Monday, January 24, 2011

A Choice

A profile on poet Jimmy Baca really made me think about the people in this world.  A belief of mine is that you cannot excuse yourself from bad or destructive behavior just because you had a bad childhood or bad experience.  When we become adults we have the right and ability to choose who and what we want to be.
Jimmy Baca was abandoned by his parents when he was seven, lived in multiple detention centers, dropped out of school, was addicted to drugs and spent time in prison.  Not such a great life.  With all that we went through, Baca was able to make a choice to be something more. He became a poet and a writer. Now he is a teacher who helps children who are in his words the “worst of the worst.”
I admire that Jimmy was able to make a choice to want more and to be more.  He used the lessons he learned to help others.  With every event we experience, we have a choice; we can learn and grow from it, or we can let it destroy us bit by bit. 

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