Hi. My name is Lee.
All my life people have told me that I was bright and that I had a lot of potential. I usually did really good in school and I even got a scholarship to a really good college. The only thing that I wasn't good at was making friends. I was so shy and timid that I had a hard time talking to people. I just didn't fit in anywhere. Then it all changed. I started missing classes, getting into trouble and then I was kicked out of college. By then I had a pretty bad drinking problem and I was depressed all the time. I started hanging out with the other kids I grew up with that didn't have the same chances I had. We lived in poor neighborhoods and we had no idea how much our environment could affect our future. We weren't kids anymore and the only thing they cared about was the streets. By now I was abusing a lot of different drugs and my family stood by helpless not knowing what they could do. I was looking up to the wrong people and I couldn't even recognize myself anymore. I was really skinny, in poor health from all the drinking and covered in tattoos. I didn't care about dying because I didn't know how I wasn't dead already. I've been to the hospital plenty of times, so I started carrying a gun. To make a long story short, I went to prison. Twice. I never thought I would make it to see my family again, but I did. No more waiting on letters that never came, no more gangs, no more barbed wires and commissary. I should of died a long time ago, but I guess it wasn't my time. Now I'm with my family. I never cried through any of it, not even when I was in the hospital or in prison. When I was by myself and all alone in my room, I started crying. I suddenly felt so grateful to be home. My heart finally opened up and that fear of moving forward was gone. I had been bad for so long that I wanted to try being good for once. All I want to do now, is give to other people the best way I know how. Just decide who you want to be before someone else decides for you.