January 31, 2011
Dear Dad,

I'm writing this letter to you to let you know how much I appreciate you. I know you went through some hard times in your life, but you tried hard and you made it. You are my inspiration in life. I will not be like my older brother Jose. I know I owe you and I will make something out of my life. You are the reason I want to graduate from high school and go to college. As a matter a fact, you have taught me to try hard in my own life to make myself proud. I want you to know that I see how my brother has wasted the opportunities you have given him.

I wish I could talk to my older brother and convince him to change the way he lives his life, but I can’t. The truth is, I’m afraid of him. I think he might be a gangster. I think he also does drugs. He goes out on the streets every day after school and always comes back with his eyes all red. Ever since

elementary school he has been wearing big white tee-shirts. Dad, I know you won’t let him wear the white socks he wants to wear or get tattoos, but that is not enough. He hangs out with gang members and I’m sorry to say it, I think he is going to drop out of eco academy . He has gotten in fights and has been suspended from two different schools. The truth is, I think he will probably end up in jail someday.

I wish I could change my brother, but I’m afraid if I try to talk to him he might hit me or beat me up. I remember when Jose and I were both going to school JLMS (John Liechty Middle School). We would leave at 7:30 to go to school. I was 11 years old and Jose was 13. He is tall like a door and he has black hair. One day, I went to go eat with my friends when out of nowhere he left with his friend but I don’t know were he went but I knew something bad happened. Then I went to my class with my friends. When class was over, one of his friends told me that Jose had a knife and that the school cop saw him and took him away.

Dad, I went home that day and you told me, “Juan, I have bad news. Your brother got suspended today; they found a knife in his backpack! Why is your brother is so dumb? What is wrong with him?”

Dad, you were so disappointed in him. I remember you said, “I am not going with your brother to court. He does these stupid things and I’m so tired of it!” The next day, you put a serious face on and went to the court anyway. As the saying goes, “Fool me once shame on me fool me twice shame on you.”You still wanted to believe in my brother; you wanted to give him another chance.

The next year, my brother wanted money to go buy things and you said, “Tell me what you want and I will buy it.”

However, he would not say what he wanted so you would not give him money so he started robbing a store. He took games he would sale the games for money. I think he would be buying weed because every day he came home smelling like weed. He would be doing it for a couple of weeks. Then one day the security guard saw him and took him. Maybe you didn’t care because later you gave Jose a paintball gun with ammo. The paintball gun cried to him “shoot Juan”. He wasn’t supposed to shoot me but of course, he did ; he shot me in the leg and my leg hurt like if a lot of bees stung me and the gun went BANG!

He stole a teachers headphone and tried to sell it in school to a teacher but he got caught so they send him to boot-camp because he did lots of dumb things. I remember you had to wake up early every Saturday just to take him to boot camp and aside from that you had to make food for him.

Dad, I remember everything you told me about when you were a little kid.Hearing how you suffered growing up makes me even madder at my brother. He does not appreciate you like I do. That you came from Mexico with your family. You took care of your brothers, you cleaned up after them all the time. That you did not have enough money to buy food to your brother and you had to take care of your mother as well. I remember that you told me that you lived in a small with all of your brothers and sisters. I also remember that you told me that you took care of them but you still went to school you had many jobs and you keep moving jobs. Dad, you also had to take care of my sister.I know you wanted Jose to be a good person and listen. You constantly bought him everything he wanted but, he still didn’t appreciate it or behaved. I know your dad left to Mexico and when he came back he had another wife and a daughter. I know you were sad, but you were still strong. You pretended that you did not care and you bravely took care of you brother. I know you are trying to be a better, Dad, to us and trying to give us what you never had even my brother never giving up. I want to be just like you. I just wish that my brother would stop doing drugs.

Your son,