Liz Murray Reflection

Liz Murray is an inspirational speaker whose most noticeable accomplishment has been being accepted into Harvard University despite going through a rough upbringing including drug abuse, rape, and homelessness. Murray was born in the Bronx on September 23, 1980 to her father Peter, and mother Jean. Both of whom were drug addicts, and had mental illnesses. Though almost breaking down a couple times Murray maintained perfect composure while narrating an extremely tragic auto-biography when she came to speak at UB. I myself found that to be amazing and continued to reflect her struggles with my own, as I kept listening I couldn’t believe on how easy I got it. I’ve been blessed enough to always have a hot meal, a bed to sleep in, and even some …show more content…
While the food wasn’t of any concern to her parents, Jean would go out and search for new ways to buy drugs. Besides sex behind bars in an alley, she had two friends, Tara and Ron (who would buy the drugs for her). Jean would engage in Threesomes for drugs. This reliance on Ron caused Liz to be sexually abused. At the same time Jean also contacted HIV, and her father AIDS. At that point Liz ran away from home, didn’t go to school, and would spend time crashing at her friends house or sleeping on the D train. Liz officially became homeless after she turned 15 when her mother died of HIV. Having to go through starvation, sexual abuse, and negligence Liz still did everything she could to keep her parents happy and still loved them with all her heart. I think I would’ve either turned to the streets or commit suicide at that point. I believe Liz Murray to be a star of inspiration because I can empathize with her having seen similar things growing up in the city. I’ve seen friends go into shelters, be taken away by child services, and unfortunately (RIP) one of them isn’t here anymore having gone through a similar