Meeting Carlos

Meeting Carlos was a day I will never forget. Inspirational doesn’t even begin to describe what that meeting was like. Carlos is a seventeen-year old teenager who has been through more than most go through in an entire lifetime. As he liked to put it, he “cheated death” a couple times. Carlos is an ex-gang member who spent time in Juvenile Hall and is trying to pull his life together. Not only is he trying to pull his life together, but he is succeeding at it. He is back in high school and is averaging A’s and B’s.

While Carlos was in Juvenile Hall, he began to write poetry as a form of coping with all that he was going through. At our first meeting, he shared a few of his poems with us. These poems were all so emotional, inspiring, uplifting and not to mention motivational. Each poem had a special meaning behind and a few even brought me to tears. To imagine all that he has gone through was simply unimaginable. While he was reading his poems, I realized that not only can he learn from us, but we can learn from him as well.

Although Carlos is undocumented, which makes his life and dreams that much harder to aspire to, it was truly a gift to be able to meet him to see all the fire that he had in him and hear everything that he had to share. I truly believe that Carlos can conquer anything he puts his head to. He has thus far!

He shared with us that his mother was the main reason that he was able to pull his life back together and while I was there I was really able to see that they were a loving family, no different than any other. They welcomed us with open arms, not to mention he has the cutest little sister that I couldn’t keep my eyes off of.

With the help of wonderful people like Amalia and Mothers of the Incarcerated, Carlos was able to really get it together. Having such motivational people around him I think will be a key in helping him stay on the right track. He even worked for Homeboy Industries for a little while and was able to give back to others. Carlos inspired me and showed me that if you put your head into something, commit yourself and really strive for something, there’s nothing you can’t do. He’s living proof of that.

“To succeed in life, you need three things: a wishbone, a backbone and a funny bone.”-Reba McEntire. Not only is this one of my favorite quotes, but it instantly reminded me of Carlos.