I grew up on a small farm just outside of Woodstock New Brunswick. In my family learning to read and write was not important. I was expected to work on the farm from a very young age, like my dad had to had to before I was born for his dad. A family tradition I guess. My only motivation was the idea that I was going to inherit the farm from my father when he either got too old to work it or if he passes away. Until then I am completely dependant on my parents. My mother did eventually decide to send us to school, not for and education but more or less to get us out of her hair and it was free.

I started school when I was about six years old. The two-hour bus ride to and from school was like hell on earth to me. I was bullied by the older children because I wore old cloths and had a speech impairment. I was a shy quiet child who had no friends because I lived so far away from everybody. The closest house was over one mile away. It would take over one hour to walk.

I struggled in school my first five years. I was always behind everybody else, until one day when my teacher stood up for me by complimenting me about being intelligent in front of the class and telling the other students that it was wrong to bully other people. I began to work extra hard for this teacher because she stood up for me and I did not want to let her down. This teacher was an english teacher who liked reading to us. I continued to work extra hard in her class. Over time I began to realized that all of my other classes became easier throughout the rest of the year. By learning how to read and write I was able to bring up my grades in all of my other classes.

I began to read many books and different types of books until one night I was reading the Hardy Boys in my room when my dad came and gave me a severe beating because one of the pigs got hit by a car. He said that if he ever caught me reading again that I would learn what a real beating was. He believed that I was only to work on the farm and nothing else. During planting and harvesting seasons I was not allowed to go to school until all the work was finished. Later in New Brunswick it became law that all children had to attend school. Even then I was still forced to work on the farm for nothing more than living in fear of our next beating when dad got upset.

When I started getting older I began to plan a way to get out of the home of my father. My mother and father were going through a divorce when I found a job at a sawmill from a guy who knew my father. He also knew that we were abused as children and forced to work hard. He took pity on me and hired me on the spot.

At the age of sixteen I was able to rent my own apartment from the earnings I got at the sawmill. After working about six months in the sawmill cleaning up wet and heavy bark with sticky tree sap dripping down my neck I knew that I was not going to work in these conditions for the rest of my life. I approached the high school that I last attended to see if I could get back into school part-time. I needed to keep my job and I could not go back home.

I at first got turned down because my marks were too low and I needed to live with a relative so that I could attend school full-time. I attended interview after interview trying to fight my case. Then one day the guidance counselor from the high school contacted me and said that they were willing to make an exception in my case under certain conditions. I was required to right a letter explaining my situation and the reason why I wanted to go back to school. As I began to write this letter I knew that this was it, my last chance to either succeed or not. I remembered my old english teacher and how she was the only one who believed in my abilities. I began right draft after draft until I felt that it was worth sending in to be reviewed by the review board that has turned me away several times before.

Three weeks later I got a call from the high school consoler again and she told me that they talked to my boss and that they would jointly accommodate me. I continued to work nine-hour shifts because I needed those hours to earn enough money to sustain my self along with a vehicle payment. I worked from nine at night until six in the morning and attended school every afternoon with only a part-time course load. This took me two extra years to complete high school. I was nineteen when I finished high school but because of my birthday being in the summer I turned twenty before my actual graduation.

My life in my parents home and my life on my own at my first job has shown me that I needed to take my education seriously and forget about what my father thinks. I need to have the ability to provide for my self by getting a job that I liked not the job that my father thought I should have. Learning how to read and write was the beginning to all of that. I later joined the Canadian forces and served with them for about six years. I moved to North Bay Ontario during that time and met my wife Nikiyah and we currently have seven children. I could have excepted my life as it was. I could have been still working at that same sawmill if it even still exists. I decided that I wanted make a difference. To fire that shot that will be heard for freedom to live my own life not the life that someone else says I have to live. At the end of everything else I am the one in control of my own destiny.