It is story of a black neighborhood of California. Yes, that’s what everyone used to call it. Everyone in that neighborhood was poor though some people have some so-called good jobs in the nearby restaurants. Their job was to clean tables and to mop floors. As anybody would imagine the kids in the neighborhood had no interest in going to school. They loved playing loud hip-hop music and danced to the wacky tunes. Boys got inspired from the drug dealers and thugs. Their part time job was to snatch money from people since they knew each nook and corner of the streets, no one could really catch them.
Life was good, if not awesome. As they say that all are unique, a young boy who lived in the same neighborhood was different form all others. He knew that if anything could change his life forever and earn him the respect he deserved, it was education. He used to live with his elder brother and three sisters along with his mother who knew her son was special.
“I must tell you, he is one fine boy in the whole neighborhood. He knows what he wants out of his life. I am proud of him,” she once said talking to her coworker at the hotel.
The boy’s name was Christopher Taylor. He used to wake up early in the morning at three, used to get ready to walk to the college, as the family could not afford to pay for his bus fare.
“I can give you some money to pay for your bus fare tomorrow if you want me to,” his mother said once.
“No, you better collect that money to buy yourself a nice pair of clothes,” he said.
“Have you ever seen someone cleaning tables wearing new clothes? After all that’s what I do there in the hotel. People who come there make a mess, I must tell you,” she replied.
The boy did not know what to tell his mother. He kept quiet and marched to the other room.
Chris worked hard and finished his college with good marks. His mother gave the news to everyone, as her son was the first boy in the entire neighborhood who graduated. Chris’s siblings used to take proud to introduce him to their friends. “Meet Christopher Taylor, the only graduate in our neighborhood,” his sister told her friends who were staring at the boy.
Now was the time to go to the university since it could help Chris realize his dream. He wanted to be college professor so that he could teach many others like him. His mother started working even harder to collect money but mopping floors could never be a profitable job. His siblings tried to help.
The day Chris stepped into the university he knew he had to work the hardest to be the best among all.
Time went by. The family went through hell. It was hard to make two ends meet let alone funding the education of the only graduate in the neighborhood. Chris also took up a job. He used to teach kids in his neighborhood, though they were only a very few. When things got worse, he started working in a shopping mall as a sales person. He did other petty jobs too. Some people told him to get a full time job as they thought education would never give him a bright future.
“There is no bright future for kids there in the neighborhood,” they said.
Chris however was not ready to give up. He worked hard and finally earned a degree.
The day he got a job as a college professor, he decided that he would not let his mother clean those dirty tables again. He collected money to buy a new suit for the first day. He was a college professor now. All parents in the neighborhood used to tell his success story to their kids. They wanted their kids to be like him.
Chris never gave up on his dreams no matter what. It was hard but that’s what it is to live and to survive.
