Hellfire Rescue

Many consider being born in a land with political chaos and poverty a major disadvantage in life, but I’m convinced otherwise. Although living in a so-called “third world” country presents its own challenges, I believe that success in life should be measured by how one reacts to their circumstances. In other words, the attitude that we embrace in situations is a more reasonable benchmark for success. Having access to running water, electricity, and an indoor toilet and sewage system is certainly helpful. However, those luxuries or material possessions does not necessarily bring a comfortable lifestyle or happiness. Charles Swindoll, a well-known author, stated in one of his books that, “Life is 10 percent what happened to me and 90 percent how I react to it.” Two individuals may have an identical unfortunate circumstance happen to them, and their lives may have two totally opposing outcomes. One may still thrive and allow the circumstances to be used as an opportunity to build character and endurance, and as a result, achieve greatness, and the other may crumble under pressure, give up on life, and die of heartbreak. Successful motivational speaker Zig Ziglar stated the common phrase that, “Your attitude, more than your aptitude, will determine your altitude.” Although we all most likely have heard, repeated, or can agree with this statement, putting its implication into practice in our daily lives matters most. Difficult circumstances, themselves, can be used as a pedestal to propel one to success. Think, for example, about the extreme hardship of Nobel Peace Prize Winner Nelson Mandela. He was sent to prison for nearly 27 years for opposing social injustice and, yet, had the mental fortitude to become President of South Africa, the very government that imprisoned him. Just four years after his release from prison, he became president. It was his remarkable endurance and attitude through adversity that propelled him to be promoted to his leadership role. Just being able to survive the conditions he went through deserves a medal of honor. The fact that he still dared to dream, despite the torture of being unjustly imprisoned for so many years was heroic. The attitude that he chose to embrace through that experience contributed greatly toward President Mandela becoming a world-famous leader. Although my father was not a Peace Prize winner, he certainly was a loving family man. I barely knew him, however, my only interactions with him strongly support that idea. My mother and people who knew him have spoken very fondly of him. Less than one year after my mother was released from the immigration detention center to join my father, he suddenly passed away. Prior to his death, my parents had just moved to an apartment in an inner-city neighborhood in Pompano Beach, Florida. My father died from a gunshot wound to the head as he was entering the apartment. He was shot by a teenager, who claimed it was accidental. My father was a peaceful man, with no prior altercation with anyone. The tragedy occurred in the very presence of my mother, who was also seven months pregnant at the time with my youngest sister. I recently mustered up the courage to ask my mother to reflect on that exact moment of the tragedy. She replied that my father’s scream to “call the police” immediately after being shot rang in her ears for a very long time after his death. She vividly recalls the time my father screamed his last words on this earth “with all his strength,” she stated, and then, he fell to the ground and into eternity. At the time of the tragedy, my mother was in the U.S. for just ten months, had no education, was barely literate, as she had taught herself to read, spoke no English, had no prior job skills, could not work, since she was seven months pregnant, could not drive, and had absolutely no hope, except for faith in Jesus. It is also important to note that my mother had no close relative to rely on, as her five children, all boys—including myself—were in Haiti, in the care of our maternal grandmother. Our ages ranged from 3 to 13 years old.