Life-Shaping Experience - Essay Example

Life-Shaping Experience There are many different challenges that one face in the of life. Some of thesechallenges are inevitable while others can be avoided. For instance, I was brought up in a humble background. We are four of us in my family. My parents are not rich and the life has been challenging especially in the effort to bring up a good family. With challenges of unemployment facing many people in china, my parents faced the same fate by not being able to secure jobs. We struggled in our education with many of times being out of school for lack of school fees. Nevertheless, I was able to finish high school education and was lucky to get a scholarship to further my studies. Rationale for my experiences that shaped my life Among the toughest experiences was the influence of my peers during my childhood life. Due to desperation in life, many children join the club of substance abuse. This acts as the only refuge for people that have different challenging encounters in life. Some of my friends destroyed their lives by engaging in alcoholism and other substance abuse. They were unable to complete their high school education despite the fact that their parents could afford pay for their fees. One of them succumbed to complications related to drug abuse. Others have been struggling to keep of drugs as they have been in and out of rehabilitation centers, but have been struggling to get out of the addition with no avail. After I finished high school, I did not know what to do especially because my parents were not in a position to further my education. I decided to join a group of gang that robbed people along the highway. I remember one instance where I decided to follow my friend to their shop at least to buy time since there was no other way of spending my time. It happened that as my friend went to get some snacks, I was left alone in the shop. I saw an opportunity to steal some money. I grabbed the drawer and picked some notes and hurriedly put in my pocket. Some moments later, my friend came back and we continued with chatting as usual. Two hours later his father came and my friend and I were released to go home as the father was left manning the shop. As his father was balancing the day’s sales, he realised that some large amount of money was missing. He was so angry that he almost killed his son for the loss. His son was astonished because he could not recall any moment where he might have misplaced the money. During the confrontation, I stared at the angry man and at some point I thought he would kill my friend. I decided to tell him the truth. My friend and his father could not believe what I said. They were amazed that I could do such a thing. However, his father was understanding and requested me to return the money. He told me that he forgave me and that I should change my behavior and start working so that I could get some money rather than stealing. During the incident, I felt it was not right that my friend could have been in trouble because of my actions. This is what inspired me to tell the truth to save my friend. Since then, I decided to change my behaviors and started looking for a job rather than stealing. My friend’s father was too generous that he allowed me to work at his shop and paid me some money at the end of the month. This was very instrumental in that I was able to change my behaviors and focus on things that could benefit me in a different way. I was lucky to have someone who decided to take me back to school for furthering my studies. In a different occasion, I was offered an opportunity to continue working on part time basis to enable me earn some money for upkeep while in college. Early this year, one of my friends completed his degree and came back home. He got a job with a local company. He has helped the community in different ways. He started some local based programmes that have since helped local people in uplifting their lives. This has encouraged me to continue working hard in order to enable me have a bright future and help my community. I also have a strong belief that culture to some extent acts as an impediment to development. From my culture, women are not allowed to work. It is believed that it the responsibility of providing for the family is bestowed on men as women take care of family chores. I believe this contributed to the suffering that we underwent. This is arguably true because if my mother was allowed to work, the little that my father managed could have been increased with what my mother could have managed to get. Additionally, domestic violence characterized the order of the day when we were young. My mother used to be beaten by my father as a way of disciplining her. We used to be beaten especially when my father came home drunk. This had detrimental effects on us especially my younger sister who was unable to cope with many stressing moments and decided to venture into drugs. Although many instances of problems that faced us were attributed to poverty, lack of social cohesion and education could be associated with what our family went through. Both of my parents are illiterates with my mother having little education for having dropped out of school before finishing her high school education. Conversely, in china, child labour is rampard. My other siblings dropped out of school and joined fellow children that worked in different firms. Their lives have been in a mess since they have not been able to have a good life especially on the basis of the little wages they get. They work for long hours and have little time off duty. This has led to their lives being a misery. Lesson learnt With many deliberations on the different challenges that we went through during my childhood, I dedicated myself to take opportunity of the scholarship that I was given in order to change my life and that of my family. I understand that education is indispensable and can be utelised to improve the lives of people. With an example of my friend who completed his studies and got a job at a local company and helped many local people with different projects, I look forward towards a bright future where my education will be used develop my community. With education, dangerous cultural practices that hinder development can be eliminated. I foresee having a successful family where my wife will be at liberty to do anything that will help the family. I will strive to see that my children will have quality life that will enable them have a bright future. In addition, I also learned that being honest is critical in every part of life. This begins with little things that people do in their daily activities to school and workplace. Honesty that I learned since I was a young child has made many people have trust in me, something that made my college sponsor to decide to take me back to school. In school, honesty has made me work hard to avoid issues of plagiarism that can jeopardize my education. This is something that I plan to continue with for the rest of my life. Poverty can be attributed to lack of strategies to fight social issues that affect our lives. Communities with educated people record less instances of crime and drug abuse because people in such communities are busy working. They design programmes and projects aimed at improving their community. This is what I set to to do after completing my education. I will channel all my efforts towards bettering my family and the community at large. I also learned that family that has strong bond have little problems compared to families that are constantly in conflict. However, this can be fostered by having social policies that can only be executed by learned people. In addition, I believe it is imperative to have measures put in place to help vulnerable children that are susceptive to drugs. This includes working with the government in putting up rehabilitation centers that can help such children. The same case applies to other social policies that learned individuals within a community can initiate with the support of the administration and other stakeholders. These facets set a pace for who I am today and what I intend to be in future. Besides, I would not like other children to undergo what I went through during my childhood. It is a bad experience that needs to be eliminated in the contemporary world. Culture should not be used to undermine development agendas in a community. Read More