by Tanaj, San Francisco
Tanaj is someone who’s lost, back-to-back trauma is all he knew. After losing his mom, everything went downhill. He started stealing cars, and hanging out with the wrong crowd.
One night he stole another car not thinking much of it, like those other nights, but not knowing tonight would be different. He picked up a friend, someone he called his brother not realizing it would be his last time seeing him. They went off to the beach reeking of weed, cursing the words of a song they loved so much without a care in the world.
Then everything changed… The police got behind the car and they started to panic, swerving around the city trying to get away. While looking for an exit plan going in circles to dodge police, knowing it would not work out how they wanted. Zooming past red lights knowing it’s not going to end well, they hit, flipping in the air, all in a flash his brother flew out the car, hit the ground and died. Tanaj survived but T didn’t.
This broke Tanaj, making him more lost than before. He was hurt, confused, and now he was in juvie, facing the fact that he’ll never see his brother again. Even when Tanaj had every right to give up, something in his heart told him to keep pushing.
He knew it was T telling him to keep pushing, and he knew he had to live for not just him but for the man he called brother.
This inspiration he gained from his loss allowed him to build aspects in life that he never thought he would pick up and he even picked the bible up. He was willing to die to live. To kill old bad habits and rebuild good ones to his new life that T had given him. He realized that if he takes this chance for granted, then he’ll only be disrespecting the person that he lost, his brother.
Tanaj is misunderstood, all his life He’s been taken for granted but not anymore.
He has made a promise to himself but also to his mother that he’ll be great, he understands that in this corrupted world you have to sacrifice your freedom to live in riches, and have to work harder than others to succeed in life. It took loss after loss to understand that.
It took failing again and again to gain the knowledge and aspects that will be beneficial to his success. He allowed others to pass down their wisdom so he would be the best him. When you fail, you never truly fail. It’s the knowledge you gain from failing that truly makes you a winner.