After reading "The Open Boat" and reflecting back on my life, I realized that I am who I am mostly because of the environment I grew up in. Right when I was able to run and jump, I followed my older brother everywhere he went, most of the time unwanted. However, the time I spent with my brother and his friends truly molded my character into part of who I am today. Fishing, playing hockey, and just "chilling" with these older people, I think, enabled me to mature much faster than kids my age. The most I got out of this period of my life, tailing and annoying my brother, is ironically not what to do, but what not to do. Encountering alcohol and drugs at such a young age actually strengthened my abstinence and self-restraint from them. …
