I Miss you... Dedication

Grandfather I want to Thank You, Today you'd be 100 Happy Birthday

For those of you that don't know me, I'm what you call a statistic I grew up in poverty, no food, parents were junkies and gone, a few orphanages here and there but through out my child hood from about 5 until right around 14 years old or so there was always that one person who fought for me even in to his elderly age and that was my Grand father he was a tough German man, and even have being someone whose been blown up, shot, stabbed, you name it I can probably relate there was no pain even custody court the pain it caused like the pain I had to lose this man. It was Jan 10th 1997 I got off a school bus and I saw all of the neighbors at the house with 2 ambulances, a fire truck, and two cop cars me and my 3 brothers and sister ran down the street as I pushed through the cops and other people I can recall sitting down next to him and asking him whats wrong, he just looked at me and said, " Papa has to go bye bye Steven, I love you you know that right? I then watched his eyes roll back and the cops pulled me out of there and a lot of people were crying . You see growing up in a neighborhood primarily African American with maybe 2 other white people, the community though it maybe poor and rough still finds ways to come together people knew that this man would give his life for children, color never mattered you bothered one kid and then you had him to deal with.. when he left I lost faith in everything and I was scared I didn't want to go back to a home and lose my siblings again but most importantly I had just lost my best friend, my parent, my grand parent, and truthfully the One person that really taught me what it meant to love someone. By all means Im not some Super god believer but I do believe in a higher power I felt so betrayed that day is what caused me to become the youngest person to ever hold a pro am boxing title, that day taught me I could use pain as a tool, or weapon, that day also showed me that I had a job to finish up for him.. and that was to go against all odds, they say coming from my home, or neighborhood I should be an addict, drug dealer, in prison, a criminal... But fuck statistics, right? Today I can look back and Love where I came from, and love the things I've gotten both materialistic and not all because of this old man. So I'm going to finish this post up with a song that for some reason makes me recall every memory of him. Grandpa I miss you, I think about you and I even tell my children the same things you taught me THROUGH EVERY DARK NIGHT, THERE IS A BRIGHT DAY. Thank you for giving me the tools I needed. Much Love Steven Carter.

I know this isn't your style of music, but this young man Tupac Amaru Shakur says some of the same things you use to say to me. Again Thank you.

Steemit community members, and friends The image I used is from codepen.io and the song is by Tupac Shakur - Everyday Struggle (Hold On Be Strong) . For those of you who can relate to any of this in one way or another I WISH YOU the best and remember Keep your head, stick your chest out and handle it. To those kids who have no father I got love for you no matter where your from or what color you are, and for people that can't understand and allow differences to stand in their way of seeing things I wish you the best, but just know thinking like that will come back to haunt you. Let me stand here as living proof that we do make our own destiny. Have a good one everybody.