Hi Steemit Crew,
My name is Jesse and i'm so pleased to meet you all. I'm living in Canada and i'm just trying to live my life by treating others with respect.
I've had a difficult life and went through lots of struggles and painful events, that i've had to heal from, and man, this took lots of commitment. I was an angry son of a bitch for many years and I would explode when i experienced unfair treatment or I perceived a threat against me.
This got me locked up, when I knocked a guy unconscious and I spent 8 months in prison. While I was incarcerated I spent my days feeling like a piece of shit and I had panic attacks every day. When i got out, I was filled with rage and I felt even worse than before.
I ended up living on the streets for a few years, where I developed a herion addiction and I hit my lowest point ever. I would hope to die everyday and I wished someone would just kill me and take me out of my misery.
Then one day while I was slumped in the corner shooting up a man approached me and asked me what my name was and if I wanted to have lunch. I could not believe someone was talking to me and being nice to me because I thought I was worthless and useless. I told him my name and he said his name is Wilfred and then I said i'm not hungry because i need to shoot up now, so please go.
He said ok well i'll come back tomorrow and can we meet, i want to spend time with you. I was suspicious and i wasn't sure what to make of this fellow, but I reluctantly agreed and we set-up a time to meet the next day.
So the next day came around and I saw Wilfred walking towards me with a smile on his face and a hot coffee in his hand for me. His demeanor made me feel at ease and for some reason I could tell that he was sincere and a kind-hearted soul.
He handed me some cloths and said I deserve a good life and I just need support. I cried and I was ashamed of releasing my feelings because I kept them bottled up for years.
We developed a friendship and he encouraged me get off the drugs and talked about enrolling in university and pursue an undergraduate degree in Sociology, because I told him my interests and he recommended this program to me.
I suffered for months detoxing from the drugs, and this was so hard for me but Wilfred was there every step of the way. I was so surprised when I got into university a year later, I could hardly believe what I was doing.
Wilfred taught me the power of prayer and releasing pain and trauma experienced from childhood. We would do exercises together and sometimes I wanted to run away because the memories were hard to face. I persevered and it felt like a weight had been lifted off my shoulders and I felt like a new man.
So fast forward 10 years later and i'm living a healthy lifestyle, working with helping the homeless, these kind-hearted souls, and i'm happily married with an incredible 2 year old son.
It only takes someone caring about you, in order for you to realize that you are deserving of love and respect. When you are deep in the gutter of despair, sometimes you just need to strong hand to lift you up because sometimes we can feel weak on our own.
We are all deserving of love and we are all human and equal to one another, we just need to help each other.
My dear friend Wilfred passed away 2 years ago, and I miss him terribly but his memory lives on in my heart and he taught me so much, he was an Angel on Earth.
I look forward to getting to know you all and helping one another.
Jesse
