Being The Back Bone And Mentor

However, I found myself devastated and confused when my older brother got killed by a stray bullet after attending an after school program during my freshman year of high school. Instead, of seeking retribution I surrounded myself with a great mentor and kept myself focus towards my education.To this day I continue to battle with numerous of obstacles but, I know I have to step up to become a better leader and provider for my younger siblings.

At the age of fourteen Bonnie Phillips, (my grandfathers daughter) had moved out with her boyfriend Michael James Coyle because she was pregnant. My grandfather tried to get her to stay home, but my mother wouldn’t. My mother then had my brother at the age of fifteen, then later at the age of eighteen was having me in 1997. I really knew my grandfather that well because of this situation. I seen him every once

Alex Martin aka Al whose an african american male who’s 6’1’’,dark brown hair, and allergic to peanut butter has spent the last 9 years in jail.Al went to jail because he robbed a bank.Al’s first impression on the people he first seen when he got out of jail was he didn't care about anyone but himself.When Al seen his mother the first thing she said was how did you get that scar on your face.Al told his mother in his deep voice that he got into a fight with another inmate about who get’s to sleep on the top bunk,and he pulled a knife on him and sliced the side of his face.Alex told his mother he was going to get a job as a mechanic.Al’s dad walked inside his home stumbling and knocking things over.Al was tired of seeing his dad always drunk

I was raised and adopted by my grandparents, after both of my parents decided to

You know - living in a slum, his mother dead since he was nine. He spent a year and a half in an orphanage while his father served a jail term for forgery. That's not a very good head start. He had a pretty terrible sixteen years. I think maybe we owe him a few words. That's all.”(Page 13)

He looked up to me. This innocent creature had no idea of the impact he was about to make on me. Suddenly I realized that I was no longer the baby of the house, but somebody's older sister. It was time for me to start doing things on my own, and the right way, in order to be an example to him. I became the person he came to whenever he needed homework help, help to tie his shoes or help to get of trouble. We became partners in crime. Despite the age difference, it wasn't very hard to realize that my little brother had easily become my best friend. Watching him grow encouraged my passion for teaching. Having my little brother by my side all the time was the first time I was able to work with a child and watch a child grow daily. It was the first time I was able to teach someone new things, create activities with him and actually work with a young child. I may have been teaching him how to write or read, but he was teaching me how to grow as well. Seeing how he grew and looked up to me allowed me to believe that I could actually become a positive role model in someone else's life. He reassured me that becoming a teacher is what I wanted to do and motivated me to grow as an

As Keller (2011) argued, children suffer what is called ambiguous loss when they have a guardian that suffers substance abuse and is physically or psychologically absent. This is a relational problem that occurs when there is no set ritual or public validation for the loss felt. The activities that Trenise associated with a family became nonexistent, as her oldest two siblings became the ones responsible for feeding her. Her attachments and social networks were disrupted upon entry into foster care, and abruptly one day she goes home to her mother, significantly older. Trenise has not properly developed a sense of identity and has not properly grieved her feelings. Even though she loves her mother, there is confusion in her role as to what she thinks and feels, as she struggles to socialize in her environment.

While reading the story “Sonny’s Blues” by James Baldwin I could not help but think about my own brother while growing up. From a very young age I always felt as though it was my job to keep him safe and on the right path. We did everything together, played sports, played board games, watched television, we even had some of the same friends. Sometimes I felt more like a second mom to him than his older sister.

(Munsch & McGraw, 1986, p. 8). Yet, her love for him never wavered, every night she would “crawled across the floor, looked up over the side of his bed; and if he was really asleep she picked him up and rocked him back and forth, back and forth, back and forth” and sing those precious words (Munsch & McGraw, 1986, p. 10). This story reveals a moral code of unrestricted and unconditional love that every soul needs to be reminded of. Moreover, it is also a representation of the circle of life that every human being faces. “The story explores not only the young boy’s life but also the mothers and her

