His Failure, My Drive by Carolina

His Failure, My Drive by Carolina - June 2014 Scholarship Essay

If I were to write a book it would be an autobiography. More descriptively the book would describe the morals I gained from my father’s decisions. I feel as though several people do not realize what they can grasp from the mistakes of others. Living in a low-income household with bad influences should not stop anyone’s potential to succeed; instead it should encourage success alone.
                                                                                                                                   
Just envision a bank account in your name that credits your account each morning with $86,400. The account transfers over no balance from one day to the next, and every day it erases whatever part of the balance you did not use during the day. So, what would you do with such an account? Use up every cent, of course! Each of us has such an account. This account is called time. Every morning you start out with 86,400 seconds, and every night it eliminates whatever of this you did not use. Each day the account is erased, the loss is yours. There is no restarting. You live in the present day on today’s deposits. I learned to invest my time so well to receive from it the utmost happiness and success. Time is ticking. Motivate yourself to make the most out of it. Learn from not only your mistakes, but the mistakes of those around you to create the best future possible. Utilize your hardships as motivation, instead of sadness. My entire life I was taught to make the wrong choices, but I realized I had to use my father’s failures to retain the utmost success in my life.

I was fourteen years old at the U.S. Federal Court in St. Louis, Missouri, when my father was last sentenced to imprisonment. Walking in not knowing what to expect, I walked out knowing that when I saw my father in a dull, orange jumpsuit and handcuffs around his wrists; it would be the last time I would see him for four years. My life was about to change, because of my father’s mistakes. On the five hour ride back home, I reminisced about all of the adversities I overcame and experienced within my life, so far. It definitely was not the first time my father had been in court, but this time it left the biggest impact on me. As I was gazing out the window with tears continuously flooding down my face, I suddenly felt a sense of determination inside of me. I then realized I could not allow this to hurt me, so I used it as an excuse to succeed. Right then, I felt as if I had the drive to take over the world.

My father’s last incarceration made me grow up more rapidly than the average adolescent. Watching my mother struggle to raise four children with a low income for four years left me with perseverance to obtain more than I ever had, more than my family has ever been able acquire. Within those four years I learned the true definition of respect, because I was old enough to realize that when people respected my father it was due to fear. I also understood how important my education was in order to succeed. Since my father was never sober and my mother was always working to put food on the table I was left with no other option than to become independent and responsible at a young age. Such a negative environment left me with the biggest sense of motivation to be successful.

When I was younger, I was constantly told not only by other adolescents, but also by adults that I had no luck in becoming successful, that I was going to be like my father. Those appalling remarks gave me a sense of perseverance. They gave me motivation to someday rise above those people and their awful remarks, to become something bigger than they declared, and bigger than I could ever envision.

Due to all of the mistakes my father made and all of the grief he put me through, I now have the motivation to make the correct decisions. I wake up every morning with the idea of success, and I am prepared to put those 86,400 seconds to hard work. When I wake up I envision myself rising above the reputation my father left upon my last name. I take all of the determination built within me to complete every single task, big or small to the best of my ability for myself and my family. Watching my father fail and my mother struggle taught me that if it is possible to do better, than I am truly not doing my best. All of my adversities gave me an idea of what I did not want in life, these experiences gave me my motivation to succeed. No one should be limited by their surroundings and by what others think of them.