got in trouble for passing counterfeit money in the school cafeteria. I do not know what I was thinking I was going to accomplish by doing this in the long run. I was only thinking about making money the easy way. I was kicked off the basketball team that I worked so hard to make the starting rotation. I suspended from school for five days, I had detention everyday for the rest of the school year, I had to pay the school back along with all the other kids involved in the situation, and I had attend a summer class about morality. I remember a federal agent came and talked to us about the severity of our actions, and how counterfeit money was a federal offense. I did not know how big of a deal this really was. I think I just got caught up in the middle of everything that was going on and I did not want to not be cool. I had a reputation to uphold. I was the crazy Italian kid who didn’t take anything from anybody. I would never back down to anything, no matter how dumb the challenge was. I still did not learn my lesson even after this occassion.

When I was a senior, I was apart of beating up a kid off of school grounds. I thought I was doing the right thing by bring a bunch of people to jump this punk from a different school. His friend jumped my friend on school campus and I thought I had to do something. I never could let things just happen when I witnessed them. I felt I needed to bring justice to the situation but I am not God. I didn’t want to wait for something to happen without involving me. I didn’t think anything would happen to the kid. Nothing ever did happen to that kid when he beat up people. The type of person I am and have become, lead me to join the United States Marine Corps. I always felt obligated to help those who couldn’t help themselves. I was always physically and mentally strong. All the experiences in my life molded me into the man I was becoming. However, I am still human, and I still made mistakes even as a Marine. ng a controlled I was discharged for having a controlled substance in my system. Everything I had worked for was now gone within the blink of an eye, or the sniff of one line to be honest. I was crushed by my lack of discipline. I felt less of a man in my life. I couldn’t tell my father for he would never look at me with the same eyes. I still do not think he knows the real reason why I was discharged from the Marine Corps. I know i need to tell him before I leave this life, but I just do not know if I could handle his reaction. After I came home fromCamp Pendelton, I was stuck in rut. I still continued to use drugs because I didn’t care anymore. I had that i don’t give a crap attitude that I just didn’t care about life and living anymore. I got a DUI close to St. Patricks day, and I spent a week in jail. Nobody really cared that I was once a Marine. Life just keeps on moving on, and I wasn’t moving forward at the time. I was still mad about losing my title as a Marine. I was just ashamed for a long while, but after losing everything I had in my life, I have started to make a recovery. I do not use anymore, and I hardly drink alcohol anymore. i believe Jesus, my Lord, has given me a great gift in overcoming the obstacles I encountered in my life. I know there will always be more hurdles to jump in my life, but as long as I keep my head focused, not get discouraged, I can overcome anything in this world. I owe alot of mery to my recovery to my parents. They gave me a place to sleep and helped me restore my faith in God. I could not have been able to be positive and share this with you if it wasn’t for my loving family. Thank you for reading this and God Bless. Never give up!

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