Voices

The better road

‘I knew that I couldn’t change the past, or who I was, but I could make a better future’

WESTMINSTER — My road not taken was a road to violence, skipping classes, and defiance.

I was a very defiant child when I was younger, and I got kicked out of my kindergarten and preschool. I wanted the world to feel what I did, because I was smacked around quite a lot.

In elementary school, I didn't do my homework and got sent to the principal's office at least once a day. I would go to school with a new bruise every day. I was very angry at the world.

Then my father wanted to send me to a boarding school, and I didn't want to go. I ended up going, but I continued the behavior. I got in trouble so bad, I was almost sent off campus for a suspension, and I was very close to being kicked out.

* * *

I saw what I was doing, what I was passing up, and opened up my eyes.

I was going down a path that I soon wouldn't be able to turn back on, so I decided to walk backwards. I saw that there was just darkness at the end - nothing for me.

I knew that I couldn't change the past, or who I was, but I could make a better future.

I went down the road of success, of making better choices after I saw what I could achieve and the person I could become.

This road had a light at the end, and the road before didn't.

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