Street Talk

Temptations are the bases, of why young men fall victim to the streets. Imagine a young man living with two younger siblings in a single family home. The single parent barely makes enough money to provide a roof over the children's heads, let alone, buy food and clothes. That young man may fall victim to his surroundings outside the home. Selling drugs may ease the pain of being poor. Being in a gang may offer the love or companionship, the young man is yearning for. Both decisions sound promising at first but when violence is introduced, these decisions can become deadly. Thinking of future goals and ambitions will allow for an alternative to negativity. Making the right decisions will offer a more promising life. Taking charge or your life without making excuses will ensure negativity does not take control.

Living in an "urban" surrounding has many hardships. Young people are very impressionable. Being exposed to situations where negativity is the main element can potentially be harmful for adolescents. Thinking of your future goals and ambitions will allow for an alternative to negativity. I have found that the best way to overcome temptations is to think or my goals and ambitions. Evaluating where I want to be allows me not to get sucked into life's trials. Working toward my goals insures me that I only have to endure the negativity for a short period of time. I have seen drug dealers with flashy lifestyles majority of my life. I saw power in money as many other adolescents do. Growing up has allowed me to see my power is in my future. There is no bright future in selling drugs or joining gangs. Of the 1,171,365 juvenile arrests in 2008, 101,977 were drug related, 164,992 were assault and 670 were murder or manslaughter (U.S Department of Justice, 2009). The reality is that most teens who live in a negative environment do not believe they can become anything other than their environment. Their environment becomes who they are and eventually manipulates adolescents into thinking they need to follow the lifestyles of the streets to get ahead in life. Those negative minds may say school is for suckers or thinking of a better life is wasting time, but the truth is the only way out of a negative situation is to be positive and inspire yourself to be greater than those before you.

Everyone wants to be rich and have no financial worries. The easy way out of a financial crisis would be to rob, steal, or sell drugs but the outcome of all three is jail time. Making the right decisions in life will help anyone overcome obstacles. Personally I have made many bad decisions in life that have came back to haunt me. I have sold drugs, robbed, and stolen to get ahead. I believed that if I did not do what I had to do for me than no one else would. Like many adolescents, I did not have many positive role models. I made countless excuses for the decisions I made, as well as thinking what I was doing would make me fit in to

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