My Circumstances Do Not Define My Worth.

When I was about 10 yrs old, I lived on Brice Street in Baltimore City. I noticed a change in my life when my father came out and said "your mother is on drugs". It was devastating to hear that, especially from my father. As things continued, witnessing both my mom AND dad on drugs gave me my first glimpse of what failure looked like. Things became very difficult for me and my siblings... no food in the house, mother and father barely home, and my entire neighborhood being consumed by drugs.

In my neighborhood, I witnessed my first shooting. On the same block I was on, they were chasing a car down the street and shooting. I didn't know what was going on until a neighbor ran out and took us into the house. After a couple of minutes, everything was back to normal; we went back outside and walked to the end of the block and that same truck had bullet holes all over it. A few weeks later I saw my first dead body on Edmondson Ave.

Life got worse. Because there was still no food in the house, me and my brother went to grocery stores and carried bags to receive money so we could buy food or snacks. Our lights got turned off and rent went unpaid for months at a time. Being put out on the street was a regular occurrence, just a regular day; we continued struggling. I went to Lemmell Middle School where some days I had to walk to school because I needed to save the little money I had to eat. I was always so hungry and my clothes were dirty and smelly, but I continued to go to school no matter what. I didn't really have support from the teachers because the teachers teased me as well. I got bullied for a little while until I stared fighting back. There was no more bullying after that.

Eventually I ended up living at my grandparents house because we got put out the house on Brice Street. When I got older, we moved again to Chelsea Terrace. People seemed to still want to bully my brother and I. It was a lot of fighting. We stayed in that area for about six months. One day when we got out of school, we walked around the corner and saw we were being put out on the street again. We moved with our grandparents to Park Heights and Belvedere. Everything was ok for a while but we still needed money. My grandparents were able to finally receive food stamps and money from social services. Things got a little better, at least financially. I started going to different schools and graduated from Pimlico Middle School. I dropped out of Northwestern High School at the age of 16 to sell drugs. That was my job for the time being as my life continued to go downhill.

Fast forward 31 years...

I am now a husband, a father, a grandfather, a mentor, a motivational speaker, and a spiritual counselor. My advice to anyone currently struggling, through whatever it may be, is to have a positive self view; your circumstances do not define who you are or your worth. Never be discouraged by your struggle.

- Dwight Mayo.