I Remember
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The apostle Paul, in the first book of Corinthians and the thirteenth chapter said: "When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things." One might think that this should be every person's experience, but as for me, when I was a child a spake as a man, I understood as a man, I reasoned and faced reality as a man, and was deprived of the opportunity of having childish things to put away. Growing up in a household as the only child born to a mother struggling from a then chronic case of Liver Cirrhosis and a father who was mostly never present, I Damion Robinson was basically left responsible for myself, achieving many things on my own; learning many things on my own.
I remember living in my father's house. I remember the winter nights with no heat. I remember the days with no water. No food. No electricity. I remember having to walk from east 86th street to Tilden Avenue (my grandmother's residence) just to take showers and to use the bathroom. I remember eating ice cubes to have the feeling of being full. Yes, I remember.
Persons may say that at there is light at the end of every tunnel, but for me it seemed that my tunnel was unending. During one of my father's reoccurring "light-outs" I decided that I'd had enough. Thinking that somehow the grass was greener on the other side, at the age of thirteen I, along with my mom went went to live with my grandmother in a basement-apartment she rented. There, for just about five years shared the living room couch as a "bed" sleeping on our sides. Life still wasn't a crystal stair; and at the age of sixteen I had to pick up a part-time job as a cashier at a local KFC just to make ends meet. At that point in time my day was filled with all work and no play. I had a daily routine of school, work, and church...school, work, and church, often wishing that I could spend more time with friends especially during my senior year of high school, and actively play my role as the captain of my fraternity and also as a choir director in my church.
In my perspective everything happens for a reason, and through every trial there is something to learn. I've learned to stand on a foot of my own. I've learned that in order to really have anything in this life, it must be earned. Through ardent love for God, music, and life, I have learned that any person can make it through anything with faith. I regret nothing that has transpired through the years, and I must elucidate that there is nothing (no thing) that can put a person's life on hold but that person.
Life has never been a crystal stair, but with the help of God I have overcome.