Your life is hard. But mine is too.

Your life is hard. I get it. I know your story. Abandoned by your mother, along with your older brothers and sisters. Abused by your dad and step-mom. Teachers didn’t put forth enough effort to get through to you. It seems that nobody expected you to amount to much. Even you.

You learned of your father’s death in a very hurtful way. Despite what he put you through as a child, he was the parent who stuck by your side. You love, respect, and look up to him. I can say this for the man – he taught you to be a good worker. You are not afraid of a hard day’s work. You say “sir” and “ma’am”. You would never hit a woman. In fact, you can often be found holding doors open for the ladies and elderly men.

You are a victim

Your and your brother are full of stories of how harsh life has been. Locked away for over a year, you missed out on a lot of precious moments in your daughter’s toddler years. Then CPS had to stick their nose where it didn’t belong – wrongfully robbing you of another year. And having a record made it near impossible to get a job.

My life is hard too

It is life. It has its ups and its downs. Difficulty finding and keeping work. The disappointment and embarrassment of our relationship not working out. The nearly disabling levels of pain and weakness that I deal with on a daily basis, thanks to a car accident that happened on Christmas of all days.

Life is always going to have its challenges. You cannot just say “I never had a chance” and give up. And when good fortune does come your way, you cannot just sit back and expect it to keep coming. – You have to work at it.

Everybody’s life is filled with opportunity and obstacles. Neither should be used as an excuse to do less than your best.