You Ever Wonder How You've Gotten So Far In Life Vol: I wasn't Supposed to Make It

[haiti5]

Im not one to brag or boast..but i was just thinking last night, with all the killings in Chicago recently about how far ive gotten in life.
like its crazy raised in a single parent home, low in come for some time, gang and drug infested neighborhood. and from attending one the best high schools inthe nation on scholarship, now im graduating from a decent university in June and going to law school in a few years.
Like all the odds were lined up against me and somehow somewhere someone was always lookin out for me.

So all in all. count your blessings

 

[premium911]

Single mom, low income, bad neighborhood.. Only father figure was my uncle and he wasnt the best role model you can have growing up... I had a lot of familyaround so it helped me a little.. I went to the marines and did my time ... Now i got a beautiful baby girl, my own apt, and I enjoy life day by day... Im gladto be here.

 

[blackmagnus514]

no.

i busted my !$+.

i'm a lil bit more arrogant about it compared to people i know in more adverse situations....but life is what you make it.

 

[danikerhino]

Seperated parents, %@%*-up step-dad, moved from neighborhood to neighborhood (most of them were hoods), low-income, and my mom choosing my step-dad over herkids (still gets to me).

I'm not "there" yet, but I'm glad that I'm making an effort.

 

[str8haze]

Originally Posted by blackmagnus514

no.

i busted my !$+.

i'm a lil bit more arrogant about it compared to people i know in more adverse situations....but life is what you make it.

I'm the same way...came from a low income family, I'm in college now and work 2 jobs, full time IT tech and a bartender on weekends. I got here onmy own, through hard work and sacrifices, so all these people I know whining about being broke and such are jus lazy or made bad choices imo.

 

[haiti5]

if u think solely your hard work got you to where you are..i dunno what to tell..but im not living ya life so i cant really speak

 

[dearwinter219]

All the time. I got 4 or 5 of my LITTLE __S from the hood pushing daisies now. I mean, these were the GOOD kids Jugo, ya feel me?. And through all my hardheadedness, dumb *@@+ I've done, hot *@@+ I've done and whatever....I'm still HERE. Even after my moms died, I thought I'd be dead in 6 monthsjust cuz I lost the ability to give a %@+! about stuff and figured it would come back to me. But it hasn't. And now I'm in college too. And I'mmaking music. I just feel so fortunate, ya know?

 

[joebonnano]

I wonder how many people will come in here and make this a contest, or a My City's crime > Your City's Crime...

Anyway, nobody ever made it that far alone. However, saying you weren't supposed to make it this far is defeatist, and I don't like it. Just thoughtyou should know.

I will say that the stacks are against a lot of us, but the fact is, with that "because of x and y, z should be the outcome" thought process, its nowonder why there are so MANY of us out here like that right now.

I've been here enough years to have a few people who know some things about my past, so I'll just talk about the now:

Work in the hood you wish to change. That's the only way we can build things up. You don't have to have your business there, but work with the peopleyou're ashamed of/want to see change. All this "I made it out" talk is useless if you just let your neighbor stay the same...

My Two Cents... Apologies...

 

[dearwinter219]

Originally Posted by JoeBonnano

I wonder how many people will come in here and make this a contest, or a My City's crime > Your City's Crime...

Anyway, nobody ever made it that far alone. However, saying you weren't supposed to make it this far is defeatist, and I don't like it. Just thought you should know.

I will say that the stacks are against a lot of us, but the fact is, with that "because of x and y, z should be the outcome" thought process, its no wonder why there are so MANY of us out here like that right now.

I've been here enough years to have a few people who know some things about my past, so I'll just talk about the now:

Work in the hood you wish to change. That's the only way we can build things up. You don't have to have your business there, but work with the people you're ashamed of/want to see change. All this "I made it out" talk is useless if you just let your neighbor stay the same...

My Two Cents... Apologies...

It's not really a contest if you aren't from Chicago. Right now, My City's crime >Your City's crime, and I'm not bragging orproud of that.

 

[haiti5]

All the time. I got 4 or 5 of my LITTLE __S from the hood pushing daisies now. I mean, these were the GOOD kids Jugo, ya feel me?. And through all my hard headedness, dumb *@@+ I've done, hot *@@+ I've done and whatever....I'm still HERE. Even after my moms died, I thought I'd be dead in 6 months just cuz I lost the ability to give a %@+! about stuff and figured it would come back to me. But it hasn't. And now I'm in college too. And I'm making music. I just feel so fortunate, ya know?

keep at it man. thats why i say its more than jus workinas hard as you can. i jus feel like somebody has been walking with me all these years from gettin robbed to gang activity all that b.s.

 

[dearwinter219]

You already.. I mean *!@%, I've come to far to give up now, $### it! That's how I feel...

It's rough out here in the G, but if MJ and Big Dog can "make it'", I feel like I'm destined to.

 

[getmoneyforever]

Originally Posted by DearWinter219

You already.. I mean *!@%, I've come to far to give up now, $### it! That's how I feel...

It's rough out here in the G, but if MJ and Big Dog can "make it'", I feel like I'm destined to.

We seen too many go young and old. I am happy I made it to 20

 

[dearwinter219]

^ Word to Dommo, B. Smith, Lil Vince, Lil Briscoe, Shante, Jolly, Howard, Nod G, etc.... aye who is that rolling in that white Bonnie with Dommo and B.Smith's names on the back window. That $+*$ is

 

[joebonnano]

DearWinter219 you just real argumentative, huh? And why? You just nervous about that interview?

