Every one sure has a success story, and listening to the sucess story of others could be all the inspiration you need to forge ahead just at your weakest point when you think you have to give up
Upon the increasing rate of suicide in the country, the touching story of man who quit school at 8, was arrested at 16, became homeless at 27 but finally graduated college at 65 has gone viral, as it shows that most times, when there is life, there is indeed hope
Identified as Freddie Sherrill, Talking to the Charlotte Observer during a recent interview, he said;
‘at age 8, I would go to the grocery stores and start stealing food and take it home to help my mother and feed my sister and brothers. I was drinking, smoking and shooting cocaine and then I went to heroin. That’s when the bottom fell out’.
When the gun he was using didn’t go off, ‘I couldn’t stop crying. I said the only prayer I knew: ‘God, please help me.’ I was just tired of living. I wanted to die and couldn’t even do that’.
After this, he made a conscious effort to get his life on the right track, getting married and starting a family, learning how to read with the help of volunteers at the Burke County Literacy Council and then enrolling in Western Piedmont Community College to earn his G.E.D which he passed after 6 tries.
It took Freddie 13 years to complete his associate’s degree in human services with a concentration in substance abuse counselling. In 2009 when Sherrill’s son was getting ready to apply for college, he decided to also go back to school himself.
‘Finally today I can say that I’m a productive member of society. I haven’t arrived, that’s just part of the journey, and the journey continues’ he said as he graduates with his bachelor’s in human service studies from Queens University of Charlotte.
It might interest you to know that for every challenge and obstacle you are facing and about to give up on, there is always a double assurance that you will overcome even if you don’t see it that way at that point
Stay alive,Stay pushing and Remain Happy !
