"My Roots"

I grew up in South San Francisco. Most people think that South San Francisco is actually located in San Francisco. This is not true; it's actually located about three cities away from San Francisco. It's a pretty small town; there is only two high schools. Mostly everyone knows everyone in some way or the other. I grew up in a small neighborhood in South City. There were a lot of families in my area, with kid's my age. I went to elementary, middle, and high school with the same people I had been playing with since I could remember. The neighborhood I grew up in consisted of mostly middle class families with children. It was a tight knit community, and everyone knew everyone. The best thing about growing up here is I always had something to do. My friend's and I would spend our days playing in the park across the street, riding our bikes or roller blades, building clubhouses, or just hanging out. Since I was the youngest in the family, I had a lot of surrogate older brothers and sisters, or people that looked out for me. I really enjoyed my neighborhood. I don't believe that the person I am today is solely based on the community I grew up in. My personality was probably influenced by my community, but I feel like the decisions I made as I got older aren't a direct result of my neighborhood. Hanging out was always something that I liked to do, and I always had lots of friends. It seemed like everyone just wanted to have a good time, so that may have had an influence on my choices as I got older. It was always easy to find a party, or a friend’s house to hang out at instead of going to class, or doing homework, and that's basically what I did. I could have chosen to hang out with the kids that were getting good grades, participating in extracurricular activities etc., but for whatever reason I seemed to gravitate towards the ones that weren't doing anything productive. I suppose growing up with a lot of people my age, made it easier for me to adapt a social, party lifestyle, but I made that choice on my own. Overall I feel I grew up in a very supportive community, and I lived a fairly comfortable lifestyle. I do believe if I grew up in the ghetto, or non-suburb area, my lifestyle may have been different, but I like to believe I would still have the same morals, and personality that I have today. It seems like the people that are mostly influenced by their communities are the ones that have to grow up in less than desirable surroundings, such as theft, drug addiction, and poverty. That is just an observation and I am sure there are exceptions to the rule. All in all I love where I grew up, and I wouldn't change it for anything.