I am often
hesitant to write what is truly on my mind. Not because I am afraid to share my
stories—rather I am afraid of how others will perceive them. I was struggling
with this the other day when it hit me…
I own
everything that has happened to me—I own my stories. If people wanted me to
only write positive things, they should have behaved better.
This thought
was sparked by an anonymous quote that I stumbled upon. It asked, “If the world
was blind how many people would you impress?”
I am the
daughter of a violent offender—a statement that makes most people shutter. The
thing that people don’t understand is that this statement does not define who I
am as a person, nor does it define my father. I understand that more often than
not children follow in their parents’ footsteps; however, mine have always
encouraged me to follow my own path & to learn from their mistakes.We are all so quick to judge every book by its cover, there is a reason those words are considered to be “cliché”. The trick is to look a little deeper. If more people did then they might understand that sure, I may be the daughter of an ex-con, but I am also a sister, a girlfriend, a college graduate, a former collegiate student body president, a dreamer—a girl who chose to define herself.
If the world
was blind, would people still see your beauty?
