What gets in my way

It's going on four years since my life changing accident that nearly took my life. I still suffer from minor things as a result from that accident. For instance I can't smell and my balance isn't what it used to be. Most of all the one thing I believe is my biggest draw back that's preventing me from what I want to do is my insecurities. For over a year I felt sub-human. I couldn't walk, barely talk and received rude stares because of the scars on my head. I've come a long way since those times but I feel it traumatized me a lot. I still feel inferior, and like I still have a lot to prove. No matter what I accomplish I never feel good enough. I still feel like I'm not a normal person.

Every time I hear this song it makes me go a bit further.

Final Essay Farwell Class!!!

Miguel Navarro

8-7-2013 English 7

McFarland Last Essay

            Nothing in life teaches you better than failure. It takes several falls before you get to where you want to be. The key is how you respond to failure. You either get up and try again or, stay down. One of my football coaches once told me, "Life is 10% of what happens to you and 90% of how you respond." My coach was absolutely right. It matters more how you respond to what happens then what actually happens. After suffering a severe traumatic brain injury I could have stayed down like any rational person would do after losing all fine motor skills and going through hemi-paresis. I could have listened to all my therapists and doctors and decided that school would be impossible and I would have fail and drop out. However, I learned that nothing is more powerful than a man's ambition to prove everyone wrong. The fact that they had a priest read me my last rights suggests that they assumed I would die but I lived. Physical therapists told me that people who suffered what I had suffered never learned to walk again but, not only did I learn to walk again, I ran. Doctors recommended that I should not go back to college because it would be extremely frustrating and difficult for me. I enrolled anyways and after my first semester at Chabot Community College I received a 4.0 grade point average, despite going to class in a wheelchair. Our educational system should not punish failure so harshly. Failure is life’s best teacher. Failure is the seed of passion and success.

            

“Into The Wild” by John Krakauer is a tale of a young man by the name of Christopher McCandless. After graduating from Emory University, Christopher decides to erase any trace from his current life and tries to start a whole new different kind of life. He burned any and all types of identification he has had, and he donated 25,000 dollars of his savings to charity and abandons his car to go live off the land.  He hunts and gathers his own food and hitches rides from people. He had his mind set on making it to Alaska where his adventure comes to an end with his untimely death.  Christopher is not so much remembered for what he did but more for the reason why he did it.  He was disgusted by his parent’s expectations and societies expectations.  He was a young man who sought out adventure.  Adventure and freedom was his passion and where he found his ultimate bliss.

           

Education is the foundation for any society. Without education a nation is without a future and will never reach any progress.  The current state of our public educational system is quite mediocre.  There is a lot of ways we can improve it.  Jeff Bliss and Andrade talk about how our public education is failing us right now.  The Lasers video also makes some good points on how our education can be confusing.  Why our education is failing us is another important question that the Laser video, Andrade, and Jeff Bliss address.  Our education basically prepares us for what we want to do with our lives.  Therefore, our education should stimulate our passions. Currently our educational system is not doing a very good job of stimulating our passions.  Should our public educational system stimulate what we are passionate about?  What would be some benefits of that?  I will also discuss possible ways we can improve our public education.  Andrade, the Passion Project and the Lasers video come up with good ideas on how to improve our public educational system.

            The current state of our public educational system leaves me wanting more.  There is a lot of ways we can improve our education.  I believe that no school in America should be like the schools that Andrade talks about in his video.  The kids who go to school in conflicted areas of Oakland were able to accomplish so much with assistance that most of us already receive and take for granted. Andrade displays the homicide map of Oakland with the title of it being "The Plague." It really has become a sort of epidemic. Like a plague it spreads and kills off the weak. Violence, drug usage, and school drop out rates are quite remarkable and, I find Andrade's work very needed and endearing. But hopefully with the few roses Andrade has created those roses will help Andrade with his work, because like he said, "A rose that grew in the concrete creates rose gardens." I find that quote very powerful and, it makes me wonder if all people are willing to help like that. What I am really asking is does it really take someone to go through the same struggle to feel empathy for someone going through that struggle? Or can we feel empathy without having to go through the same experiences?  We need to work more with conflicted schools like the schools in East Oakland. 

