I am who I am despite the neighborhood I live in

To what extinct does a person's neighborhood shape who she or he is?

I believe that a person’s neighborhood may have an effect on the lifestyle that he or she chooses to live because a lot of people today are easily influenced by their peers and what’s going on around them. However, if a person lives in a violent and unsanitary community, that doesn’t necessarily mean that they will turn out to be a bad person. It’s the same as growing up in a rough neighborhood. Just because one lives around all of that, drama, drugs, and gangs, does not make them tough. It may make them stronger in a sense, because they have to deal with what’s going on around them and find ways to be a bigger person about certain situations. Some people, like me for instance, like to be trendsetters and lead by example. I can say many of my peers don’t have that mind frame. Many let the streets get a hold on them so tight that the streets then become all that they have to turn to. I am who I am despite the neighborhood I live in. In my community there isn’t any violence at all that I know about. I’ve lived in different neighborhoods and have seen a lot growing up but at the end of the day, my mother has molded me into being a young lady with goals and dreams. I believe that there are a lot of young men and women with potential to be better than what they allow the streets to make them. For example, I know a few educated young adults that could be doing so much better in life but because of where they live and who or what they are surrounded by, they tend to not care and it’s sad.