Written By Camerah Thompkins

Our Past Does Not Determine Our Future

This phrase means a lot of different things to a lot of people.Well I went around asking people for their opinions.

  • “People have the ability and the right to change like everything else in nature,” says Mr Malebranche.
  • “Hope is the only thing stronger than fear,” says Anielle.
  • “Mistakes don’t hold or claim you,” says Asia Williams.
  • “Your past prepares you for a greater change,” says Asia Williams.

I think: You can do anything if you put your mind into it. Just because you have a bad past doesn’t mean your going to have a bad future.

For example I lost my father at 9 and grandma at 15.  I didn’t let that impact determine my future. I wanted too drop out of school but I knew my grandmother and father wanted me to be the best I could and to graduate from high school and go off to college and make them proud. Another example I have is I know I struggle with math but I don’t let that determine my lifestyle because I know it’s al lot of jobs that require math skills I would still apply for that job because I know if I put my mind up to getting better at math I could have any type of job I want that involves math. My point to people is to not let people define who you are as a person you can do everything you want and overcome your past. The saying my grandmother use to tell me when I was little was ” God challenges people who he think is strong and can overcome that struggle or pain”. Ever since I was little I kept that saying in mind because I won’t use my past as an excuse for not having a good future.

People can exercise this by telling people how they might of had a struggle or something they went through by trying to open up to talk about the situation or they can just overcome the issue. If someone is telling them they can’t do something I want that person to prove them wrong, some people don’t catch on to things like other people do they might need assistance with what ever the case is. Basically I say we should use this exercise is YCCS West because students don’t know how to encourage each others they always want to discourage them. That’s what makes students or people in general feel they don’t know how to do something because their past school or life tried to determine that they won’t have a good future which is not true just believe in yourself and you can do what you do best.