            Jeff Bliss is obviously not happy with the current state of our education.  He demands change from his teacher.  It is people like Jeff that cause a lot of attention and get people to notice problems. I can relate this guy to civil rights movement leaders but more relevant to our class I will relate him to Christopher McCandless. Jeff like McCandless actually was brave enough to act out on what he truly felt passionate about and stood up and acted on what he believes in. I did some research on Google and Jeff is now actually talking to school boards on ways to improve things. It is simply remarkable how one out burst can lead to further things. If he never stood up for what he believed in then no change would have ever been initiated. Everything would have remained stagnant and we would be living with our problems content. Christopher McCandless did not live his life content with the way things were. McCandless says in his letter to Ron,"[so] many people live within unhappy circumstances and yet will not take the initiative to change their situation because they are conditioned to a life of security, conformity, and conservatism, all of which may appear to give one peace of mind, but in reality nothing is more damaging to the adventurous spirit within a man than a secure future."(57) It is this attitude that caused Jeff and other activists to stand up and actually initiate change. In order to initiate change you have to take risks and break from the rest of the conformist flock and you have to do something different that will get noticed. Those in charge will not like it when you get noticed because they know their time of power is coming to an end.

            Another thing my girlfriend and I talked about after watching Andrade’s video several times was the role of government in education. High school educators are not completely at fault for providing a lousy or irrelevant education. For example, the result of the test scores determines how much a school gets funded; therefore it makes educators make the tests their top priority. The different educational standards that our government gives our schools make it very difficult for teachers to teach anything else that is not related to the standardized tests. That makes our education dry and emotionless. Instead of teaching things we could apply in life they teach us what will be on the test.

            Our education is failing us.  It is failing us because of many reasons.  The first reason why it is failing us is because the way government set up funding for schools.  I think our government should reform how they distribute educational funding. It is really unfair how they divide up the money. I volunteer for reading partners, which is a non-profit organization that works with title 1 schools to bridge the learning gap for kids who have literacy problems. What a title 1 school is basically a school in a low-income community that is not funded enough because it is in a low-income community. The reason why these schools are not being funded enough is because since the schools are in a low-income community the residents of that community do not pay the same amount of taxes as a community like Piedmont which is a community that generally has a high income. I find that disgustingly unfair and unjust. Education in America should be an equal opportunity for everyone regardless of income not a wealthy man’s privilege.

            I also think that schools are failing us because they punish failure too harshly.  After watching the Passion Project video, the class got in groups to discuss what we felt about the video.  In my group we discussed about the pressure society instills in us to be a certain way.  Someone said he never felt like anyone told him to be a certain way but we discussed the cliché of doing things that our parents and society favors.  Along with that, we also compared ourselves from high school to now.  We realized we have grown and matured significantly.  We used to be disruptive in class, telling jokes and getting in trouble but now, we are eager to learn and take our education seriously now. I believe age is just a number. Maturity does not derive from the number of years you have lived. Maturity derives from the experiences you have lived. Maturity comes from the falls and the failures that you have over come. With maturity we have a better understanding of our passions and the importance of our education. That is why we have grown so much after high school. In high school we were sheltered and protected. There was less chance of falling in high school. Now that we are in college we have had more chances of falling and learning from our failures.  I think schools should be deigned to not punish failure so harshly.  Failure can be the greatest form of learning. 

            Finally I believe schools are failing us because we were raised to not question authority.  We were taught to shut up and listen.  If students were not so afraid to question authority, they would finally have the guts to question our education.  That alone is such a bold and unruly question that student's will actually start to think a lot deeper than they already are. It will open their eyes and they will see what it is that they want from their education. We have been raised to not question certain things that control us. For example, we do not question government, laws, religion, and our educational system. Questioning our educational system is one of those things that society consider taboo if we go against it. If society questions and decides to go against it then we can bring about change that will better everyone and future generations to come.

            I also believe that students should be asked to question education from the start. Our schools and school faculty serve the students. So therefore the students should have a bigger say on how they want their education to be given to them. Jeff Bliss stated in his video that, "if you want a kid to change and do better, you got to touch his fricken heart.” So if Jeff Bliss is right, then our educational system should cater to its students a lot more. If they begin to cater to students more then, students all across America would do a lot better. Drop out rates will decrease because kids will actually love going to school. This question could lead to some drastic changes in our education.

