Growing up in an urban environment, Brent was able to relate to the sergeants opinion. The young men from the inner cities would be better off in the military because they have been exposed to death and violence. As a boy, he began to create a path that would lead him out of violence and depression, into a happy and successful life. The first incident of neighborhood violence that Staples remembers, took place when he was fourteen. ”The first, I remember from my 14th year—Johnny, brash lover of fast cars, stabbed to death two doors from my house in a fight over a pool game.” The following year, his cousin Wesley, whom he cared for deeply, was shot to death, which made that summer a blur of emotions. The violence continued, and not long after Brent set off for college to be successful, it was either college or death. Deaths are where his brother played a role as a victim. Staples blame himself for his brother's death because he wished that he could have reached out more. Leaving his little brother Blake who was addicted to the street life behind, Brent left the East Coast after graduating college. After a while he began to feel emotionally damaged. He continued to remind himself of the distance he created when he decided to leave and Blake's' decision to clasp onto
Growing up in an urban environment, Brent was able to relate to the sergeants opinion. The young men from the inner cities would be better off in the military because they have been exposed to death and violence. As a boy, he began to create a path that would lead him out of violence and depression, into a happy and successful life. The first incident of neighborhood violence that Staples remembers, took place when he was fourteen. ”The first, I remember from my 14th year—Johnny, brash lover of fast cars, stabbed to death two doors from my house in a fight over a pool game.” The following year, his cousin Wesley, whom he cared for deeply, was shot to death, which made that summer a blur of emotions. The violence continued, and not long after Brent set off for college to be successful, it was either college or death. Deaths are where his brother played a role as a victim. Staples blame himself for his brother's death because he wished that he could have reached out more. Leaving his little brother Blake who was addicted to the street life behind, Brent left the East Coast after graduating college. After a while he began to feel emotionally damaged. He continued to remind himself of the distance he created when he decided to leave and Blake's' decision to clasp onto