Derrick Rose Short Story

Superior Essays
Imagine being trapped, living in the inner city, surrounded by people from every walk of life, from the hoodlums living in next door, to the Jewish people walking to church on Saturdays. Imagine experiencing watching dealers hustle contraband on nearly every street corner; Fights are an every day occurrences on these streets, robberies are a dime-a-dozen. This is all you’ve ever come to know; you were born in to this life, and shaped by the streets. This is the story of Derrick Rose growing up in Brooklyn. Derrick grew up in a housing complex that housed an average of 40 families. Buildings like these are commonly found in inner city New York, and on any given block one may find 8 such buildings. This is just one side of a square block; there would be about 50-70 kids to play with. There would always be games raging, whether they were racing games, “stick ball,”(this is an improvised form of baseball with a broomstick, or any sort of stick available) or, most commonly, boxing, which Derrick was great at. Fights amongst the boys on the block were very common, most times they would be broken up; however, a fight was no big deal, one may get a busted lip, or one may displace another’s teeth; which Derrick had done many times during his tussles. After the conflicts, the boys returned to being friends and continued playing together. With so many people living in such close quarters, a sense of community develops amongst the youth on the block. The problem is leaving the block. When Derrick stepped foot off of his block, he hardly knew anyone, and no one on the next block was looking out for him. It was very common to be robbed or targeted on another block. Children were spared no slack. The very first time Derrick was robbed, it was for his bus pass, and he was in the second grade! Derrick was late for school, so there was no morning crowd of students and working citizens as there usually would have been. Instead there were very few people, as Derrick was walking off of the bus with his sack-lunch, he heard a voices say something along the lines of, “you got a bus pass?” Derrick tried to ignore them and walk faster, even run, however a second grader isn’t as fast as a young adult. He was quickly grabbed by his backpack and punched in the stomach. It was at this point that the robbers snatched his bus pass, threw him on the ground and kicked him. This would be the first of many violent encounters that would occur in the youth of Derrick Rose. As time went on, the streets hardened Derrick; he quickly caught on to the hustle and flow of an urban society. Derrick was taught by the men on the streets “you never let anyone rob you, if you do get robbed, you’d better come back with bloody knuckles. You had better fight back. Never give it up!” Robbery, as far as urban areas are concerned, is a great embarrassment, and the young men of Brooklyn are taught never to let anyone just impose their will on them. Of course young men would still get robbed, and robberies did happen, and as a young boy, of course Derrick was still robbed by grown men: until one day. As Derrick grew into a young man, he tested into Brooklyn Tech High School, this school issues a test across the state of New York and only the top 2% …show more content…
“Be careful who you choose as friends” because just as Derrick’s friend stood his ground, the other three in the group backed off. Because of that one friend’s courage, it could have meant all the difference in preserving the life of Derrick Rose, who is now a professional, working under the Loma Linda board of Anesthesiology, with a family, and a tranquil life. Derrick was able to make it out of the streets; he was able to survive, albeit a miracle, he made it out alive. Now, with more age, knowledge, wisdom, and life experience, a more calm, and professional Derrick concludes his interview with, “if someone is trying to rob you, just give it up, you can buy ten more, don’t fight them, it’s not worth

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