Success

Between an overly stimulating course load - comprised mostly of advanced placement classes - directing the school play, running my school’s theater club, acting as Vice President for the twelfth grade council, assuming the role of mother’s helper for my brothers, among other responsibilities, I manage to live my life to its fullest, avoiding the abyss my father has left me as his legacy, and striving to succeed as my own person. In a sense, it gives me a feeling of pride to know I had the willpower to overcome something seemingly irremediable. Having kept the identity of my father surreptitiously within my family, I procure looks of astonishment when people discover the true story.

It has not been easy for the past year and a half, but I have grown accustomed to having a father in jail; it has become second nature. To them, it was the same old story, heard every day. I am who I am today as a result of the opprobrious actions of my father. In an attempt to avoid thinking of the existing calamities that continue to breed within my home, I proceed to keep myself busy.

There are days in which I feel as if the world is collapsing at my feet, but I have resolved to keep on going. Sadly, yet thankfully, I cannot imagine being anyone else.

Although the consequences of my father’s actions that I have had to face are unimaginable, I am grateful that I had been destined to receive them. I do not dwell on the hardships I have been forced to endure, but rather work harder to rectify them. ng daughter and three utterly confused sons at home, using only what we had seen to depict the story no one ever wanted to hear. People find it hard to believe how well I have continued my life, and how successful I have been. I used to find embarrassment when I would be obliged to tell people, such as court-ordered counselors and social workers, about how my father had “messed up”.