I.4. Get Off of Yourself

Whatever it is that gets your hackles up, get it off your chest and off your shoulder. If talking about your family and home and things like that irritate you and make you feel defensive, get over it. I've already told you, I'm not dissing your home, your momma, or your family. This isn't about how good they are, how hard they tried, or whether someone's better than you. All families face trials and tribulations, but single-parent homes have it the hardest. And the children raised in single-parent homes suffer the most in school and in life.

If this is your life and you feel sorry for yourself, I can't blame you too much. But get over it already! You have a right to be upset about the cards you have been dealt. But if you never ever get beyond being depressed about your crappy life, you'll never get anywhere, will you? So let's start getting over it, okay?

Nobody sets out and says, "I want to raise my own kid with no help and no insurance, work three jobs, never have time for my own life, play the odds that my child will probably dropout and have a dead-end, low-paying job his whole life, or do drugs or go to jail, and practically guarantee he'll have everything else tough in his life, too." Nope, what happens is that boys and girls hear the rappers and watch the videos on BET and MTV, they see the ads and read the Cosmo and Ebony and Jet articles and watch the movies. They see the bling and hear the bang. To them, the good life looks like one big party. ...

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