Government Case

There comes a point in life where many people feel isolated from their family, peers, or society. This "outsider" feeling can occur when one is introduced to a new school, town or city, and sometimes in the aftermath of a tragic event. Every person is different; my personal experience as an outsider began with a family tragedy.

I was a typical "loner" and I never gave much thought to making friends. From the time I was young my family moved about every two years. Feeling like an "outsider" never occurred to me when I came to a new town or started at a new school. I actually enjoyed the new town/school experience. It was a chance for a fresh start, new beginning, even a new me. Despite all the moves and new towns, the time I felt most like an outsider was when my life started to unravel with the onset of my mother's illness.

My mother was in and out of hospitals for a prolonged period of time, for many years. This resulted in life style changes for my entire family. It was difficult to juggle ever-changing responsibilities: school, work, sister-sitting, household chores, and taking turns to be at the hospital with my mother. As spring started, my family and I thought my mother had turned a corner; that she was going to get well. It was a short lived hope; that last day of March my mother left us. I had never before felt so alone, and isolated. My mother was the rock in our family, and the glue that held us together. Somehow we found new glue, and as the months continued we got closer and stronger. I thought I was ready to go back to my normal routine; I never thought I would have felt like such an outsider.

The people I worked with treated me as if I were a delicate flower who would wilt if handled the wrong way. School expected me to jump back on the horse I had just fallen off. My friends could not relate, I was "sympathetically" excluded from many activities since I was going through a hard time. I never felt more alone or more like an outsider. My life seemed to spiral downward into failures on all fronts. I became a person even I did not recognize. I lost my job and began failing in school. Soon after, I lost all my friends and became a true outsider.

I was unemployed for three months, a drop out student for the summer, and an outsider for months. The turning point came when I realized that I let myself be turned into this isolated person. With my grandmother's help, I was able to snap out of this outsider mentality. I applied for a job in my field of interest and was hired immediately. Knowing I could get a job that fast showed me I had potential to become the successful woman my mother knew me to be. She always told me I had great potential, but it does not work unless you believe in your own self- worth.

Working at this job reinforced my professional goals. I had also learned that you make yourself who you are, and when life changes it doesn't mean