            The main reason we get an education is so we can work in what we are passionate about.  If that is the main reason why we get an education then, our education should guide us a bit more in finding our passion?  The Lasers video explained a students struggle to find their passion very well.  I can relate to the students in this video in many ways. I think at one point I was like everyone one of those students. I was a visitor, a wonderer, an explorer, a seeker, and now I am proud to say that I am a laser. It takes time for you to find out what you actually want to do in life. I think community college is an excellent place to find you. When I first came to Chabot, I wanted to be a doctor. Then I changed my major to nursing. Finally, I found my passion in sociology. It took several years but now I know what I want to do with my life. 

            My first day at Chabot, I was definitely a wonderer. I did not know what classes I should take to transfer. I did not know how long I would be here nor did I know anybody. I took some introductory prerequisite classes and in that first semester at Chabot and I enlisted in the army. I did not take Chabot too seriously. I was too busy preparing myself on being a solider than a student, but I attended Chabot because I knew education was important. If it were not for some life altering experiences I probably would still be a wonderer. I suffered a lot and faced many hard ships but most importantly I found what I wanted and myself and now I am no longer a wonderer.

            After my traumatic brain injury, I completely changed. I had more focus, motivation, and work ethic. My suffering made me realize other peoples suffering and inspired me to help others. When I was recovering from my traumatic brain injury I was helped by many people and now I want to help people in the same way that I was helped. My suffering has focused my laser into sociological and psychological studies. Studying sociology and physiology helped me to better understand my own problems. In a way these classes were therapeutic for me.

            If our education were designed to cater to find what we are passionate about from the very beginning then we would not have to waste so much time and money finding what it is that we want.  Christopher McCandles truly believed that, “The joy of life comes from our encounters with new experiences, and hence there is no greater joy than to have an endlessly changing horizon, for each day to have a new and different sun.” (57) I think that if we have this attitude when exploring what it is that we are passionate about then we will find our true passion.  We need to be able to see all the different possibilities because they are really endless.  We cannot have regrets when searching for our passion otherwise we can live the rest of our life in misery. 

            Christopher McCandless found his passion in life and knew how to reach it.  The first thing I truly admire about Christopher McCandless was how he broke free from the materialistic culture we live in and found happiness from nature. We talked about being enslaved to materialism and big corporations in paper two and ways on how we could possibly break free from that enslavement. McCandless tore the shackles right off of himself by giving away all his money, burning all identification he had and by taking off into the wild. He did what everyone is too scared of doing. He broke free from all the pressures of society, all the customs and, expectations and found his true meaning of life. I believe his true meaning of life was everyone’s meaning of life back in the day. He erased everything he learned and did in the new culture and created a new life based on old culture principles.

McCandless had a rich education. He read a lot and knew what he was talking about. He was not your typical vagabond. Everything he did, he did with a purpose or for a reason. The type of mindset he had, had been very rebellious and counter-culture. He saw the harm that society was causing and he refused to be another conformist that conformed to societies expectations.  McCandless even said, “I think careers are a 20^th century invention, and I do not want one.” I think the cause of his rebellion came from his education and knowledge. If he did not read or care to study he would be completely oblivious to our destructive ways and he would just conform like the rest of us. 

            There are many ways we can fix our education.  If they actually implement any of my suggestions is my biggest concern.  Fixing our education may be the most important thing we could ever do.  When we fix our public education we are inherently fixing or improving our fate.  It may take lots of trial and errors to get the best solution but everything has to start somewhere.  Christopher McCandless was tired of the system and societies ways.  He even said, “I don’t understand why people, why every fucking person is so bad to each other so fucking often.  It doesn’t make sense to me.  Judgment. Control.  All that. The whole spectrum.”  His disgust with the way things are makes me think if there is a way to improve anything.  There are tons of things we can do to improve things.  I criticize Chris for running away from what he did not agree with, instead of facing it and trying to better things.

            In order to fix our public education I think it is important that we know what it is that we want from our public education.  I think what everyone is hoping to accomplish going to school is that feeling of success.  I once believed having everything I ever wanted was the definition of success. I wanted a new car, nice clothes, a lot of friends, and all that sort of stuff. What I learned from experience is that none of those things last. They do not fill the empty void I felt in my chest at the end of the day. I got a new car and it was amazing the first couple of months but then the feeling went away. The good feeling of having nice clothes only lasted the first time I wore them. After that they became dirty laundry. As for friends, they come and go. Nothing lasts forever. Success has to come from within you. It is most definitely not a material thing or a relationship with anyone or thing.  Christopher McCandless already knew this when he told Ron this, “You are wrong if you think Joy emanates only or principally from human relationships. God has placed it all around us. It is in everything and anything we might experience. We just have to have the courage to turn against our habitual lifestyle and engage in unconventional living.” Success is not easy. It has to be the hardest thing you will ever do. But once you do it, it will last forever.

