PS uber rought draft.
Posted: Wed May 18, 2011 7:39 am
Hey all... just looking for some imput is all. Is it just me, or am I trying to take too much advice and employ too many strategies from what I read in the TLS book?
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To begin where the Italian rhetorician Giambattista Vico once ended a chapter in his treatise entitled, On the Study Methods of Our Time:
“In conclusion: whosoever intends to devote his efforts, not to physics or mathematics, but to a political career, whether as a civil servant or as a member of the legal profession or of the judiciary, a political speaker or a pulpit orator, should not waste too much time , in his adolescence, on those subjects which are taught by abstract geometry. Let him, instead, cultivate his mind with an ingenious method; let him study topics, and defend both sides of a controversy, be it on nature, man, or politics, in a freer and brighter style of expression.”
I feel that the personal statement you are reading now will equate to one of the more intriguing narratives you will come across in your review process, if only because it has been written by a formerly homeless veteran who personifies that which was detailed by the above enlightened individual.
To this very day I am uncertain as to how it all occurred, all I am sure of is it started with the desire to just give up and go for an overly long walk with just enough possessions on my back to survive. I was tired of feeling like I had no future to look forward toward, no employment prospects… no hope. I had only a G.E.D. and a few community college credits to my name at the age of thirty, and for no valid reason, I was angry at everyone and everything other than myself and my own choices. For I had, at that time, felt I had done nothing wrong. Certainly I was conscious of the fact I had done little right, in the orthodox sense, but my efforts had always been pure and well intended. I had served twice in the U.S. Army infantry, enlisting for three years at the age of seventeen and again shortly after September Eleventh. I had sought out an education in the high tech industry and had luck gaining work as a computer operator and help desk specialist for a major hospital even before having really started on my degree at a reputable institution. I had spent some time, almost two years in fact, living abroad as an English teacher in Asia. All this, and still I was seemingly unable to ‘advance’ in life.
Now, with regards to that last point, I was positive the only thing which ever really held me back was the ignorance of others (oh, what an arrogant decade my twenties were)! Having been told my whole life by teachers how much smarter I was than my fellow classmates, it must have been the lack of intellect in others which ‘kept me down’. Having been reading philosophy, theology and history since my early teens (when I finally gave up on fantasy and science fiction), why, it must be the unenlightened masses who were at fault for all of my problems. I had not made poor choices; rather, I must have been forced down this path of consummate ne’er-do-wellery because of all the obstacles others had placed in my path.
So there I was, thirty years old and living on the streets as I was too proud to continue living with my parents. Thirty years old, and for all the potential everyone had told me I possessed, I was begging for change. I had lost the motivation enough to even go for that long walk I had planned, the journey that I was so certain would have helped me find the inner peace and strength to finally get my ship righted once and for all! Then one night, having finally hitting rock bottom and abandoned all hope in the same manner Dante once informed us we should do upon our entry into Hell, I followed some of my “comrades in urban camping” to a shelter service they said had beds specifically for veterans.
It was then the journey I had been longing for began. I met a group of homeless veterans who had, through their own grass roots efforts, created a peer run action committee they had named the Madison Street Veterans Association (MSVA). The purpose of which was (and still is) to give aid, advice and a safe place to sleep for homeless veterans and is sponsored by both the V.A. and Central Arizona Shelter Services (CASS). After listening to these men, their stories and goals, their desire to change the lives of others even if they were past the point of changing their own… I cried. It was then, and only then, I realized how horrid of a person I had been; how absolutely selfish and arrogant I had always been toward others. In a few moments I came to realize it was no one’s fault other than my own that I was living on the streets, and though I of course knew that at the time (recall how I had just walked away from everything), it was only that night I saw the big picture and interconnectivity of it all.
During my time in the shelter program, I started to find some direction. It took some time, years in fact, to put my life in order. I tried community college again with the hope of becoming a social worker, and found myself filled with the same arrogance toward those who were there only to help me learn and grow. I tried working ‘dead end’ jobs and found myself quitting time and time again. I tried getting involved in sales and marketing, only to find myself hating the ethical compromises such a career often requires. Finally, right around my thirty-third birthday, I decided the only thing a man such as myself might be good for in this world was a career in law, as I felt such a thing was the only way I could ever find happiness and start to give back to my family, community - and above all - those I know deserve my help more than any others… the homeless in and around Phoenix, Arizona.
Since then, I have honestly tried. I have put forth the effort required to make it to the places I have always wanted to be; to become the man I have always imaged I might. I took up classes at a real university, and though you may say what you like about Arizona State or a history degree, please understand that necessity is the mother of invention and time and geography were the two primary factors which determined my choices. My intellect, the very thing which I now see as having been my own private curse for so many years, has finally been put to good use with the hope I might continue onward and upward by actually using it to better myself with it secure in the knowledge I will be able to help others as well, as opposed to judging others from said imagined lofty heights. My LSAT score is not perfect, but I am proud of my score of___, especially considering that I am a high school dropout. My GPA too is imperfect, but my grades in university I feel reflect my level of effort post being over myself.
I admit to still being selfish and arrogant in many ways. I do long for the prestige of becoming an attorney who graduated from a top law school. I do hope to find a career in a private law firm as a trial attorney as I am certain I have some small gift for oratory. Yet do not think I am filled with the dreams and desires of a young man seeking a place in the world of legal affairs. I desire to neither live the high life in New York high rise nor become an agent to the stars in Hollywood, for I have in all honestly already lived a life filed with adventures which span continents. No, my big dream is to return to Phoenix as a prodigal son. A man my parents can finally be proud of and who can immediately start giving back to the people who have touched, taught and changed me throughout the years.