I won't get into it, my point in the post from before was that this isn't necessarily NEW news... This type of thing happens every day, especially inCities like Detroit, Cleveland and Chicago. What is it you plan to DO about it, though? You just gon say "hell I wasn't supposed to make it out"or are you actually gonna do something positive besides beat the odds?

 

[solesurvi0r7]

Single parent home, low income, struggled for a minute and then my moms and I packed up and headed south. Now she has a house, car, nice job, etc and herson's shipping out in 3 weeks.



I myself got caught up in boosting cars. Never got caught, now I've given up that life and am focusing on bettering myself. I could have been caughtslipping a few times.

 

[seymore cake]

I can honestly say that I feel priviledged to be able to look back at the journey I've traveled and see what I've accomplished. Like a lot of peopleI've been through my fair share but while I was going through it, it never really struck me as "this is #$@*!+ up" because that's all I knewthe environment I was in, that's all I saw for a while . It took my mother to sit me down and really express how proud of me she was for overcoming what Idid for it to sink in.

But personally I honestly feel as tho I havent' come far enough.

 

[D Fly]

Man..I've had so many near death experiences in my life..it's almost hard to believe I'm still alive sometimes. Thankfully stuff is getting betterand I'm feeling better than I ever had in my life. Just gotta continue to work hard.

 

[haiti5]

I can honestly say that I feel priviledged to be able to look back at the journey I've traveled and see what I've accomplished. Like a lot of people I've been through my fair share but while I was going through it, it never really struck me as "this is #$@*!+ up" because that's all I knew the environment I was in, that's all I saw for a while . It took my mother to sit me down and really express how proud of me she was for overcoming what I did for it to sink in.

But personally I honestly feel as tho I havent' come far enough.
word it took my sisters and moms sittin down with me the other day cuz i was jus stressin to realize. cuz they always say youre makin us soo proudand i say im not even close to where i wanna be.

What is it you plan to DO about it, though? You just gon say "hell I wasn't supposed to make it out" or are you actually gonna do something positive besides beat the odds?

I understand what you sayin. on a personal level i stay goin back to help those that helped me. from tutoring to coaching whatever. but honestly ithink growing up watching my neighbor Brandon go to Whitney Young then off the U of I engineering did more than any talk or motivational speech could ever do.I saw another side of life outside of Englewood.

 

[dearwinter219]

Originally Posted by JoeBonnano

DearWinter219 you just real argumentative, huh? And why? You just nervous about that interview?

I won't get into it, my point in the post from before was that this isn't necessarily NEW news... This type of thing happens every day, especially in Cities like Detroit, Cleveland and Chicago. What is it you plan to DO about it, though? You just gon say "hell I wasn't supposed to make it out" or are you actually gonna do something positive besides beat the odds?

I wasn't even being argumentative. I was just saying that it's a well known (and frownded upon) fact that my city my very violent. I didn'teven realize you were the same cat from that other thread... I ain't checking for you like that dude..

 

[fantastic4our]

Whatever doesn't kill you makes you stronger.

Words I live by, so I "keep goin" like Jay told Free

 

[send one]

This is one question that I think about every so often. Falling into as many statistical catagories as I do. It sometimes surprises me that I made it this farin life and have accomplished what I have. Unfortunately I cant say the same for many of my friends and family. I'm just glad that all the near deathexperiences I've had were nothing more than that and that I was lucky enough to not get clipped like so many of my cohorts.

 

[joebonnano]

haiti5 wrote:
I understand what you sayin. on a personal level i stay goin back to help those that helped me. from tutoring to coaching whatever. but honestly i think growing up watching my neighbor Brandon go to Whitney Young then off the U of I engineering did more than any talk or motivational speech could ever do. I saw another side of life outside of Englewood.


I think our peers doing big things has a tremedous effect on what we do ourselves. But think about that lil dude who watched both of yall, but was too youngto really kick it with yall like that. All he saw was an older dud who looked like he had some things going for him just up and disappear. Now, you and I knowthat he went on to bigger and better things, but how this kid posed to know all that?

Successful folks tend to turn their backs on where they came from. I'm not making a crass generalization, I'm stating a fact. It's like you leave,then you do a lil at the dudes when they do wrong, but in all honesty, you ain't do it by yourself neither. SOMEBODY kept you in line. Whether thatwas moms (single or no), a teacher, a coach, whoever. I'm saying we need to be that person for somebody. Thats not a task that people like to take thesedays. Everybody wanna look out for number one.

Anyway, alls I'm sayin is them lil dudes is wylin for a reason, whether or not thats one we choose to acknowledge and try to curb is a whole notherdiscussion...

Regardless, I'm still proud of all you young cats making it this far...

 

[newkidtadagame]

Yeah, I do..often. Right now its tough, but I'm on the way to where I wanna be. Anyone that's had a hand in that, I thank.

 

[oo206oo]

I grew up in the suburbs, im not surprised in alive.

But i AM surprised im not making more money at this point, considering my level of talent. SMH at me.

 

[air kalo]

Originally Posted by premium911

Single mom, low income, bad neighborhood.. Only father figure was my uncle and he wasnt the best role model you can have growing up... I had a lot of family around so it helped me a little.. I went to the marines and did my time ... Now i got a beautiful baby girl, my own apt, and I enjoy life day by day... Im glad to be here.

Wow... subtract joining the Marines and the baby girl and we came up under the EXACT same circumstances. It's been tough but I'm really proud ofmyself and anyone else who's built themselves from the ground up. So many people take life for granted

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