The last time I tried to persuade someone, what the time when I tried to convince my brother to leave the gang life and his so called friends alone. It was the summer of 96′ when I heard that my brother was locked up for breaking in a car with his so called friends and they got caught. The Judge gave them 6 months. He was the last one to come out for some reason unknown. I was thinking that his friends had put the whole thing on him. This was the first time I tried to talk to him in leaving his friends but he wouldn’t listen to anything I said.
He said to me that some of his friend has been with him since he was little. I told him that if you stay with these friends of yours you will always get in trouble. He Just walked away and said that he didn’t want to hear it. There were days I thought I was going to hear that my brother had been killed from the gang life he was in. Then I went to the military in deck. 00′ and I would call home to see if he was k. My mom told me that he went to prison for a year. For the same things he did when he was younger.
So while he was locked up I would write to him and tell him the mistakes he made. When he got out I made sure I had enough leave to go home so I could talk to him one more time before my ship pulls out for deployment. He said to me that while he was incarcerated he was doing a lot of thinking. He thought about his friend and also thought about leaving his friends because that’s all the friends he ever new. I told him that if he continues to stay with his friends he will always get Into trouble.
I also told him that If he wanted to make a ewe start that he would have to leave our old neighborhood. So I recommended to him that he should to move to Pasadena. I told him he doesn’t know anal there and that would be a good place to start fresh and get a Job. He agreed to go there and try it out. I called our uncle and ask him to see If he could get my brother a Job. He said yes. Now many years later I think about that day we talk and I have been very happy with him and proud of him, but I won’t tell him that He has a wonderful family now and a good Job.