<p>I have heard opposing viewpoints on how the personal statement should be constructed, and I would like to hear some advice from someone who has actually read my essay.</p>
<p>I met the worst influence of my life in junior high, and I befriended him. The new house I moved to during my adolescence brought along with it various assortments of new sites, emotions, and people, one being my new comrade. My newly met friend taught me the knowledge which was bestowed onto him by his older brother, whose behavioral habits could be rooted to his rambunctious nature that was so carefully mastered by his young apprentice. These habits were brought to my knowing rather quickly, and I adopted them with little, if any, contemplation. Incidents stemming from these freshly adopted habits varied tremendously, and I will tell you a meager amount from the myriad that exist. Hidden in a dark bush lie my accomplices and myself, scheming our next plan to disrupt neighborhood peace, merely for the sake of amusement. Zach, the older brother, who was the mastermind behind all of our dealings, had a great plan in store for us that day. He wasted no time in carrying out his idea; he defecated into a paper bag and continued to catapult the dung-filled sack towards a vibrant blue door to the dismay of its residents. During my time with my ally, I also learned the thrilling business of ding dong ditching, or “d-d-d” as we humorously coined it (as to be able to speak openly without listeners having the slightest clue to its meaning).
This is the world I grew up in during the impressionable years of my life, and although they are a part of my past, they do not define who I am. At this time during middle school my passion for music, and more specifically my zest for the instrument through which I expressed myself, the trumpet, began to grow with such haste that I would come to make great sacrifice and change in order to hold onto this beloved passion.
The habits I created during this time, although not exceeding negative, would mutate into much more sinister ones. Some of these habits I would rather leave unsaid, but I will tell you that academic excellence and family relations were not among them. This Gatsby-esque lifestyle I was living did not bring any treasures, only turmoil. The tension was so pressing that my parents saw no other option than to take me to a therapist to seek guidance, and to correct my poor customs. Dark days and dismal thoughts restrained me from seeing what was true. I fought back; my parents counter-attacked with the threat of sending me to military school. At this point, the ultimatum was quite clear; change or have my dreams and aspirations crushed. I decided to change solely because of my love for music, and I could not be stripped of what is so paramount to my identity. I realized what in retrospect seems so obvious: I had to correct my issues if I wanted to continue to be able to hold a relationship with music and respectively with the future that entails with my passion. Music was the gleam of light in the labyrinth of peril that held me captive, it was what saved my grades, it was what saved my future. It is my future.
In a sense I am cursed, because I have no other desire than to play my trumpet every day for the rest of my life. There is no other path I can take; fate only has one choice in store for me. Life without music holds no interest to me. It has changed me into a successful student, a matured adult, a hardworking man. The best time to plant a tree was twenty years ago, and the second best time is now. Although I had a rough past, I have learned from my blunders and am now extremely capable to face any challenge set in front of me.</p>