upbringing

I think sometimes we underestimate just how much of an effect our upbringing has on us. Then again, I think a lot of times people look at an upbringing the wrong way. We're all given a name when we are born, we all have a place where we are from, and we all are raised by someone. General Peter Pace talked to our business class the other day and he said, "You have your name and your honor, nobody can take those from you, but you can sure as hell give them away."

Nobody can take away your name. You can legally change it if you so choose, but nobody can strip you of your name. The same can be said of your honor. You can be an honorable person or you can choose to give away your honor. I think that your name is something special because it's one of the few things you have from birth that won't change unless you choose too. The other thing I'm particularly fond of is where you're from.

I'm not talking about the city you grew up in. I'm talking about the house you were raised in. I'm talking about the parents or grandparents who nurtured you into the person you are today. Those who raise us have a profound affect on us be it good or bad.

I think that as most kids grow up they say that they want to be just like one parent or the other. You know, like a little girl saying, "When I grow up I want to be mommy."

That isn't always the case though. A lot of kids don't have a great home life. A lot of kids grow up in a house where neither parent is a good role model.

In those cases there are two ways a kid can go. They can use the poor home life as an excuse and make poor decisions and continue the chain, or they can do the opposite. They can learn from the mistakes of their parents and choose to contribute to society and reap the benefits. (There's a major difference between reaping the benefits and cheating the system.)

I guess what I'm trying to get across is that there's always a choice. We wake up every day and we have a choice as to how we're going to act. Our upbringing has an affect on that, no doubt about it, but I despise when people say "oh he had a rough home life." Bullshit. We all have our problems. We all have free will too.

Act like scum and stick to excuses. Complain about your broken household or alcoholic parent when there are kids who come from NOTHING. Nobody says "he had a rough upbringing" when those kids are making a name for themselves. Instead they focus on where that kid is going. Once he's made it they can look back at where he came from but now they aren't making excuses, they're thinking about how to do his story justice when they make a movie about it.

You have a home, a name, and at the end of a day, a choice.

Don't make excuses, make moves.

NP: Cat's in the Cradle- Harry Chapin