Sample Profile Essay
Note to reader: This draft is re-printed here with the author's permission. These student drafts are provided for a couple of reasons: first, to give you a taste of the variety of topics and approaches students have taken, and second, to provide instructors with readings that might be used in class discussions and activities. These samples are not perfect and represent final grades from across the grade scale (A through F), so please be forgiving, understanding, and respectful if you find errors or problems.
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Evangelene Hurling
English 1010D
Mike Peterson
23 February 2017
No is Never the Answer
“Samantha, Ashi, Nesha, Tricia, Eva! Whatever your name is, I need you.” My grandpa is the nicest man you will ever meet, but don’t feel bad if he doesn’t remember your name. My grandpa is more of a dad to me because he has always been there for me and he has been the only father figure I have had in my life. My grandpa’s name is Ricardo Brea. He is about 5’7 and he has a very round belly. He has a lot of gray hair and he has the best smile, when he has his dentures in. He is really caring and puts other’s needs before his needs. My grandpa shows his love by being tough on you, so he is more of a tough love kind of guy.
Ricardo was born in Port Au Prince, Haiti and he didn’t leave Haiti until he was six years old. Growing up in Haiti, he and his family had no running water; his family went to a lake to get water and they carried the water in buckets over their heads. They had big clay jars to keep the water cold. His house was made out of clay with a straw ceiling and he had an outhouse for a bathroom. There was just one room and he had to share his house with 20 people and they all slept on the floor. Buying food was very hard for his family because it was so expensive and they were very poor; a lot of their money came from the United States from family members. His mother left when he was one year old to go to the United States to work, so his aunt had to raise him and his brother. He said, “Life in Haiti was very crazy and very poor.”
At six years old, Ricardo came to the United States, he came with his brother and his aunt. His mother, Pauline Brea, was already in the United States because she worked as a live-in maid. She brought family and friends to the United States from Haiti. His mother never really took care for him and his brother because she was always working. “I like to refer to my mother as the Harriet Tubman of the Haitians. She brought in a lot of Haitians at her own expense. She was trying to save everyone and get them out of Haiti.” Since his mother was bringing everyone into the United States, they were still very poor. Pauline made sure that everyone had somewhere to stay and that everyone had something to eat. “My mother would bring people from Haiti and they would stay in our house, so me and my brother never had a room of our own and we would have to sleep on the floor in the living room.”
“My mother was murdered by her new husband and I was 15 when I lost her.” When Ricardo lost his mother, his life went in a bad direction. “I got hooked on drugs and alcohol. I just became a really bad guy in the streets.” Then my grandma Lesli, his ex-wife, got pregnant with my mother. He realized that he had to do something else than just being in the streets doing bad things. He went to the military to take care of his family and to have a better life for them. Ricardo really liked the military. While he was in the military, bad things happened. His daughter had taken away from his ex-wife by her grandparents, so he had to get out of the military and fight to get his daughter back. When he got his daughter back, he took her and his ex-wife to Germany; he reenlisted again and went to Texas. His ex-wife did some bad things and they got a divorce. After his time in the military he got really bad on drugs and his kids and his ex-wife left him and went back to Florida.
My grandpa used to raise me and I lived with him and his wife Tricia Brea. They were more of mom and dad to me than they were my grandparents. They raised me until my mother was ready to take care of me and my sister. “The whole time I was raising you and your sister I was trying to get off drugs but I always had a hard time.” Even though he was on drugs he always made sure that we had everything that we wanted and needed. They have always been there for me but as soon as my mother took us away from my grandparents their lives turned upside down. Ricardo and Tricia got really bad into drugs and they didn’t care. Tricia ended up in jail because she was so lost, her kids mean everything to her, and she was using drugs a lot. I remember that my grandpa even became homeless and was living in a homeless shelter. I know that was a hard time for him. I went from seeing them all the time to not seeing them at all.
Ricardo realized that he had to turn his life around when his family was falling apart. “When your mother and grandmother took you and your sister away from my wife and I, your grandmother, Tricia, got on drugs for the first time. She ended up in jail because she was sad that you guys were taken from her.” That’s when Ricardo realized that he had to stop using drugs to save his family. “I decided to turn myself in to a rehab center in the military. Because of my family, I stopped using drugs and I locked myself up in a rehab center for three months.”
When Ricardo was in rehab he learned that addiction is not all about the drugs. Addiction is your attitude towards life. Your ability to accept blame for your actions. “Most addicts can’t accept what they did, they always have to blame it on other people.” After being in the rehab center he moved to Virginia to be with his brother Ralph. After Tricia got out of jail she also went to Virginia and this was the first time that she has ever seen him clean. “The first time in 41 years I had no drugs.” Tricia his wife said, “It was like meeting a whole different person when I first saw him clean. He was emotionally different, he was nicer and patient. I was like meeting him for the first time. From the day, I meet Ricardo he had an addiction. It was very different to see him clean.”
Since he has been off drugs he now lives in a room with Narcotics Anonymous and he has been clean for 4 years. “My wife and I have not touched drugs since and we have a better life now.” I’m very proud of my grandpa for getting clean. I might not say it enough, but I am very proud of him. He has showed me that if you put your mind to something you can do it. He is very strong for just quitting drugs so fast, it takes most people a long time to get off of drugs but he did and he did it for his family. I’m really close with my grandpa because he always wants the best for me. He shows me with a little hard work anything is possible.
Ricardo’s life is so much better now that he does not do drugs. “Me and my wife can now help are granddaughter Eva in college and we can have both of my granddaughters down for the summer.” Ricardo is now doing better because he has no habits and he does not have an addiction anymore. Now he volunteers and talks to people at jails. He goes to NA meetings every day and he is in charge of the meetings. I have been to his meetings before and they are really interesting. At first I, didn’t know what the meetings were for or what they did at the meetings, but just sit there and talk. They talk about how long they have been clean and why they got clean. Some people even talk about how hard it was to get clean or hard their lives where when they were on drugs. They even have celebrations; it’s like a birthday party, they have cake and balloons and they sing happy birthday because it like they are being born again when they get clean. Every time I go with my grandpa to a meeting it makes his day because he loves having me there and he wants me to see what he does every day. When I go to his meetings he always says his story and about how he had to get clean for his family and how proud he is of me.
I have realized that my grandpa is a lot like his mother. Talking with my grandpa about his mother I learned a lot about how she was and how she took care of everyone. My grandpa is the same way, he cares so much for people and he always wants to take care of people. He puts others peoples’ needs before his, just like his mother did. His mother was also a hard worker and my grandpa has always been a hard worker. Now I know where my grandpa gets all of his caring and hardworking skills from. Even now, he is still a hard worker even though he is a disabled veteran. My grandpa is also very determined and when he put his mind to something he is going to finish it. He will not take no for an answer. No is never the answer for him.