            Once we realize what we want to do with our education we have to have the courage to make drastic changes.  Christopher McCandless’s last words to Ron in his letter was telling Ron that, ““So many people live within unhappy circumstances and yet will not take the initiative to change their situation because they are conditioned to a life of security, conformity, and conservatism.”  What Chris was trying to tell Ron was too not be content with the way things are.  You have to make change if you want change.  Jeff Bliss and Chris both had the courage and audacity to do something radical in order to be heard and make change.  Jeff and Chris both caused dramatic change in their lives. Chris's change ultimately cost him his life but it brought him his life's greatest joy. Jeff's outburst potentially changed his life forever. He may now want to major in Education, work for the school board and, hopefully makes some good drastic changes to our educational system. They were both able to bring change into their lives.

            How can we cause the change we want to see in our world? The first thing we have to do in order to cause change is break free from the conformist flock. We have to be brave and break free from our comfort zone. We cannot stay sheltered forever if we want to see change. In order to see change we have to make change. This is the first step and the hardest step for us to take in order to cause change. After we take this step then we have to persevere and stick with our goal no matter how rough it may get. If we are able to do this then it is very likely that we will experience change.  Christopher McCandless’s last words to Ron in a letter he wrote him told Ron to “lose your inclination for monotonous security and adopt a helter-skelter style of life that will at first appear to you to be crazy.  But once you become accustomed to such a life you will see its full meaning and its incredible beauty.” (57) I believe if we all took Chris’s advice to heart that this world would see a lot of change.  The world can greatly benefit from losing fear of change.  If change were accepted more then our government, religion, and society would be more flexible and adaptable.  The cause of a stagnant and irrelevant education is because we’re afraid of change.

           

Strategies For Organizing Our Paper

Ways to Organize The Final Paper

• Outline the paper: Read the essay prompt and come up with at least 4 essay questions that you can use the rule of three on. Then insert post accordingly. This outline will serve as the blueprint to your paper. It will tell you what to write in the introductory cook paragraph.
• On a separate piece of paper, start a quote sheet. You will put any quote that you think will be useful on this sheet. Then, after you write your paragraphs you can use your quote sheet to see where your quotes fit into your paragraph.
• Before writing the paper, try to think of something you would want the reader to take with them.
• Shape your blog post so that they can answer your essay questions that you have written on your outline. Use transition words to make the blog posts flow. If necessary use either bold headings or transition paragraphs to isolate ideas.

Questions to Ask Students

Everyone Should Self Critique Themselves
I believe that students that take this passion class or even anyone who wishes to better themselves should look in the mirror and critique themselves. There are several benefits of self evaluating yourself. First of all you can realize where you went wrong, if you did wrong. Retrace your own steps and realize where and why you ended up in the place that you are now. If you look at yourself in the mirror and see something great, then you are more than likely doing great. I once heard that the first step in recovery for a mental illness is admitting that your ill. If you critique yourself and realize that your ways are wrong then you have just made the first step in bettering yourself.

Self critiquing yourself is very therapeutic and you can actually heal yourself. One popular method that physical therapists use to improve a patients walking, or any movement is to have them walk or move in front of a mirror. My classmate Jean Carlos talked about our experiences with physical therapy and we both agreed. Seeing yourself in the mirror your able to see and realize where and why you're moving incorrectly. The same principle applies when you self critique yourself I would imagine. Not only are you seeing your mistakes, your seeing how you can improve yourself. So in that way self critiquing yourself is actually healing yourself.

Finally, another reason why self evaluating yourself is beneficial to everyone is because if you understand your short-comings then you understand your strengths thus, you will find what it is what you truly want in life. Finding out what you really want to do with your life gives you passion and motivation to reach your goals. Without passion and motivation to reach your goals then you are living without a purpose. I think this question should be asked frequently through out our lives. If we do this then we will be constantly bettering ourselves through out our whole entire lives. This question should be the main focus of this passion class. I believe this question is the basic foundation of finding your passion and finding your motivation. Critiquing yourself is the first step of success.

