<p>You guys mind giving feedback? Thanks in advance!</p>
<p>Sultan Baz
Revised Personal Statement #1
After watching the September 11th attacks in 2001 I knew that my life wouldnt be very ordinary. Growing up as an Afghan American citizen in a post 9/11 era was very tough on me. I lost many friends because of my racial background. I was eight years old and I dreaded going to school because of racial tensions that had risen due to the 9/11 terrorist attacks. These problems followed me everywhere I went. However I did have one place where I could go and free my mind from troubles. That was on the basketball court. I was in a recreational league at the time and I enjoyed everything about it. The one thing I loved the most was the brotherhood that I had developed with my teammates. Basketball was my greatest love and I had the privilege of sharing that with nine other teammates my age whom I considered to be the best of my friends. However I realized how much the 9/11 attacks had affected me after a practice one day. My teammates had begun to make fun of me because of my ethnicity. They began to single me out and call me atrocious names. This terrified me. The one place where I thought I could leave all my problems behind had now ceased to exist. The basketball court was the only place where I could truly have fun, but now I was even getting tortured with racial remarks there as well. Ultimately, that was the least of my problems.
My parents had an arranged marriage when they were very young in Afghanistan. In my opinion an arranged marriage is not a very smart choice when deciding to start a family. The hardships that my parents arranged marriage had brought to me and my siblings were very unprecedented. The pressures of tension at home and being subject to racial problems provided a stressful environment for me when growing up.
The first thing I can ever remember was watching my drunk father beat my mother into our apartment walls when I was a toddler. Watching my father beat my mother senseless had scarred my psyche. I was put in a very awkward situation as a child. Not surprisingly, I did not know how to react. I felt as if I was supposed to endure this. Something had told me this was happening for a reason. As I grew older to around the age of 8 or 9, I made a realization. I realized that my parents never loved each other because of their arranged marriage. I came to my own conclusion that the lack of love and expression of emotions in my family was due to the fact that their marriage had been arranged.
I longed for a family that would come watch me play basketball at school, for a family to genuinely take interest in each others lives, and for a father to call me his son instead of referring to me with harsh words. However later in life I realized that everything I had gone through had made me the person I am today. I have an understanding that even through the most cruel problems at home or at school, anyone can persevere because they control their lives, and not the events that occur to them.
I didnt know how to cope with my family or racial problems. This is very important to me because I realized that there are many other children and teenagers who were like me, however most of these kids do not understand that there is a life worth living for themselves. I want to be that person to help these kids find their purpose in life. Depression is the most common mental illness in the world. Whether children develop this depression through tensions in the home or racial issues, the depression can become a serious problem. Children are at a disadvantage because they are unable to grasp the seriousness of mental issues. They are too young to learn how to cope with social or family issues by themselves.
I believe that the greatest enemy is within. I have observed my peers in high school and now at community college and I must say that the human mind tends to be much more pessimistic rather than optimistic. Many people are insecure, and I am there to tell them that they are defeating themselves. Happiness can be a choice.</p>