Are We Products of Our Environment or Products of Our Expectations? - Antonio Hallenbeck

 Growing up in certain areas of the world can be very troublesome for most people or it can be very beneficial to others with the experiences they can gain from it. The mind boggling question that stirs about in many people's minds is do we let these environments that we grow up in define our future for us or do our expectations of ourselves guide us into our future? Personally I grew up in a relatively nice and safe area, but my father did not and we both turned out almost identical to each other when it comes to our moods, the things we like, and reactions to situations. I believe that we are products of our expectations and this is because with all the stories my father has told me about how he lived in an area where the crime rate and murder rate was very high, he has never committed any of the types of crimes he grew up around in his life. I believe that the environment you grow up in can in fact have an impact on the way you behave, but it is our expectations of ourselves that define our future. What I mean by this is that if I grow up in a violent area I may tend to have some violent characteristics within me because of how I have to handle myself growing up, but my expectations of how I will do better for myself and who I expect myself to become will out way those characteristics within me. The expectations I would have for myself would help lead me to live a better life and stray away from all of the negativity and danger I may have grown up around. I think a perfect example of how we are a product of our expectations would be the rapper Ice Cube. He grew up in Compton which is well known for being a very violent area, but he was to live up to his expectations and become a very successful rapper and was able to lead a very happy and safe life. Although he was able to make a name for himself and get out of Compton he does have some violent characteristics like I have stated before, but this is only because of how he had to handle himself growing up, but those characteristics do not define him as a person. Another example of how we are products of our expectations would be Eminem who is a famous rapper who is known for talking about how careless or horrible his mother was to him growing up. He had to live in a household with a mother that is mentally abusive and a drug addict for his whole life. He was able to set a goal in mind for himself and he met his expectations and ultimately became one of the most famous rappers of all time. He also grew up in a relatively bad neighborhood which was depicted in his movie 8 mile which talks about how he came to be, but even if he has some violent characteristics deep down he was able to meet his expectations and create a safe and healthy life for himself and his family.