Georges Response Day 14

Carmelo

Environment and influence has a major impact on the type of person you are and the life you choose to follow. In my opinion the boys in True Notebooks could be where they are today if they were in another neighborhood but probably not. Family matters have a huge effect on people but it's nothing a kid couldn't avoid, or cope with. The main problem is the lifestyle of a gang. In a different neighborhood there could have been something else to fall back on besides a gang. Maybe the boys would have just had a group of friends that were there to talk to them, instead of crime to gain respect. Now at fourteen years old if I were to be on my own I would be lost. Remembering back when I was fourteen I thought I knew it all, me and my friends were the best. Being on my own and trying to raise myself would be a bad situation, the naivety would set in quickly. I think situations I talked up to handle would quickly shut me right down. Survival wouldn't be a question, I would live everyday. The question is would I be able to go through doing things an average adult would do to survive and survive comfortably? The answer is no.

Natalie

When I was a kid I was a little higher on the maturity level, very quiet, never caused a lot of chaos, people may even said I was a respectable young person. Growing up was easy on the parents and they knew I would be able to handle certain situations like taking public transportation, going out until midnight etc. My parents being the ones that have most trust in me let me go and do my own thing, while still respecting their authority. This has made me a hell of a lot better as a person. I do things now that some people have no idea how to do, like transportation publicly and just not being socially awkward most of the time. My parents are proud of where I stand now as a person and sometimes I take that for granted but they let me know when I take my freedoms to far. Regardless of who it is in True Notebooks I don't think any of there parents would be proud of where they are, some might not even care at all. For the ones that go and see there child I think they see them as if they were home again. Parents should know their kid and the parents visiting know that's not what their child wanted either. So in the end when it comes down to proud or ashamed, no one is proud their child is in jail. Shame is plausible, some might be ashamed, others can believe my child should never be in a place like this.