Jhon Anger Personal Essay

When I lived in Haiti, it was always a competition. My grandpa used to tell me that

people can be selfish and I have to be the first one get up and last to go to sleep. “That forces

you to figure things out”, he would say. For me, it meant I had to be the one to push myself.

In my first year of high school” my family moved to the United States. All of my dreams

fell apart and I was scared of the change. For two years we lived at my Aunt’s house. We were

a family of five people sleeping in one room, which was hard,I had to be the bigger person and

be an example for my two little brothers. I learned life requires for sacrifice.

In the first semester of my junior year I sat in the back of my English class to hide myself

from the teacher. Because of my avoidance I was making myself fail the class. Eventually, one

of my aunts told me, “Life is not fair, but never be a person to let a door close in your face.” She

made me understand I had to work to get results and that inspired me to become a better

student. Going through these things made me a hard worker.

With so many big life changes going on in my life at once, I struggled to find myself. I

was shy and didn’t open up to anyone at first, but as I became more comfortable speaking,

reading and writing English, it gave me motivation to do well, encouraged me to move to the

front of the class and accomplish my dreams. Learning English was the hardest part of moving

here my freshman year. English is the first step in my life’s challenge so I can fit into this

culture. I have to start at the basics. This is easy to say in my head, but not that easy to do. So, I

have to put my head down, work hard, and focus.

Learning English makes me see that life is like a stairwell”,” it has its own progressions.

At the bottom, I have to build a strong foundation since without this, the whole building will fall

down. Education and mastering English is the foundation of my life. I can’t take a short or a fast
route to get where I want to go. With every step”,the windy season of life gets stronger with

more challenges. I have to face trouble and take on problems to learn the lessons and life skills

that will help me through future challenges. Everything I’m doing in life is a step up the stairwell

so I can run later on.