Name: Anonymous

Upon first glance, you cannot see the scars that are speckled throughout his face, the dents near his temples from brass knuckles or the deep rooted sadness in his eyes. There is a faint blonde tint to his otherwise light brunette hair and his eyes are a variant between brown and green but cannot be classified strictly as hazel. His hair is cropped, the sides shorter than the top if his head isn't entirely shaved down to the roots and his facial hair is well kept, clean stubble that litters his chin and the skin above his upper lip. This same first glance, you might notice the numerous tattoos that cover his arms, depending only on whether he's wearing a short sleeved shirt or not. If he ever turned his back to you, you'll notice that there is another tattoo on the back of his neck. It is a Celtic Knot, different from the illustration of his family crest on one arm and the many other religious carvings that are split between both arms.

Upon meeting, his initial impression changes, relying on the age of the person he's meeting. He is twenty-three years of age; to company that is younger, his vulgar tendencies become less prominent among his vocabulary but it does not deter him from being social. To ones his age, he begins to form a mild inappropriate bluntness that some might find uncomfortable but he gauges reactions when he says something that might embarrass the person he's speaking to. Anyone that could be his parent, or his authority figure (which is relative to his view on the person), he is significantly respectful to keep his behavior in check. He uses "ma'am" and "sir" and always thanks the person, no matter what the reason could be (sometimes several times within the same conversation). Differences in gender need to be taken into consideration as well. Women are given less of his blunt attitude, whereas men do not seem to warrant any leeway or are granted little.

His history is dark, if not outright depressing. He grew up in a place with events that some of you could only imagine in a movie. Niagara Falls, New York - a place that holds a lot of misconceptions to the ignorant (whether they are by choice or merely lack knowledge) - is where he was born and thrived. Thrive is usually looked at as a positive experience but I'd not use it like that in this case. He thrived within negative situations that hardly ever fell into the category of "legal." He's told his story many times, about how he's seen violence and had many of his friends die. By their own hands, or by the hands of others. It's faint now but if it's hot, he will wear a tank top. Looking closely at his right shoulder, there are chunks of his skin missing; a bullet had torn the skin when it entered the front part of his shoulder and came out the other side. I don't know who originally said it, but the body tells a story and his happens to tell a lifetime already. Physically, as does his mental and emotional state.

He is open and guarded at the same time. He can openly admit to his mistakes and openly discuss things he calls his passion. He can tell the story of his life but he's guarded, omitting some events until he feels he can trust the person a little more. Living in constant stress over little things that he over thinks, his doctor recommended a set of anti-depressants, mood stabilizers and sleeping medication to help with his depression, aggressive and sporadic behavior, and the insomnia caused by his extreme levels of anxiety. Emotionally, he is quick to anger and with it, he twists stories and interprets them to prove that he is right and the other person is wrong. He is argumentative to the point where he'll border full on name calling and cursing. Flipping to the other side of him, he is kind to the point where he would put himself in danger to help out someone that he deeply cares about. Loyalty is something that he was taught as a child and sometimes, alongside being polite to elders, it is the only thing that stuck with him.

Although characteristically, he has many more flaws that some of you might see outweigh the positive parts of his personality, there are events that made him who he is. The one I know most prominently of is two of his children. Teen pregnancy is not something that can be ignored and it happens throughout the entire country. This was no exception. At the age of sixteen, he became a father. The woman who birthed the child stayed home, dropping out of school to care for the child where he got a job after leaving school as well to send them money for food and other essentials to sustain life. It was one day that he was told that the money he was sending was not being used the way he intended it to. The female he impregnated had a cocaine addiction and it suckled their money faster than he was able to send it. Eventually, due to malnutrition, the baby boy did die. His father, my friend, could not even attend the funeral service and has yet to talk to that girl to this day. The second was not so extreme but still awakens him with nightmares or subconscious desires. The name is his second child, born when he was nineteen or so, is Selena. He meant to do right by this child, a way to redeem himself to the eyes of his Lord, he once told me. It was a disagreement with the mother that caused her to become selfish and use his own child against him, punishing him by producing a restraining order and pushing him out of Selena’s life. That upon a morbidly impressive body count of his friends and loved ones (especially that of his grandfather, who meant the world to him), it can be understood - to an extent - why he is, the way that he is.

Regardless, today, he has moved from his home town in New York and come to live and start over in New Hampshire. Spending a summer in a small town that has nothing but cows and horses, gave him a chance to live without all of the noises from cars, people, and possibly gun shots. No opportunity has arisen for him to revert to his former life of illegal activities. Motivation to go back to school and obtain a financially stable job has been the topic of many of our conversations and it never fails to bring a smile to my face. I knew him before he made this change; back to the times where I’d get phone calls at all hours of the night, calls from hospitals due to overdoses, or gun shot wounds whether it was him or one of his friends. To the times where he’d ingest prescription pills and drink enough to entirely black out. And I know him now; this time he’s filled with ambition and sets goals that he’s eager to knock down, acquiring job interviews, despite the lack of them where I live. He has taken his medication less and seems to work fine without them. There are times when he has a flash, a minute moment of depression but it is nothing compared to the ways it was before. It’s easily remedied through a long and stimulating talk.

Listening to his story and knowing the way he is now, I’ve never been more proud enough to boast about another person’s progression in life than his. I kept his name from this paper, to give him privacy I know he’ll appreciate but if you ever meet him, let him know that his one-eighty turn, is nothing short of remarkable.