I was a follower but no ordinary follower. There are leaders, followers, and followers who have potential to be leaders. There were times that I followed and they're times I stood out. I never went to jail or got arrested nor went to juvenile detention centers. I knew not to go to jail because my mom told everyone of us 7 boys that if we go to jail, she wasn't bailing anyone of us out of jail. Mom said, "I will come visit you but that's it because it's the choices that you make whether good or bad, you will have to suffer the consequences for your actions."
I think what shocked people about me is how amazed they were to see someone like me who endured being laughed at, made fun of, and often times discouraged from others who never thought that I would be successful. My mom kept me in church. Me and Courtney went to church with mom since me and Courtney was 2 months old. I can remember when I was a little boy how it looked like I was going to turn out to be a knucklehead. The church we attended Full Gospel Interdenominational church in Downtown Manchester showed us love.
I acted out because my mom and my dad divorced when I was only 3 going on 4 in 1982. I was happy and sad at times. I used to be really quiet at home but acted up in Sunday school and in school. I often wondered why my mom and dad wasn't together anymore. Whenever the social worker at school would ask me if everything was alright, I often said it's okay but it bothered me why my parents split up since I started Kindergarten. If you grew up in a single parent home like me, then you would understand what I'm talking about.
I lived in Hartford for 14 years and been in Bloomfield now going on 31 years. Time has gone by so much, it's hard to believe how these days, weeks, months, and years have flown by. I was thought of as someone that people didn't know whether or not if I would graduate from high school. 🏫 I was the type of person if they needed to get an A in order to pass a class I was able to do it. It's not recommended but that seemed to be a way of life for me. I was also the type of student, who would get all the hard questions on a quiz or test correct but miss some of the easiest questions on that same test or quiz.
I never wanted to take credit for being smart 🤓 so I often hid being smart, so it would be easier for people to think I didn't know or understand my schoolwork or even understand what was going on. I couldn't make friends easily so my true friends in school were thugs. No, I didn't grow up to be a thug, I helped them with their schoolwork, and they had my back when people tried to mess with me. I was often compared to my brother Courtney because Courtney always got A's and B's from Kindergarten- 12th grade.
People started to realize if I would have focused more in school, like Courtney did, I not only would have gotten A's and B's like Courtney did in school, I would've been viewed most likely to succeed like Courtney was. I was calm, persevered, and did my best under pressure. Most people would've given up and quit but I stuck with school and graduated high school and stuck with college and graduated from Community college. I'm the only one in my family who graduated with some college degree and that's fine. My older brothers know that it's never too late if any of them wanted to go back to school and finish college.
Till this day, I continue to stand out and be that follower who shows everyone else the potential I have to be a leader. Not all leaders are good leaders, not all followers are good followers, and not all followers show potential to be good leaders. The best way to be a good leader is to stand out and lead by example. That's a little bit more of my biography. There is more to come. God Bless You!
