My name is Daniel, and I’m an very proud African American teen age boy. Although life has not exactly been easy for me, I am still able to say I am proud. I’ve had mistakes that I have also learned from like any other human being, I have been through troublesome situations as any other human being, but I always wind up getting passed that. Without those troublesome situations I wouldn’t be who I am today. Daniel .

Let me take you back to about six years ago. About this time I’ve already accepted that I didn’t have a father figure in my life and I had to become a man on my own. I lived with a single mother who struggled to take care of me and my little brother at the time. So as the oldest boy in the house I had to step in. Even the little things you might not notice can help you grow in life. Such as cooking dinner because you know your mom is tired, doing the dishes, cleaning up without being asked, simple things like that are what makes you. When it’s time for you to get your own place, and everything growing up was done for you your going to stand their looking like a needle in a haystack. Responsibility is key to life. I realized way back then helping my mom out in her hard times, and even watching over my little brother making sure he was always alright helped me grow as a person. I am a very proud African teenage boy.

Growing up I also learned how to be strong and not let anything get to me. My family is very strict and always believe their right even if their wrong. So you can imagine what I have to go through, if its not what they like then its automatically wrong. One thing I never hear the last of is the lectures about my tattoos. I know I’m young and everything but at the end of the day it’s my body and my choices. For example my family always claims I got my tattoos to fit in with the crowd. But really that’s not the case at all. I see myself as an artist and the body is my canvas, so I design my canvas the way I want too. The body is a shell for the soul so why can’t I decorate it? As I said before their always right so they never listen, at first I would get upset but now it has no affect at all because I’m proud of myself and my actions and don’t regret it all. Through this I have grown strong, no more getting upset over things that shouldn’t bother me to much. I’m a very proud African American teenage boy.

The biggest part of me that I am most proud of on the other hand is my ability to always strive and never give up. My life motto is ASAP, which means always strive and prosper. For instance last year I played basketball but never got in really, so my goal was to practice and practice and practice until I got better. Practice makes perfect right? I could of just given up but instead I chose to keep striving no matter what to get better. Same goes for school. My mom never went to college to get a higher education, and I want to do better than that, which help me set my goal to always do good in school, and to graduate from a 4 year college university. Just like basketball I won’t give up until my goal is completed no matter what. Giving up is never an option. I’m a very proud African American teenage boy.

No matter what anyone tells me, I’m always going to be myself. I stay away from the wrong crowds, don’t follow trends, and never get pressured to do anything I don’t want to do. I’m a leader not a follower, and I’m proud of myself for that. My name is Daniel, and I’m a very proud African American teenage boy.