Payton was very patient with me during this time, he listened and did as I told him. He was completely innocent, and that made the process a little easier as Payton didn’t know exactly what was going on. During this time Austin had matured quickly and learned a vast amount of skills, including new life outlooks, and he started to understand ways to cope with death. Austin now packed with these experiences gained a new sense of life, and without Payton, his little hero, he wouldn’t be the person he is today. In conclusion Payton a child 10 years younger than Austin gave him hope and allowed him to become a better person, showing him how to be compassionate to someone who has lost a family member. Payton had managed to stay strong and started to understand something that was beyond him. Within his innocence he always had a reason to smile or laugh, finding fun in the little things like imagination. This gave Austin an abundance of laughs and a reason to smile when he couldn’t smile any

He was a boy scout, sang in his school choir, went to church camp, and went on mission trips with his church. His mom always said that he had a keen sense of how things worked, and an infectious sense of humor that could make anyone laugh. He started to change his sophomore year of high school when he began spending more time alone in his room with the door shut. He called his mom the night of Thanksgiving to tell her that he was going to be out with some friends and not to worry. But of course, she was worried sick. The next day his mother took him to the doctor and had him drug tested, just to find out that he had been abusing prescription drugs. After this, everything changed. He was monitored very closely and he was not allowed to shut the door to his room. Kent stayed clean for about two years until he had to get his wisdom teeth pulled out his senior year in high school, and as a normal treatment, he was given prescription painkillers to help with the pain. His mother filled it and put it in the cabinet, noticing that a few days later the bottle looked quite different. She asked Kent if he taken any of the medication and he confessed to taking a few extra than what was prescribed. His mom then asked him why he wanted to do drugs and he asked her to remember a time that she felt her best. Then as she contemplated it, he began to tell her about how your first high is greater than the best experience one has ever had. Kent didn’t

I have been a sister all of my life, from when I walked my first steps, to when I drove for a car the first time. When those things happened, my brothers were there. They were there to help me up when I fell down, they were there to scream in the back seats while I drove them for the first time. But they didn’t always help me, they didn’t always care if I fell down, they wanted me to get up on my own. They would even push me down, to see if I could get back up. But I now realize, all those times they pushed me, pulled me, and shoved me down, I became the person I am today. I am able to defend myself, I am able to stand up for what I believe in (because of all the arguments), and I am able get back up, when everyone else is down.

Her mother had addiction issues that contributed to volatility in her home life-- her sister had a different father and neither dad was consistently present for their upbringing. Trena experiences moderate feelings of ambivalence toward her mother, stating that if anything happened to her, she would prefer that her sister raise her son, Keith, rather than her mother, because her mother’s parenting style contributed to Trena’s own addiction issues (personal communication, 2016). She has, however, been recently engaged in rebuilding her relationship with her mother. Trena currently enjoys and deeply values a good relationship with her sister, to whom she looks up to, is sporadically engaged with her uncle (helping him—he has physical and mental health issues) and is very close with her son. Trena’s sister, Jennifer, recently had a new baby and is involved in a healthy relationship with a responsible and loving partner. Trena’s respect for her sister is considerable and is largely due to the fact that Jennifer has rebuilt her life after spending time in prison and losing her previous children. Jennifer is now very stable and is growing her skills with a goal of working in social

Moments later, the narrator thinks of a story that has been happening for a couple of years right across the street from her. This story includes a woman and her son, a drug addict. In this story, she describes how the woman became a junkie in order to maintain a close relationship with her son. The narrator ended the short story by saying that the son eventually gave everything up and left the city making the mother feel hopeless and alone. This is not what her father was expecting, he says " You misunderstood me on purpose...

My brother is not just someone I share blood with but someone I can rely on and look up to. Patrick, my seventeen year old brother, has been by my side since I was a little baby. My youngest memories are of Patrick and I running around in our backyard laughing. As he grew older, I began to look up to him. He was everything I aspired to be: intelligent, passionate, and athletic. Patrick always seemed to know what he wanted in life, and I admired how he chased down his goals. There were points in my life when I was very unmotivated, especially when I was seven years old. Insecure and unsure, I did not believe in myself from a very young age, and Patrick was there for me when no one else was. He made me believe in myself and my own abilities above anything else. I have my big brother to thank for finding the strength to persevere through my struggles and overcoming my obstacles.