                                                   Critiquing Our Educational System

I think critiquing our educational system could be one of the hardest thing for us students to do. At a very young age we have been conditioned to believe and follow everything that our schools and teachers say. Since we were in pre-school, kindergarden, 1st grade we've been told that everything about our school is right and good. However, if we ask students to critique our very educational system that raised and nurtured us I think it'll be a very bold and necessary question to ask.

My first reason why I believe this should be asked to students is because it's such a bold and unruly question that students will actually start to think a lot deeper than they already are. It will open their eyes and, they will see what it is that they want from their education. We've been raised to not question certain things that control us. For example we don't question government, laws, religion, and our educational system is one of those things that we consider taboo if we go against it. If we do question and decide to go against it then we can bring about change that will better everyone and future generations to come.

I also believe that students should be asked this question from the start. Our schools and school faculty serve the students. So therefore the students should have a bigger say on how they want their education to be given to them. Jeff Bliss stated in his video that, "if you want a kid to change and do better, you got to touch his fricken heart."So if Jeff Bliss is right then our educational system should cater to its students a lot more. If they begin to cater to students more then, students all across America would do a lot better. Drop out rates will decrease because, kids will actually love going to school. This question could lead to some drastic changes in our education.

If students are asked what they want from their education then they will decide what it is that they actually want from college. If they are asked this and don't know what it is that they want then they'll know that college perhaps isn't what they want. That will save students a lot of time and money if they know from the start what it is that they want from college/education. If they know what they want they'll know what classes they should take, what clubs to join, what type of friends to make, and maybe they'll even know if they're in the right college. Some students may decide they want a career college instead of a community college. Some students may even decide to work full time instead of wasting their time at school taking point less classes that will inevitable lead to nothing.

Lasers Video Response

I can relate to the students in this video in many ways. I think at one point I was like everyone one of those students. I was a visitor, a wondering, a explorer, a seeker, and now I'm proud to say that I am a laser. It takes time for you to find out what you actually want to do in life. I think community college is an excellent place to find yourself. When I first came to Chabot, I wanted to be a doctor. Then I changed in nursing. Finally, I found my passion in sociology. It took several years but now I know what I want to do with my life.

My first day at Chabot, I was defiantly a wonderer. I did not know what classes I should take to transfer. I did not know how long I would be here nor did I know anybody. I took some introductory prerequisite classes and in that first semester at Chabot I enlisted in the army. I did not take Chabot seriously. I saw myself more as a solider than a student but I attended Chabot because I knew education was important. If it wasn't for some life altering experiences I probably would still be a wonderer. I suffered a lot and faced many hard ships but most importantly I found myself and what I wanted and now I am no longer a wonderer.

After my traumatic brain injury, I completely changed. I had more focus, motivation, and work ethic. My suffering made me realize other peoples suffering and inspired me to help others. When I was recovering from my traumatic brain injury I was helped by many people and now I want to help people in the same way that I was helped. My suffering has focused my laser into sociological and psychological studies. Studying sociology and physiology helped me to better understand my own problems. In a way these classes were therapeutic for me.

I have received numerous A's in the courses that I have taken in the past couple of years. I've had various 4.0 semesters. Now I am getting ready to apply to schools I only dreamed of applying in high school. I am applying to UCLA, UC Berkley, USC, UC San Diego, and UC Irvine. It is truly amazing what focus, determination, and work can bring you. The past two years have proven to me that my hard work will pay off. I am now a laser student shining bright with direction, focus, and perseverance.

Success

What Success is to me
I once believed having everything I ever wanted was the definition of success. I wanted a new car, nice clothes a lot of friends and all that sort of stuff. What I learned from experience is that none of those things last. They don't fill the empty void I felt in my chest at the end of the day. I got a new car and it was amazing the first couple of months but then the feeling went away. The good feeling of having nice clothes only lasted the first time I wore them. After that they became dirty laundry. As for friends, they come and go. Nothing lasts forever. Success has to come from within yourself. It is most definitely not a material thing or a relationship with anyone or thing. Success isn't easy. It has to be the hardest thing you will ever do. But once you do it, it lasts forever...

