Rising Above

678 Words2 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Self determination vs self-actualization

If you have an abusive relationship with your drug and alcohol addicted parents, could you ever rise above it? Could you ever live up to your full potential? Our country has continued to struggle with these problems over the years. Some give up and settle for the sad life they’ve been born into while others are motivated by the desire to be anything like that. Factors that may affect whether or not a person can rise above a difficult family upbringing include your education, drive, choices, and drugs/alcohol abuse.
Education is a big factor when determining if someone is able to rise above a hard upbringing. Looking into the future, education is the foundation of a career and therefore one’s success. Jeannette Walls, author of The Glass Castle, and Liz Murray, inspiration of Homeless to Harvard: Liz’s Murray’s Story, both agree that an education is necessary in order to be successful. Throughout their stories, they both worked hard in school and highly regarded their education. Jeannette’s mother Rose Mary agrees saying, “I’ve always believed in the value of a good education,” (Walls, 265). Many children take their education granted and don’t realize it is a privilege. Without a decent education, it will be nearly impossible to land a suitable job. With no job, it will be difficult to support yourself.
One’s drive is the most important factor in determining if someone can rise above a hard upbringing. You may have heard the old saying “If there’s a will, there’s a way”. That adage most certainly applies in this situation. It’s impossible to succeed if you lack ambition. One can either choose to cut corners and do the least amount of work possible or choose to use the past as motivation for the future. It’s easy to fall through ...

... middle of paper ...

...he body long lasting, mothers who are addicted to drugs and alcohol and have babies, pass this on to the newborn fetus. What chance does a child have born into a situation which they had nothing to do with and no voice to cry out for help. Those kids are then locked into a life of learning disabilities, behavioral disorders, and emotional disturbances. This happens all the time in places closer than we’d think.

Works Cited

Ehrenreich, Barbara. Nickel and Dimed. Holt: New York, 2001. Print.
Silverstein, Sam. “The Power of Choice.” Sam Silverstein Enterprises, inc., April 2, 2007. Web. May 21, 2014.
“The Truth About Alcohol.” Foundation For A Drug-Free World. Web. May 21, 2014.
Walls, Jeannette. The Glass Castle: A Memoir. New York : Scribner, 2005. Print.
“Common Reasons Why Those Who Need Treatment Don’t Get It”. Elements Behavioral Health. Web. May 21, 2014.

Show More
Related

  • Similar Difficulties in "Angela’s Ashes" by Frank McCourt and "The Glass Castle" by Jeannette Walls

    2023 Words  | 5 Pages

    After reading Angela’s Ashes by Frank McCourt and The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls, I observed that both these texts share a few similarities in the way the authors portray the difficulties their characters have to face, in order to get to where they are now. After researching a few rags to riches stories and using Slumdog Millionaire and The Pursuit of Happyness as my primary sources, I found out that successful individuals from harsh backgrounds shared similar complications, yet they had the will and perseverance to get to where they are now. They faced difficulties such as dealing with poverty and hardships of everyday life, struggling to overcome the effects of addiction and abuse. They found ways to overcome these difficulties through things like having some form of education, and utilizing their knowledge, to manipulate opportunities to their advantage in order to bring about success.

    Read More

  • Essay On Family Addiction Effects On The Family System

    933 Words  | 2 Pages

    To begin with, substance and addiction disorder has become an epidemic in society today, affecting family, work ethics, relationships, and values. The family system, broken in many ways and the results can be catastrophic or damaging to a family unit. To clarify, substance and addiction disorder onset crimes against family members/communities, child abuse, sexual misconduct domestic violence, prostitution, minor crimes, and behavior problems difficult for individuals to handle. Another key point, stages of addiction within the family system is denial, home treatment, chaos, and loss of control. “The belief of the family system is that addiction problems are the results of

    Read More

  • Three Reasons College Still Matters By Andrew Delbanco

    821 Words  | 2 Pages

    In recent years, many have debated whether or not a college education is a necessary requirement to succeed in the field of a persons’ choice and become an outstanding person in society. On one hand, some say college is very important because one must contribute to society. The essay Three Reasons College Still Matters by Andrew Delbanco shows three main reasons that students should receive their bachelor’s degree. On the other hand, many question the point of wasting millions of dollars on four years or maybe more to fight for highly competitive jobs that one might not get. Louis Menand wrote an article based on education titled Re-Imagining Liberal Education. This article challenges the main thought many americans have after receiving a secondary education. Louis Menand better illustrates the reasons why a student should rethink receiving a post secondary education better than Andrew Delbanco’s three reasons to continue a person’s education.

    Read More

  • College Is Not for Everyone

    444 Words  | 1 Pages

    Society instills today's youth with that without a college education they will not be successful. But then again what defines success? Success is a wide-ranging term that has different meanings to different people. Some people believe that making money defines success, while others believe that success is having a loving family. Still, society seems to demonstrate and even promote that success is portrayed by making money. The general public states that in order to be a successful person one must make a heavy salary out of college. The problem with this philosophy is that some people are not meant for college. In Bird's article, she writes that college is not been effective for everyone. Half of all high school graduates attend college and the pattern of dropouts is becoming more and more obvious showing that some students don't fit the mold (305).

    Read More

  • Peter Brooks Analysis

    1079 Words  | 3 Pages

    It should not be a surprise that many people believe that a college degree is a necessity in today’s world. We are taught to believe this at a young age. The average citizen will not question this statement due to how competitive the job market has become, yet does graduating college guarantee more success down the road? Peter Brooks is a scholar at Princeton University and publisher of an essay that questions the value of college. He obviously agrees that college can help securing a job for the future, but questions the humanities about the education. He uses other published works, the pursuit of freedom, and draws on universal arguments that pull in the reader to assume the rest of his essay has valid reasons.

