m Mandelin has been through more in his lifetime than the average 10 people put together. From abusive families to bullying at school by students and teachers alike he had a rough start at life. Jim grew up a nice kid, despite how he was treated by others, until in high school he dropped out and got into drugs and dealing. Jim was convicted and went to prison where he was recruited into a gang,he then became an enforcer”the guy with a metal pipe up his sleeve who would beat on who the gang didn’t like”. After overdosing on drugs he was admitted to the hospital where he was pronounced dead. He came back though somehow he regained consciousness and was once again among the living. The Nurse who was caring for him told him that he was one of the…show more content… His uncle forced him and his brother to kill their dogs at gunpoint. Jim was confused and scared as a child because the people he was supposed to trust and rely on his family were the main causes of his abuse.”Well at first my environment which was mostly the humans I lived with created in me a very painful existence which skewed my views of trust, love self-care, care for others, care for nature, animals and most profoundly my view of my future and the future of others.” Jim was unable to put his faith in anyone and so felt great confusion and…show more content… When asked what jim would say to someone facing his situation he told me”ASK FOR HELP NOW!!! That is the beginning of change. Everyone needs help. If someone is at the point that they are asking, “What should I do” then they are ready to ask for help.If you think everything is OK and you friends or gang friends or fellow drug addicts or your drugs are serving you well, then you probably will not ask for help.
Help is for the people that want it and not for the people that need it! You have to want it, which means you see you have a problem, you will change, sometimes slowly and sometimes quickly”. Jim believes that being on the other side now looking back at his struggles made him a much stronger person “YES! The old saying that says, “What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger” is true. However they never add onto that saying, “You have to become willing to change the things that took you to that bad place, that near death place As I let in the love and kindness by these most loving and kind people, I changed the outcome of my
