Family relationships, potentially, can overcome so much.
It does not happen for everyone – there are rotten families too, of course.
And at the end of the day, we all make our own decisions.
This fact can be a hard truth to swallow – I see this especially since I have become a parent.
I, however, believe that the right parent, the right family, the right encouragement, at the right time, can make or break a child.
Sometimes I wonder if a combination of my parents and Saudi Arabia saved me by keeping me sheltered from the right things at the right time.
“In other words, despite all of the environmental pressures from my neighborhood and community, I received a different message at home. And that just might have saved me.”
–J. D. Vance, Hillbilly Elegy