Being prior service military I have a mired of experiences in diversity. I am a product of two different yet intertwined cultures. My father is a Haitian and my mother is African-American. I was born into a melting pot of two cultures that are by most accounts are the same yet so different. I found myself, in some cases, learning to deal with part of my family in a traditionally African-American manner in reference to culture and the other half in the traditional Haitian manner respectfully.
As I look back over my life I have experienced many things, good and bad; that have influenced my life. There is not one single thing that has made that has been more influential than another. However, as I look at the current juncture in my life I find myself showing reverence to my parents more and more. I grew up in Clarksdale, Mississippi. I am originally from Lansing, Michigan; I grew up in the same neighborhood where Minister Malcolm X lived in East Lansing. My father is a Haitian immigrant. My mother is originally from Lansing and it’s there where she met my father. The upbringing that I experienced as a child helped make me the man that I am and will ultimately become. My father is a disciplined, practical and very understanding man. He believes in hard work. He used to spend his free time with my brothers and I molding us into men. This continues today. It is important to note that all of the attributes that I attach to my father were not the attributes that I would have noted when I was growing up. I remember times where he would never say anything about the good things we would do, he would only note the bad. This made my brothers and I resentful. He was very hard to please in that aspect. My mother used to tell us that the reason he was like that was because of the very hard life that he had had. He seemed to be