Serious thread. Basically, who are the main people who made you who you are today. Its always nice reading these threads to hear some of these stories. Well here are mine:
1) My mom and my dad. Their motivation and their drive for success is so inspiring to me. I was born in Poland, and my parents worked very hard in Poland and barely got by because of the corrupt government and the Soviet Control back in that time. Once the union collapsed, Poland's economy and government were going straight to hell, so my parents decided moving here to the US would be the best idea. My dad moved first, and left my mom and i behind for a year, he came back for us and we all moved together. The first 3 months we lived in a car, and eventually we got a place. My dad worked roughly 70-90 hours a week, with two full time jobs and an occasional part time job. He made the sacrifice, and he would always be at work or asleep. Meanwhile my mom worked at the same time, and i would either join her at work, or i would go to a day care. Basically we are a product of "the American dream". Now we live in a 2 story house in a nice quiet neighborhood, 2 nice cars, i just graduated from college and am moving on for my masters degree. I respect and love them so much, because they are the reason why i am here today doing so well off. Their hard work and determination got them to where they are right now, and i admire them for the sacrifices they made for the family, and to this day i still carry on their work ethic and motivation.
2) My high school guidance counselor/friend. When i was in high school, i had almost no sense of direction. I didnt want to go to college, i didnt want to work, i didnt want to do the military, i just did not feel like doing anything at all. I got into the wrong crowd a lot in high school and did some things i shouldnt have, and basically it kept me from focusing on school and my GPA fell apart. To me, school was a complete joke. My guidance counselor knew what i was going through and helped me set my priorities straight by the start of my senior year, and after hours of just talking to her to get to the bottom of my problems, things finally made sense. She always said she saw my potential in me, and eventually she convinced me of it. My senior year, she helped me work hard to raise my GPA and she did everything she could so i got into college. Even after i graduated, she kept in contact with me and kept pushing me to do my best. Now 4 years later, we still talk (now as friends, not student/counselor), i graduated college with a 3.6 GPA (best in my life), and i am going to grad school this fall. Without her, i have no idea what i would have done when i got out of high school, probably not much of anything.
3) My former assistant manager/friend. I worked with him for 3 years, and i learned a lot about life, and his personal life philosophy is still something i hang on to. He came from a single parent home where his mom raised 4 children in a very poor and dangerous neighborhood in a major city. He was exposed to lots of things a child should not see. To this day he carries scars from things he did as a teen, from a gunshot wound to covered up gang tattoos. After he graduated high school, he was accepted to a private college on a sports scholarship, where he decided that it will be his only way to ever turn his life around. He graduated college with a business degree, moved away from his home state, and is now working as a retail assistant manager and studying to get his second degree in order to get a "real" job as he calls it. Even though he went through the things he went through, he always kept his head up and stayed positive through it all. Whenever i asked how he was doing, his response was "slow motion", and he eventually explained what that means to him. He means that he lives the good life slowly to enjoy every last little bit of it, and when bad things come up in his life or he has to confront his past, he does not get sad, mad, or anything, he simply lets them slowly take their course, because things will eventually get better. Roughly in those words. When we worked together, our boss (the general manager) was a guy younger than me who was a power hungry idiot who completely ruined the store, and my assistant manager always stood up for me when the general manager would try to fire me or attack me in some way. Let alone we had a ton of serious talks, and to me he felt like either a second dad or as an older brother (probably this one because he is only 8 years older lol), and we still keep in contact even though we both left the company. His life philosophy of "slow motion" is something i try to live by now.
1) My mom and my dad. Their motivation and their drive for success is so inspiring to me. I was born in Poland, and my parents worked very hard in Poland and barely got by because of the corrupt government and the Soviet Control back in that time. Once the union collapsed, Poland's economy and government were going straight to hell, so my parents decided moving here to the US would be the best idea. My dad moved first, and left my mom and i behind for a year, he came back for us and we all moved together. The first 3 months we lived in a car, and eventually we got a place. My dad worked roughly 70-90 hours a week, with two full time jobs and an occasional part time job. He made the sacrifice, and he would always be at work or asleep. Meanwhile my mom worked at the same time, and i would either join her at work, or i would go to a day care. Basically we are a product of "the American dream". Now we live in a 2 story house in a nice quiet neighborhood, 2 nice cars, i just graduated from college and am moving on for my masters degree. I respect and love them so much, because they are the reason why i am here today doing so well off. Their hard work and determination got them to where they are right now, and i admire them for the sacrifices they made for the family, and to this day i still carry on their work ethic and motivation.
2) My high school guidance counselor/friend. When i was in high school, i had almost no sense of direction. I didnt want to go to college, i didnt want to work, i didnt want to do the military, i just did not feel like doing anything at all. I got into the wrong crowd a lot in high school and did some things i shouldnt have, and basically it kept me from focusing on school and my GPA fell apart. To me, school was a complete joke. My guidance counselor knew what i was going through and helped me set my priorities straight by the start of my senior year, and after hours of just talking to her to get to the bottom of my problems, things finally made sense. She always said she saw my potential in me, and eventually she convinced me of it. My senior year, she helped me work hard to raise my GPA and she did everything she could so i got into college. Even after i graduated, she kept in contact with me and kept pushing me to do my best. Now 4 years later, we still talk (now as friends, not student/counselor), i graduated college with a 3.6 GPA (best in my life), and i am going to grad school this fall. Without her, i have no idea what i would have done when i got out of high school, probably not much of anything.
3) My former assistant manager/friend. I worked with him for 3 years, and i learned a lot about life, and his personal life philosophy is still something i hang on to. He came from a single parent home where his mom raised 4 children in a very poor and dangerous neighborhood in a major city. He was exposed to lots of things a child should not see. To this day he carries scars from things he did as a teen, from a gunshot wound to covered up gang tattoos. After he graduated high school, he was accepted to a private college on a sports scholarship, where he decided that it will be his only way to ever turn his life around. He graduated college with a business degree, moved away from his home state, and is now working as a retail assistant manager and studying to get his second degree in order to get a "real" job as he calls it. Even though he went through the things he went through, he always kept his head up and stayed positive through it all. Whenever i asked how he was doing, his response was "slow motion", and he eventually explained what that means to him. He means that he lives the good life slowly to enjoy every last little bit of it, and when bad things come up in his life or he has to confront his past, he does not get sad, mad, or anything, he simply lets them slowly take their course, because things will eventually get better. Roughly in those words. When we worked together, our boss (the general manager) was a guy younger than me who was a power hungry idiot who completely ruined the store, and my assistant manager always stood up for me when the general manager would try to fire me or attack me in some way. Let alone we had a ton of serious talks, and to me he felt like either a second dad or as an older brother (probably this one because he is only 8 years older lol), and we still keep in contact even though we both left the company. His life philosophy of "slow motion" is something i try to live by now.
