Narrative Final Essay
1
1
Final Narrative Essay
Earlwood Armstrong
ENG/121
Kathy Connor
January 9th, 2012
Final Narrative Essay
2
Final Narrative Essay Draft
You can teach old dog new tricks, I am living proof of that. Returning to school has
not really been an easy decision with all of the tension in my life, especially in the last recent
years. The men in my family usually end up in one of two places, in jail or dead. I realized late in
life that I didnt want to end up in either direction.
Early in life, I have encountered many problems within school to where I had to
struggle. Struggling in school was too much of a problem for me as it is because of my dyslexia,
which was not properly diagnosed until I was an adult. My dyslexia has been a burden on me
through my academic career. As a child struggling in a normal class in fourth grade is a hard task
to complete. I barely made it through high school with a juvenile attitude towards graduation.
During my early childhood; my school and home life were hectic to say the least. I
come from a big family; my mother had six children, four girls and two boys. Coming from such
a large family, usually at least one or two kids get overlooked because of the familys size. It
didnt help matters that my parents had a semi dysfunctional relationship with each other. My
father came in and out of our lives like a revolving door but that did not bother me too much
because he was always like that. I think that I struggled a bit as a father, myself because of the
parental upbringing that I received from my own parents. They were good parents but they didnt
always make the best choices or set the best examples for me and my siblings though, which
proved they were human to me.
I continued to struggle throughout my high school career because of many doubts in
my mind. One of my many flaws was that I often failed to grasp onto the reality in situations; I
often saw things for how I wanted them to be instead of how they actually were. I wish I could
Final Narrative Essay
3
have held onto my teenage years instead of letting them waste away with childish games. I
tended to care too much of what other people thought about me but now I know that I need to
think of myself for a change instead of what my friends and families opinions are.
Returning to school was not the only task that I had to overcome. I also had to make
changes within myself and my surroundings. Some of the dangers that I must avoid is falling into
old patterns with some familiar friends that could make me steer off course. I was in a dead-end
life with nowhere to go and nowhere to turn. I needed a change in my life and a quick one before
I ended up behind bars or worse. I needed something more and something quick to help change
my prospective on life. I heard about taking courses on the computer, at first I was a bit skeptical
and apprehensive about the aspect of going back to school at this late age in my life. After I
talked to a counselor about returning to school, she put me at ease and helped me to make the
transition of returning to school easier for me.
Achieving my goals are very important to me no matter if anyone agrees with my
decisions or not. I dont have many supporters in my decision making because a lot of people
wish to see me fail. I look at those around me that wish to see me fail and I have to keep
reminding myself who are they now, who and will they be in five years. I will have my degree
and I will be enjoying my life without all the drama that surrounds me today. I do encourage
everyone to achieve their goals and to never give up on what they believe in. I see so many
people neglecting their studies and not taking advantage of whats more important in their lives.
Growing up I have always been told that I had many good opportunities but I always messed
them up in the past. I think that I have grown and learned from my past mistakes though and I
will not mess this opportunity up for me.
Final Narrative Essay
4
There is however some truth in Albert Einsteins words; Imagination is more
important than knowledge... (1879 - 1955), without imagination then where are you with the
knowledge of the world? We go through so much with so little to show for it. So much of us
neglect our imagination with our writings. If we continue to use our imaginations we can grow
our knowledge more and more within time. By doing so, it will cause us to think more freely
within ourselves and will show a higher achievement in our academic studies.
However, there are also a couple of drawbacks as well. For instance, I am not thrilled
with having to wait for two to three days for answers to questions that I ask. On the other hand, if
I were in an actual classroom I probably would not ask the question at all because I would be
scared of everyone laughing at me for asking a stupid question, or even thinking that I was a
stupid person. I think that in a way going to school online is a bit more freeing because through
the internet people can be whoever they want to be.
Another reason that I wanted to return to school for me personally was that I wanted
to be able to show my children that it is never too late to go after your dreams. The only thing
stopping you from achieving whatever you want in life is yourself. This is a positive message
that I hope to pass onto my children even though they are grown now.
I married young and I have three children, two boys and one girl. I also have three
grandchildren as well. My two sons are both in jail at the moment, I will not see either of them
for quite awhile, which I think both me and his mother are partly to blame for because we did not
set good enough examples for them to follow. My daughter is my shinning glory; she is actually
doing well considering how her life could have turned out so very differently.
A few years ago, she was in a terrible fire and was burned over 90% of her body, she
almost didnt make it. Often at times are trauma either a family pulls together or falls apart. We
Final Narrative Essay
5
were not the pull together in a crisis type of family, therefore we fell apart. I am not sure if it was
because of our mutual dysfunctional relationship with our children and each other that is partly
to blame or if it is because we both blamed each other for this horrible event in our lives, we are
now divorced.
As for my future goals, I hope to have my own business someday. Something that I
can look back on and say I did that, I defied the odds and won against all costs. I really want to
prove not only to my children but to myself as well that it is never too late to revamp your entire
life. You get out of life whatever you put into life.
Final Narrative Essay
Reference
US (German-born) physicist from www.quotationspage.com/quote/703.html
6