Who are you?

Allot of people will not stop and think about who they are or how they got be where they are in life now. I do every day. I think allot about my past because it has made me into the person I am now. It has shaped me to become the hero I am to my children, the inspiration to those around me, and the man I am today. But most people don't know who I really am. Most people don't know what I have been through. Most people only see what I want them to see, and that is about to change. 

This sign is one I will make in my own version and I will always have it hung in the basement, shop, man cave where ever I will spend most of my time. 

I have seen things that most people will never see. I have watched my best friend Die, I held my girlfriend at 14 as she bleed out after being shot. I ran with some of the baddest gangs in my youth and I was able to get out and change. Most do not. Most are killed or beaten so badly that they will never say anything. Thankfully I escaped with my life but I lost allot too. I lost my youth, I lost my family, I lost my sanity as I was first so paranoid that everyone around me was out to kill me or hurt those I have loved. 

By the age of 15 I had turned to alcohol to cope, at 16 I turned to drugs to escape the reality, I had turned to a bad part in live to try and end it all. Over the next 2 years the depression came and went in waves. I would be feeling better and I would walk down the streets 4000 km's away and I would see someone that looked like my girlfriend or friend and I would fall right back into that. It really sucked. I never really went through the grieving process.

I moved home and I saw the guys I ran with, it was sad. Of the 30 or so guys in the gang over half were dead, the rest were hooked on the hardest of drugs, and only 4 or 5 walked away and never looked back. I realized that what I feared was nothing anymore. That was when I was 18. 

Now in my 30's I look at this sign and I think about those who lost their way and was never able to find themselves, to be saved, or even had a chance to become an adult. Do I think that if my life was the "Normal" typical movie family would I be sitting here now with my own kids, telling them about what not to do in life? No not at all. If I had a "Normal" life I wouldn't be helping the homeless or the ones in such great need. 

This is just a small part of my life. and when I say small part I mean about 1% One day I will write a book telling of my life, One day I will share my story in full, but right now I am still writing my chapters in my great book. But the main question is "who are you?" What made you the person you are today? What is your story? Share it, Tell it, Inspire others.