All About Me

I was born at White Memorial Medical Center.

1720 Cesar B. Chaves Ave

Los Angeles, California

On October 8th 1997, At 12:22Am

 

 

My mother Dinah Patricia Acero

Named me Ronald Joseph

Right After my father

My parents were never together

So they gave me my mother's last name

Acero

 

 

My father was never there in my life 

Always fighting the law

So my mother and I stayed together

She wasn't the best care taker

I was small and skinny

And never ate healthy

My teeth were rotting horribly

But what did I care at the time

I was five years old

Just sucking on a piece of candy that anyone would give me

 

 

Even at such a young age 

Los Angeles was a scary world to me

Tall and crowded with gangs and winos

At almost every corner block

In certain parts of the city it was a dream to live

But where I lived

It smelled like Cup-O-Noodle

And empty bottles of whiskey in people's yards

Where the grass laid yellow dying under your car

 

 

It was a hard place to live

For anybody

Especially my mother having already raised two daughters'

Sixteen year old twins

By the time I was born

It was obvious to the rest of the world

That we were poor

Me wearing all tettered and stained clothes

And my mother asking others for money

I believe that my mother never really knew

When our next real meal would be

Even though almost every night

There would be a bottle and needle

Comfortably at her side

 

 

One day my mother left me

All Alone

In an apartment infested with roaches and flies

With dirt in every corner of every room

I cried and I cried

And very soon after

The door yelled

"L.A.P.D. OPEN UP!"

When I Heard the voice

I ran to the other side of the room to hide

I tried to be quiet and wipe my tears

The door swung open

Denting the wall behind it

Police filled the room

One officer picked me up off the ground

And took me to the outside stairwell

Soon my mother arrived home and looks me dead in my eyes

She immediately started balling

The police took her aside and started to question her

Moments later

They sat me down in the back of the police car

And drove away

The officer tried to make friends with me

So he switched on and off

His lights and sirens

It was pretty cool to me at the time

But I still didn't know what was going on

 

 

One year later

They said "We love you."

And "This is your new family now."

I have no religion or spiritual beliefs

But some nature of good saved me

If I was still living with my mother

I would probably be dead by now

Or at a minimum by my early teens

A drug addict

She died when I was just eight years old

On a park bench

Decades of drug abuse finally took her life

For everything that I have experienced

I am very grateful for being able to have a chance

A chance at living a life

Not filled with hopelessness

But rather endless possibilities

And forgiveness