__________________________________________________
To begin where the Italian rhetorician Giambattista Vico once ended a chapter in his treatise entitled, On the Study Methods of Our Time:
“In conclusion: whosoever intends to devote his efforts, not to physics or mathematics, but to a political career, whether as a civil servant or as a member of the legal profession or of the judiciary, a political speaker or a pulpit orator, should not waste too much time , in his adolescence, on those subjects which are taught by abstract geometry. Let him, instead, cultivate his mind with an ingenious method; let him study topics, and defend both sides of a controversy, be it on nature, man, or politics, in a freer and brighter style of expression.”
I feel that the personal statement you are reading now will equate to one of the more intriguing narratives you will come across in your review process, if only because it has been written by a formerly homeless veteran who personifies that which was detailed by the above enlightened individual.
To this very day I am uncertain as to how it all occurred, all I am sure of is it started with the desire to just give up and go for an overly long walk with just enough possessions on my back to survive. I was tired of feeling like I had no future to look forward toward, no employment prospects… no hope. I had only a G.E.D. and a few community college credits to my name at the age of thirty, and for no valid reason, I was angry at everyone and everything other than myself and my own choices. For I had, at that time, felt I had done nothing wrong. Certainly I was conscious of the fact I had done little right, in the orthodox sense, but my efforts had always been pure and well intended. I had served twice in the U.S. Army infantry, enlisting for three years at the age of seventeen and again shortly after September Eleventh. I had sought out an education in the high tech industry and had luck gaining work as a computer operator and help desk specialist for a major hospital even before having really started on my degree at a reputable institution. I had spent some time, almost two years in fact, living abroad as an English teacher in Asia. All this, and still I was seemingly unable to ‘advance’ in life.
Now, with regards to that last point, I was positive the only thing which ever really held me back was the ignorance of others (oh, what an arrogant decade my twenties were)! Having been told my whole life by teachers how much smarter I was than my fellow classmates, it must have been the lack of intellect in others which ‘kept me down’. Having been reading philosophy, theology and history since my early teens (when I finally gave up on fantasy and science fiction), why, it must be the unenlightened masses who were at fault for all of my problems. I had not made poor choices; rather, I must have been forced down this path of consummate ne’er-do-wellery because of all the obstacles others had placed in my path.
So there I was, thirty years old and living on the streets as I was too proud to continue living with my parents. Thirty years old, and for all the potential everyone had told me I possessed, I was begging for change. I had lost the motivation enough to even go for that long walk I had planned, the journey that I was so certain would have helped me find the inner peace and strength to finally get my ship righted once and for all! Then one night, having finally hitting rock bottom and abandoned all hope in the same manner Dante once informed us we should do upon our entry into Hell, I followed some of my “comrades in urban camping” to a shelter service they said had beds specifically for veterans.
It was then the journey I had been longing for began. I met a group of homeless veterans who had, through their own grass roots efforts, created a peer run action committee they had named the Madison Street Veterans Association (MSVA). The purpose of which was (and still is) to give aid, advice and a safe place to sleep for homeless veterans and is sponsored by both the V.A. and Central Arizona Shelter Services (CASS). After listening to these men, their stories and goals, their desire to change the lives of others even if they were past the point of changing their own… I cried. It was then, and only then, I realized how horrid of a person I had been; how absolutely selfish and arrogant I had always been toward others. In a few moments I came to realize it was no one’s fault other than my own that I was living on the streets, and though I of course knew that at the time (recall how I had just walked away from everything), it was only that night I saw the big picture and interconnectivity of it all.
During my time in the shelter program, I started to find some direction. It took some time, years in fact, to put my life in order. I tried community college again with the hope of becoming a social worker, and found myself filled with the same arrogance toward those who were there only to help me learn and grow. I tried working ‘dead end’ jobs and found myself quitting time and time again. I tried getting involved in sales and marketing, only to find myself hating the ethical compromises such a career often requires. Finally, right around my thirty-third birthday, I decided the only thing a man such as myself might be good for in this world was a career in law, as I felt such a thing was the only way I could ever find happiness and start to give back to my family, community - and above all - those I know deserve my help more than any others… the homeless in and around Phoenix, Arizona.
Since then, I have honestly tried. I have put forth the effort required to make it to the places I have always wanted to be; to become the man I have always imaged I might. I took up classes at a real university, and though you may say what you like about Arizona State or a history degree, please understand that necessity is the mother of invention and time and geography were the two primary factors which determined my choices. My intellect, the very thing which I now see as having been my own private curse for so many years, has finally been put to good use with the hope I might continue onward and upward by actually using it to better myself with it secure in the knowledge I will be able to help others as well, as opposed to judging others from said imagined lofty heights. My LSAT score is not perfect, but I am proud of my score of___, especially considering that I am a high school dropout. My GPA too is imperfect, but my grades in university I feel reflect my level of effort post being over myself.
I admit to still being selfish and arrogant in many ways. I do long for the prestige of becoming an attorney who graduated from a top law school. I do hope to find a career in a private law firm as a trial attorney as I am certain I have some small gift for oratory. Yet do not think I am filled with the dreams and desires of a young man seeking a place in the world of legal affairs. I desire to neither live the high life in New York high rise nor become an agent to the stars in Hollywood, for I have in all honestly already lived a life filed with adventures which span continents. No, my big dream is to return to Phoenix as a prodigal son. A man my parents can finally be proud of and who can immediately start giving back to the people who have touched, taught and changed me throughout the years.
