Autobiographical Statement: The Journey That Changed My Life

A. Autobiographical Statement My mother was the first and only person in her family to graduate from college, which has always been an inspiration to me. She was an abused wife on food stamps, raising two children on her own while my father was incarcerated. I will always remember when she told me that life was like a lotus flower; we may start by growing in the mud but each day we can choose to bloom above the water into a beautiful flower. It was then that I understood my childhood was not my choice, but how I choose to live the rest of my life was. My mother never wavered in her faith that if I wanted to do something in my life the only thing that could hold me back was myself. My encouraging mother taught me about perseverance; if I were willing to work hard enough my …show more content…
My father was incarcerated for seven years on a non-violent drug offense, which has drastically affected my life. If an offender serves any amount of time, it can influence their employment status, housing, and relationships. The more time an individual serves, the more detrimentally these factors could be influenced. My father's choices, which lead him to face felony charges, pulled apart our family and drove him to use and abuse substances upon his release. It is easy for me to see the effects of incarceration because it drastically changed my life. Mass incarceration does not only affect the inmate, it affects everyone in our society. One method of addressing this social problem is to revisit and revise our laws regarding sentencing. It is true the incarceration and crime rate has slowly declined in recent years. This is attributed largely to cuts in funding and policymakers leading the way in making changes to the minimum sentencing laws. This is a large step in the right direction and encourages me to take a more holistic approach to addressing the