English 101 - Statistics About Divorce and the Impact It Can Have on Children

Cameron Russell

Professor Sara Pettey

English 101

4/12/2018

Other

There is close to a 50% chance that you grew up with divorced parents. My parents got divorced when I was two so it’s all I really knew. Maybe at first I thought it was normal, but I came to soon realize I am very different. I am an other. Multiple things make up how different I truly am and why my characteristics are perceived by others the way they are. These characteristics include my clothing, my home, and my ambitions.

Well, I wasn’t always the rich kid on the block. I didn’t always have that nice Nike tracksuit, or the superhero zip up hoodie. The kind of clothes I wore greatly influenced the way I was judged. In third grade a couple of my classmates noticed that I wore the same shoes to school every day, and since then I’ve always been self-conscious about what I wear in public on a daily basis. As I get older this early trauma seems to fade away so it is not much of a problem anymore.

As soon as I could start working, I quickly took advantage of it so I could provide myself with the clothing that I thought would be cool. You know, the shirts, the shorts, the shoes. If it didn’t have the Nike swoosh symbol, you weren’t legit. I slowly started collecting and preserving my delicate attire over the years. In recent days I have heard clique-related made-up names that other kids have snickered at my friends and I. One line was, “You Nik-e’s!” As in a characterizing name. At this moment I thought that I wouldn’t have a label anymore. I had the nice clothes I never had as a kid but it still wasn’t enough.

        Furthermore, the clothes that you choose to put on your body is a representation of you and no one can change that, but can only judge. Through the years of being criticized and bullied based on my appearance, it has taught me that no matter what way you dress, there is always going to be someone who wants to put a label on you.

        On another note, I moved around more often than most people. Having young seperated parents, it was hard for either of them to purchase a home the way most of my friends’ parents did. Most of my friends parents were in their early thirties and from the size of their house I could tell they had a decent amount of household net worth. I could tell some of my friends were rich which made me feel different because I am the complete opposite.

        I may have dressed like I was rich, and that is why I had the friends that I had. But behind that Gucci belt was chores for days on end. I had to work for my belongings and that made me feel different as well as proud for earning my reward.

        Finally apart from all this negativity, my musical ambitions seem to be different; but more of in a good way. Most kids and even teens my age will tell you they are going to school to do ‘this’ or I want to be ‘this’ when im older. I work in silence and I make unimaginable rap songs that go very fast. I want to meet Marshall Mathers, one of the most famous white rappers ever, even if it is a little far fetched. Not many of my friends can rap like me, and for the ones who can, I am honestly way better than. I feel like my music will compete with the top artists someday even though that it is a wild thought.This is what makes me an ‘other’ and its why I am different from society.