A Reason to Live
I was once asked a very serious question. I was asked, "what is your purpose?" I responded with attitude, "my purpose for what?!" They told me for everything I do. What was I doing? At the time I was still going through physical therapy, still learning to walk. I was attending Chabot. I was still getting over a broken heart. I felt as if I was just trying to repair my shattered life. I got home and didn't think too much of it until just right before I was about to go to sleep. I laid there and thought, "what will I do after I'm basically normal again?" The first thing I thought of was I want to help people who think their lives are broken and shattered and let them know I've been there and it is possible to retake your life. I basically wanted to help those who are in some way in the same position that I'm in or was in. I then thought there is nothing else I'd rather do with my life than doing that. I want to become either an educational counselor at a college or high school or a marriage and family therapist. What better purpose do I have now of going to school getting good grades and enjoying life then to help others that need help in the same way I needed and received help. I felt as if it all happened for that reason. The accident, the heartbreak, everything. It was as if I went through all of that just so I can find my purpose in life. I now feel as if I have a reason to live. When I accomplish my goals then I believe I will reach success.

The Cliche 
In all honesty I won't feel successful unless I have everything I need and some of the things I want. I'm embarrassed to admit this but success won't be reached unless I make a comfortable living. It's cliche and everything Christopher McCandless is against but I'm just like most of America. I want a house, a car, food in my fridge, and a well off family. Most importantly I think what will define my success is if I'm not only capable of providing myself of the cliche commodities that everyone desires but to do what it is that gives me reason to wake up each morning. I think that would be the ultimate level of success to me.

My Ultimate Success
If I can bring a positive impact upon several people's lives then it'll bring me the greatest feeling of success. To me success won't even matter unless I make a difference in someone's life or make some kind of difference in the world. What would be the icing on the cake for me, if I'm capable of doing this is to actually write a book. If I wrote a book I would be able to touch thousands possibly millions more world-wide. If I'm capable of doing that then I will feel as if I reached success. There are so many ways one can succeed however. You can succeed in school, work, family, love, friends, having fun, etc. I think if I have a good balance between everything then my life goals would be reached. Christopher McCandless isn't so much remembered for what he did. He is remembered for why he did what he did. That's my ultimate success too. I want to be remembered for something. I don't so much wish to be famous, but I wish to make an impact on the world that hopefully lasts forever.

What Helps Me Succeed & What Can Be My Drawbacks

As of right now there are hundreds of things that help me succeed in my community. There can also be hundreds of things that prevent my success if I let it. My key to success is making sure that the good outweigh the bad. I also have to find a way to turn the negatives into positives. I have already flipped a drastic drawback that almost cost me my life. Most would've used a traumatic brain injury as an excuse to not do anything, to give up, and even let it ruin your life. However, if anything I used what had happened to me as an excuse to work harder than anybody else. I felt sub-human so I worked my ass off just to be normal. Once I got to be somewhat normal my work ethic stuck with me and now I'm working on being better than good enough.

Success Because Of Volunteer Work

I heard somewhere, maybe from Sean that you won't be able to truly help yourself until you help someone else first. I have always enjoyed helping people but it wasn't until this past year that I actually initiated doing something. I became a big brother at Big Brothers and Big Sisters of the Bay Area, and I also became a Reading Partner tutor at Hillside Elementary in San Leandro. These experiences have not only increased my confidence because I see that these kids look up to me, but the experience has also displayed my strengths. I learned that I can be very patient, I'm actually funny, and I can give good advice. Volunteering has really changed my life and if there is a reason I succeed one of the reasons would be because I give back to my community.

Success Because of Family

My family has been extremely supportive and helpful with my academic goals. My mom being a former teacher and a current high school counselor knows exactly what to tell me when I need help. My sisters have all graduated from universitities so they know how to help me because they have been there. Especially after my accident my family has been there to take care of me when I was completely dependent of them. They carried me when I couldn't walk, they encouraged me when I didn't think college would ever be possible again. If there is a reason why I succeed it will be because of my family.

Success Because of Failure

Nothing in life teaches you better than failure. It takes several falls before you get to where you want to be. The key is how you respond to failure. You either get up and try again or, stay down. One of my football coaches once told me, "life is 10% of what happens to you and 90% of how you respond." My coach was absolutely right. It matters more how you respond to what happens then what actually happens. I suffered a severe traumatic brain injury but, how I responded after that happened is what got me to where I am now. I know what it feels like to be kicked down so, therefore I know what it takes to get back up. I will succeed because I know whatever is to come in life, I will overcome it.