GEORGE COLON
I am the “It Factor”. The end all be all. My confidence stems from my personality. What you see is what you get ; I am loud, rowdy, and brutally honest. With me, there is no holding back. My mom raised me to always speak my mind, stay true to my family and be humble. Even when my father left me at an early age I stayed true to myself. He gave me every reason to be resentful towards him and to distance myself, but I still sought out that “father-son bond”. After many letdowns and disappointments, I finally realized that I wanted to be a better man than he was.<
Having been exposed to drugs and alcohol at a very young age has had an impact on me especially as I now enter my adult years. I noticed that instead of voicing my struggles I would turn to smoking and drinking to deal with my personal problems. At first it wasn’t very noticeable. I’d have some shots here and there – nothing too serious. As my behavior in school got worse I started caring less. I was failing multiple classes at a time. I would cut class almost every day and it wouldn’t even bother me. My main focus then was the next “coro” or party. This went on for quite some time until my great grandfather got sick. I started calming down.
Spending as much time in the hospital was really all that was on my mind. He basically raised me and was a significant father figure in my life. He cared for me so much. Every time I walked into his house, he would smell my breath and made sure I didn’t smell like drugs or alcohol. He always told me not to smoke and drink. He told me that it was a problem on both sides of my family and he tried to help me steer clear of it. We had a special bond.
When I was told that he had passed away my world was crushed. I started smoking and drinking again, this time more often. I wanted to numb out the pain and temporarily forget. A couple of months went by before I decided to sober up. I would do it occasionally, but not as much. At the time my grades in school were irreparable and my attendance was extremely low. When I made the decision to officially drop out I was introduced to Youth Action Youthbuild. I feel that this program is my last hope.
Youth Action YouthBuild is important because it’s allowing me to have a second chance at becoming something more than what the “system” labels me. Being a young adult in East Harlem there is a lot of things that I see on a daily basis that isn’t positive. Some of us get pulled in by the negativity which in turn causes a downward spiral, but Youthbuild is a place that we can all come to when we want to get away from the bad vibes on the street. We are getting an education, getting trainings, and certifications in construction as well as security and CPR, all in order to have a better job selection down the line. At Youthbuild we are not just a school. We are not just some little program in East Harlem. We are a family and we look out for each other. We all push ourselves to do better academically and be better than when we walked through the door for the very first time.
I’ve watched many struggle to make it on their own and I do not want to be one of those people. I want to make a difference: a change within myself that will last the remainder of my life. I want to be remembered for all the right reasons. I want to leave a legacy that will last for a long time and so that way my spirit will be immortalized and people can be able to follow in my footsteps.