Life is a game, play it right

Life eh, like the saying goes Life's a bitch and then you die and let's be honest if life wasn't a battle would it be as fun? Might sound a bit rich coming from a bloke who's doing alright in life. But my life still has it's challenges and it didn't start off so good for me.

I grew up in a poor community, hard knocks kind of place. Australia doesn't really have ghettos but what I lived in was pretty close to the Australian version. High instances of crime, assaults, rape, murder, high unemployment, alot of people on welfare. I'm not knocking welfare I'm a firm believer in it as I grew up on welfare. It's what keeps Australia's crime rate down.

Was a hard crack in the beginning, half my face is Titanium, I learned to fight on the streets. Had too, life depended on it. At school we were always told that we'd amount to nothing. Just cannon fodder for the industry around us that was pumping lead, mercury, PFAS into the soil and water system. Asbestos freely flew about the community. So much so that people today are still dieing of Asbestos related health issues.

But @#$% that shit, I wasn't standing for it. Didn't stand for alot of things just my own personal code, move forward and leave no one behind. Life's a dog eat dog world and you're either a fiend and a mutt or you're a good person that stands for something. I learned early in life not to back down, stood my ground and fought back.

In life you either remain stagnate and give in or you make a stand and you try, no one is going to help you get to where you want to go, no one is going to come along and rescue you. No one in history ever got anything for free, they had to fight for it.

Much like another great saying goes It's hard to soar like and Eagle when you're surrounded by Geese it's something I see quite often. People follow geese and they get held back. Their life's narrative and own place is disrupted as they waddle about clucking and hissing and have NFI on what's going on in the world.

Source

I turned to activism for some time challenging the status quo, through my hard knocks life I had developed a shell that was hard to breach. When I went to uni it gave me the upper hand in debate and problem solving. It was a laugh watching a bunch of people try to solve problems they had no idea about. It's what ignited my core and got me into advocacy. See the two are both different, activism revolves around yelling and asking others to fix things, but like above no one is ever going to listen and help you, you need to do it yourself.

My shift to advocacy elevated me to a whole new world, one where my hood back ground would get a run for its money. There's no difference in people based on back ground or life styles and there's always someone bigger and badder. Oh boy was I in for a rude awakening when I entered the political arena. Naive is what I was.

From bullets in letter boxes, threats and system control oh my a battle I wasn't aware of existed. For the most part many are committed and passionate about advancing humanity and doing what is right, but there are many others with alot more power and money who seek to undermine others for power.

My hood background is what provided me the mind frame to get by and I think it's what makes the industry so cut throat and prevents many good people from getting involved but I was determined.

For me, making change was/is personal at 35 I've already lost 50 friends from my year level from 150 kids that's a 3rd of the year level. More are in prison and more haven't made it. It's also not uncommon for me to be watching the news and seeing crime stoppers most wanted featuring someone I went to school with, I do find those segments a little odd. Quite often no one knows where the person is, yet I open up Facebook and the person is online, at times totally unaware they've been on the news.

The hard ones are the suicides, I had a friend with two young kids who ended his life short. My heart mourns not just for him but for his kids, I own these deaths quite alot. I know I shouldn't but I do as I feel it is my duty as one of the boys whose made it to make it better for others. Which I do and constantly work more on.

I've learned many things in life but the core remains the same, don't take $#!+, don't let anyone stand over you, fight for what you believe in and don't give in just to please someone else. Keep your circle small of people you can trust your life with, in time this circle will be tested and you may need to cut people out of your life and those moments will be hard to do. But remember the saying from earlier, Hard to sore like an Eagle when you're surrounded by Geese?

It's followed by a third saying I was provided with in a situation that I lost out on because I trusted someone. If you want a friend in politics, get a dog well played and my mistep cost me dearly in that situation.

Life is a game and some play it better than others, learn to play it and play it right. But most of all, be sure to move forward and leave no one behind.