One of the challenges that my dad has faced is that he has sacrificed many things for me and hasn’t retired yet and has to retire later in his life. One of the main reasons he hasn’t retired is because of my education. He is 63 years old and would love to retire but he doesn't have the money just to retire and live off of his money but he has to pay for my education. My whole life has been a challenge for me and my family. There have been a lot of sacrifices to make. A sacrifice my dad has made is that when I was four my mom had left me and he took me in. His whole life he has dedicated himself to me and he says he does everything for me just to give me a better life. These factors have affected me because I know I have to do well in school. After all, I have to make my dad proud and make every penny count that he sacrifices to pay for my education. The older my dad gets I start to realize that his body isn’t the same anymore and after work, he doesn’t have the energy to hang around and spend good quality time with me.
I have a 96-year-old grandma who helps me and guides me in the right direction. She is my heart and love. My grandma has been a role model for me in my life because she has been my mother figure by taking care of me ever since my mom left. She has always taken me to school and always taught me that no matter how wealthy you are or not, you never change and let it affect how you treat people. She will always have an impact on my life because she has been there for me no matter the situation.
Poverty is a serious problem in this world and it has to be looked at as a priority. My family and I were negatively impacted, but it's okay because me and my family will get through it. Poverty impacted what type of clothes I would wear and whether I had food that week or not. When I was 12 I had to work with my dad and he works in a mattress selling place but he doesn’t get paid a lot. I would get paid 2 dollars a day and back then that was a lot of money to me and even though I wanted that money I would give it to my dad so I could help out with the financial issues we had. In similarity every time my other side of my family would give me money I would always give it to my dad.
I’m focusing on the personal and emotional impacts it has on people because I can go speak from experience. After all, it is a rough patch in life and I want anyone to avoid that situation. I want people to reach out and look for help and I wish the government would help these people more and realize that they are going through something rough. The negative impact it has had on me is I think that if I hadn’t been born my family would have been in a better place financially and I would always think bad about myself. Some of the thoughts I would have of myself are me being depressed and I would always ask God in my head why put me on this earth if all I caused was worries. My being here was causing people to not be in the best situation and I didn’t like how it was hurting my dad financially.
A negative impact is not having a good education. I know some friends that go through that but luckily I have had a good education my whole life. Before I went to a public school for 2 years when I was little. Having a good education is a critical thing you need to live a good life. When you are in a bad situation, a good education might not be an option for you and it can affect how advanced you will be in the future.
Living in this situation is not the best but there are a lot of resources that can help and should be looked at. Some resources that can help are the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) food benefits. They give out food to low-income families to supplement their grocery budget so they can afford the nutritious food essential for their health and their families. Another resource that can help out is TANF which is Temporary Assistance for Needy Families. TANF helps families out with money and gives money out to families to help pay for their food, clothing, housing, and other necessities.
Works Cited
United States Government Accountability Office. “Poverty in America.” Jan. 2007.
The one thing that inspired me to write this essay was my family and what we've been through. I want to show people my struggles and how even though you go through a rough patch in your life, you can bounce back from it. This essay was a meaningful piece of writing because for the first time ever I am showing people and telling people what my family have been through and being vulnerable with who sees it. I love my family and what they all do for me, and I hope one day I can repay every single one of them with whatever I can. I hope people love my writing and can see that even though you struggle in life, you shouldn’t let whatever you're going through bring you down.