    Read More

  • Disaster Mental Health

    1076 Words  | 3 Pages

    NASMHPD. (2014, Accessed April 27). Retrieved from NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF STATE MENTAL HEALTH PROGRAM DIRECTORS: http://www.nasmhpd.org/About/AOMultiStateDisaster.aspx

    Read More

  • The Rise Above All

    829 Words  | 2 Pages

    Education is a big factor in life and for someone who is trying to recover from a rough past, it’s a need. In Homeless to Harvard: The Liz Murray Story, Liz had the chance to go to school as a child but as she grew up, she rarely went. She stayed home with her parents and went only to take her final test to pass the grade. As she realized that school was her only way to get anywhere in the future, she began to take things more seriously. Liz asserts, “I'm smart. I know I can succeed. I just need a chance. A chance to climb out of this place I've born in. Everyone I know are angry and tired. They're trying to survive. But I know that there is a world out there that is better, that's better developed. And I want to live in it,” (Homeless to Harvard: The Liz Murray Story). She worked hard trying to get back into school and she took extra classes to make up for t...

    Read More

  • Adult Children of Alcoholics

    1600 Words  | 4 Pages

    In the United States, twenty million children are experiencing physical, verbal and emotional abuse from parents who are addicted to alcohol. Growing up in an alcoholic house can leave emotional scars that may last a lifetime. This is tragic because we consider that childhood is the foundation on which our entire lives are fabricated. When a child’s efforts to bond with an addicted parent are handicapped, the result is confusion and intense anxiety. In order to survive in a home deficient, of healthy parental love, limits, and consistency, they must develop “survival skills” or defense mechanisms very early in life.

    Read More

  • Why College Is A Path To Success?

    2005 Words  | 5 Pages

    Education has a concept that has a significant meaning; hence, it allows an individual to acquire particular knowledge or skills. Education is what prepares one’s mind to learn and understand important ideas. The thought of attending college is a debatable choice as it is debated that having a college education increases an individual’s quality of life and society. Money and time are required to obtain a higher education and can be a hardship; however, it does not compare to the possible advantages and outcomes one receives for initiating a path to a college degree and success. A higher education is not only a pathway to success, because there is a value in higher education that help students acknowledge who they are, grow as people, and develop

    Read More

  • Inequality In American Education

    750 Words  | 2 Pages

    Therefore, many children living in poverty are not able “to make use of their talent- to get the right education, to pursue the right career path” (Krugman,1). Because of this, social injustice has now started to rapidly affect our education system, and for this reason children living in poverty are getting fewer chances to a successful future. These kids seem not to be entitled to a strong future, because of their social structure. To provide these kids the education they deserve, the government should spend more of our income on providing for the low-income families. Then by providing the families more access, the children become healthier and are entitled to better schools and better education. Social inequality is quickly downsizing the rate of graduating students yearly, and as a society we must strive to end this inequality in our education

    Read More

  • Long Term Effects Of Child Abuse

    433 Words  | 1 Pages

    Many of the people checked into rehab or some rehabilitation program has experienced some type of abuse. Drinking and drug abuse can turn victims children into victims as well. Substance abuse means the user is not in the right state of mind. They are not able to care for their children. They do things induced by the drugs and/or alcohol. Nearly 1/3 of abused grow up and abuse there own children.

    Read More

  • Overcoming Language Barriers: My Personal Journey

    677 Words  | 2 Pages

    There is no way you can escape it because it is within every little thing in your life. What if I didn't have my family and my school system to support me every day to achieve mine and their goal for me? What if I didn't have the power in me to say I need to do this because I wouldn't be successful later in life? Now I have a bigger future to look at since my reading skills have improved.

    Read More

  • Degree In College

    460 Words  | 1 Pages

    Some people decided to take education to learn more about other academic courses that they needed with their uncertain future. They also have limited support from college such as financial aid but not enough for every student. “ Graduating from a local college with the help of Pell Grants and a lot of debt. She can’t imagine her life without higher education, but as a non-tenure track academic in a tough job market, she has limited job security and she owns more than $800 a month in student-loan payments.” (Hopper 206-207). From Briallen, she had experienced with some tough decisions on going to college with her educational degrees, having financial aid to support to go to a selective four-year college, and getting a job in a tough job market in this world. From learning through the argument from both Hopper sister (Briallen and Johanna), purchasing college degrees will allow students like us can get a higher standard in education to get better opportunities even though they faced their

    Read More

  • Narcotic Parents Research Paper

    675 Words  | 2 Pages

    Of course, sickness and death of their parents puts avoidable hardships in an offspring life, but there is so much more before those irreversible diseases kick in. Obsession to a drug can cause rifts in spouse’s relationships, and bring about a split up or divorce. Whilst the parents become evidently depressed, so do their children. Also narcotics such as marijuana can enter a young one’s body through second hand smoke, and cause unforeseeable health problems in the future such as asthma or cancer. Withdrawal from drugs can cause a parent to become violent, which leads to child abuse. Also, children who witness drugs being taken within their home from a young age get the idea that it is okay, and turn to a life of them from their teenage years forward (How Children Are Affected). It is evident that even without using them one’s self, a child can be severely damaged from their guardians abusing

    Read More

  • Mental Health: As Important as Physical Health

    977 Words  | 2 Pages

    Tartakovsky, Margarita. "» What Prevents People From Seeking Mental Health Treatment? - World of Psychology." Psych Central.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 21 Apr. 2014.

    Read More

More about Rising Above

Open Document