Anto's Free Write HYE

Have you ever experienced  truth?
Truth, what is truth to most people? What does it mean to be truthful?  Well values I guess, now how do we get values? Religion, family, experiences, and the people you choose to be around are all  sources of the everyday values we create for ourselves. Where I'm going with this is that my truth will not necessarily be yours just like yours wont necessarily be mine. The "truth" I experienced is the truth of what my life means to me, I found it through the philosophical lens that is called Buddhism, and now I apply it everyday to everything I do, ranging from interactions from me to another person to the very key life choices I make every once in a while. I'm a person who believe wholeheartedly in himself and that the man next to him will do the same for himself, and that's how I've handled all that life can throw at me so far.

Have you ever read your way into oblivion?
Now by oblivion I mean into a place where books became your life? This has happened to me, I'm not very proud of the fact that I became a shut in for a brief part of my life but you know everyone has done something that they semi regret. Yet even though I regret doing this some good came from it. Unlike just watching the television i was actively learning about our world. The way of exploring the thoughts of others became a very interesting part of my life, I mean in forth grade I was reading and understanding Franz Kafka's Metamorphosis just because I liked the spin he put on life, what if I became a giant insect? how long would it take for my parents to become fed up with me? I grew up with books that made me think of things while my "friends" were reading Captain Underpants I was thinking about Raskolnikov from Dostoevsky's Crime and Punishment. Of course this lead to further separation from my peers. On top of my name, the way I looked, and the way I spoke, what I read made sort of a social outcast, and here is where I learned, better yet, obtained the patience I hold today.

Have you ever lived in a hood?
By hood I mean a large urban area controlled by gangs. Back in the day when I was in about second grade I moved from over seas back into the states and my dad was sent to an Army base in downtown Denver, Colorado, so we followed him, we ended up in a place called Aurora, Denver or at least Aurora Denver is infamous for its Crip / Blood gang activity. And of course we lived right on the edge of the territory or turf of each, so our cul-de-sac saw quite a bit of action. Action being drug trafficking, violence, prostitution. So obviously my parents were not that enthused about living there. We didn't quite have the money to move away right then so we rented and apartment and I went to school at Whiteman Elementary for a year. This was tough to say the least living here I saw a friend shot and killed, was asked to peddle drugs for each gang, and sat by unable to react when two others who were also good friends of mine killed themselves at the age of thirteen because they had "nothing to live for". This was an eyeopener to say the least but, I survived through sheer will and belief in myself and I feel that I'm a better person for it.