Most people look at life as a struggle. I learned that life is all about what we make of it. We just have to find time to get a better understanding of who we are. Everything I’ve been through transform me into the strong willed man I am today. I knew it was more to my life than what was right in front of me. I just had to take the time to open my eyes and see the world for what it really was. For a very long time I allowed my past to control my present, letting the world shape me into the damaged person that I was becoming, afraid to be who I really was created to be. I made a lot of mistakes searching through my soul while at the same time trying to understand my heart. I wanted to be loved just like everybody else, but I was afraid to express that emotion so I pushed people away, believing that I would not get hurt.

Once I began to strive for a higher education I began to properly understand who I was, and what I was about. It gave me a different perspective concerning life. The first book I read was from "Nigger to Gods" And since that time I have studied over a few hundred books.

I now know and understand that knowledge is the foundation of all things in existence with the knowledge that I have obtained. I stopped falling and made it off the lock up. I obtain my GED and completed multiple self-help programs that were made available to me. When I hit roadblocks, people would say, "Alvin you should go back to your old self!"  Since I was still facing an inner battle with self at times, I still held onto that person living for violence only because I wanted the world to feel my pain. Changed, didn’t happen overnight. I had to work on it every day. I came to understand that prison was supposed to be about rehabilitation, but my question to you how can one rehabilitate yourself when the system contains nothing to help you grow into the man or woman that you’re created to be?

All the programs were taken out of the system so the moment a prisoner is released from prison they won’t have anything to fall back on like trades or job skills. That person usually ends up right back on the same corners  committing the same crimes or worse.

The prison system is a multi billion dollar industry capitalizing off the labor of prisoners. The 13th amendment of the constitution pretty much states: if you are convicted of a crime you are a slave -neither slave or involuntary servitude, except  as a punishment for a crime, whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States or any place subject to their jurisdiction and congress shall have power to enforce their articles by appropriate legislation pass by Congress on January 31, 1865 ratified December 6, 1865

At a certain point, I just wanted to deal with people who were striving to improve themselves. I realize that if I don’t care about my own life, then no one else will. I love me too much to jeopardize my life for freedom again. With that being said in order to have real success, you must be willing to sacrifice everything. I hope that somebody can get something from any part of this book. We all have our struggles and it doesn’t matter what obstacles life throws your way you can overcome anything if we find that place of peace and understanding and identify the route to our problems Just remember no matter what you are a blessing within yourself you can accomplish anything that you set your mind to never allow anybody to tell you who you are or what you can have out of your life. Remember, life can be hard if you don’t have an understanding of you, peace, love, and understanding all comes from within you first I appreciate you for taking the time out to read these words. My wife was the first one to tell me I should write a book about my life.