Inner City Youth example essay topic

March 7, 2003 The Frustration of Learning Who You Are In some of the early American Indian cultures when a young man reached the age of adulthood the men of the tribe took the young man off into an unknown region of the wilderness, without food, and there the young man would be left alone as he fasted and waited for the spirits to give him a vision; for the vision contained the secret to his destiny. The vision would give him an identity. The vision would determine what his name would be for the rest of his life. Once his vision had come, the young man could return to the tribe and take his place as an adult. The process was frightening, lonely, and frustrating, but it held the secret to what the young man would become. While our culture doesn't have a process such as this, there is still a process that every young man or woman goes through as they leave their teenage years and begin life as an adult.

For some of us the process into adulthood seems to flow easily, for others it may be more uncivilized than that of the Indian culture. The process largely depends on the people who help to shape and guide you through this difficult journey. Most parents don't stop to think that their words and their actions are helping to cast the vision for their child's future. When a young person grows up with criticism and condemnation, it is very difficult for them to see themselves as a success. Someone once said, "What you see is what you get". It is the vision within us that paints the portrait of our future.

How we see ourselves. How we think that other people see us. What I like about the Indian culture is that the young man went alone and the vision he received for himself determined his identity. No one placed a label upon him. His future depended on how he saw himself. The process into adulthood is a long journey that begins in the early years of our lives and even then it is painful.

You are five years old when your thrown into a whole new world. You are use to the normal events of life: waking up late, playing with your toys, and maybe even going to the store with mom. Then, all of a sudden, you find your self in a kindergarten, with a teacher and a group of kids you have never seen before. After a while you begin to like going to school and playing with your new found friends. You begin to form a new daily routine.

By second or third grade you are use to going back to school every August and seeing your friends. You come to expect and anticipate Christmas break, and finally the incredibly awesome summer break. It all becomes second nature. Then one day you realize that your about to start your first day of junior high. The process now changes some what. There are new things that now, begin to come to your attention, like girls.

You never pay much attention to them until the first time you walk onto that school campus. You are also faced with your newfound self-image. It's true, everyone has some image that they try to portray, and it is usually develops a lot during junior high. Also the issue of peer-pressure begins to have a greater impact on your life. Out with the old, "I dare you to throw this at the teacher", in with the new "want a cigarette?" type of pressure. This all becomes normal after a while and you are now pretty sure of what type of person you are.

Now it's that time when you are moving up into the high school arena. Forget what anyone else has told you, this is totally different from any other step you have encountered so far. You now have more freedoms than ever. You are so excited when you get that first set of keys to a car that is all yours. You can now go anywhere you want without having to ask mom or dad for a ride. You also now have the means of transportation to take your dating life to a whole new level.

(No, I didn't mean it like that) Before you and your girlfriend claimed that you where "going out", but where did you go. Did your mommy drop you off at her house or the movies, once a week? Did you only hang out while at school, and talk on the phone at night? Now you can go where you want when you want. (As long as she is home by 10: 00). During this time your circle of friends changes a lot.

It may be effected by whether or not you play a sport or the clubs you join, or it may just be that ya " ll grow apart and take different paths. High school is the most social level of any so far. Everything is centered around who you are friends with. Most of the time, you only go to events your friends are going to go to.

During your three year stay in high school your idea of who you are can change many times, but this just furthers your process of finding the true you. After you graduate you might move on into a work place or chose to continue your education by attending college. Both of these steps have a great impact on your self image too. But, the buck doesn't stop there.

School is not the only thing in your life that shapes who you are. The environment in which you grow up, also plays a major role in your development. American youth culture is diverse. Normal life in rural America is as different as night is from day when compared to life in urban America.

Not only is the culture different, the process by which one is accepted as an adult varies. For the inner city black or Hispanic youth, life is fast and hard. The majority of inner city youth come from single parent households, inadequate housing, limited economic and social opportunities, and the primary influences upon their values, morals and character come from a source outside the home, oftentimes a gang. For millions of inner city youth, the gang is their family. The gang gives them an identity. It is their source of security and acceptance.

It helps to establish their vision of themselves and their future. Their journey into adulthood is risky. Many never make it because it is a culture of violence. Their rite into adulthood is one of proving your manhood. Proving you are able to take care of yourself. When threatened you attack.

When questioned you defend yourself. When attacked you retaliate. It is a dog eat dog, blood for blood, an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth culture. Such youths never have much of a chance to discover who they really are because they are locked into a world where they have to be tough, angry, suspicious, and resourceful.

Imagine the frustration they must feel trying to compete in a world outside of the culture in which they grew up. Imagine what it must feel like to step outside your world and the rules of the inner city no longer apply in corporate America. Or maybe, the rules still revolve around a dog eat dog mentality, but we disguise the battle with three piece suits and legal briefs. I try to understand the frustration that they must feel.

One of my closest friends, Kevin, is black and grew up in the inner city. His father died of Aids from drug abuse, and his mom is dying of Aids and may not live to see Kevin graduate. I try to put myself in his shoes. What would I do if I were Kevin? No one to stand beside me in my journey into adulthood. No one to talk over life's crisis with when they arise.

The sense of aloneness that he must feel when he sees that it may be his responsibility to take care of his sisters after his mom dies. He doesn't have a dad to help him fix up a car. His family is on welfare. His mom is a drug addict and uses up the family income on herself.

He comes home to a dark house, a sick mom, and a family where there is never enough to make ends meet. Kevin's only bright spot in his day comes every morning when the bus rolls down and stops in front of his house to take him and his sisters to school. Education and sports is the only equalizer that many inner city youth possess. Their hope is not in a system that favors the beautiful, the talented, the charismatic, the educated, the successful, or those who live on the right side of the tracks. Their hope is that somehow, somewhere, at sometime in their lives they will get a break. That life will be good to them.

That they will be able to climb up out of the hole that circumstance and the choices of others has confined them to and that someday they will discover a better life. My life compared to Kevin's seems to be so unfair at times. I have a dad and mom who think that I hung the moon. I have never had to struggle to make ends meet. All that I have ever heard from my parents are compliments and praise. My family has helped to paint the vision of my future and destiny.

Whenever a crisis arose in my life, I had someone I could turn to for encouragement and support. I have never had to go it alone. I know that whatever comes I can face it because I am not alone. That is an empowering force in a young persons life.

The power of knowing that someone is standing behind and beside you, to make sure that you succeed. To hear that voice of encouragement urging you not to quit. My greatest struggles are miniscule compared to Kevin's. I don't worry about if my mom is going to be drunk or if she is going to die from aids. I come home knowing that when I get home, my laundry will be done, food will be on the table, I will be met by a smile and a hug, and I will hear these words, "Son is there anything I can do to help you today?" Do you understand the kind of confidence that places inside a person's soul? It is the power of love.

It is knowing that even when life gets lonely there is always a place of refuge that I can run home to and find a hiding place. I could go on and on about other frustrating events, that shape who you are, but I have only chosen the ones that I believe are the most important; school and environment are interesting, because they each have an array of lessons to teach you. If I went to school for twelve years, and never cracked a book, I would have still learned a lot. So I wonder, if I had attended a different school, would I have been different? If I grew up in a different environment, would I still be me? The truth is, I do not know.

All I do know is that I have pieced together my self image from a lot of different experiences. I see qualities that I have adapted from my house hold, my church, my school life, etc. And, I believe I might not have those qualities, if not for each and every process I have went through in life. 2,012 Words!