Anthony Rios shows us how to take charge of our own dreams.
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A Dream Comes a Long Way
by Anthony Rios
I think of myself as a dreamer.
It started when I was in fifth grade.
I had no one to lean on. Every day I was picked on because I was fat. Kids called me Jelly Roll Toe, Fatty, and Ect. I wore the same clothes for weeks because I didn’t have a lot. I was roaming the street with my friends, hopeless with no one to turn to.
But every night I dreamed that I would become somebody.
Every day was a battle because I didn’t know where I was headed.
I lay in bed and dreamed of a better life. I always questioned myself.
“Is this life really for me?”
“Is there another way out of the ‘hood?”
I dreamed of having a father who would teach me how to grow as a man; how to shave; how to write and how to earn respect.
I woke.
It was all a dream. I knew it wasn’t true. I wish it was true.
Now I know only I can carve out my own future. I need to stay on the straight and narrow road. Even though I may stumble and fall occasionally.
It is not in my blood to give up. All my dreams will come true if I do something about them. I will learn to become a man on my own.
All those years I felt empty, like something was missing.
But I found writing.
Writing’s helped keep me on track. Writing’s helped me understand that my past can’t hurt me anymore.
A dream made me come a long way from my past to this present moment.
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