What would you do if you knew that you had cancer, and you only had about 18 months to live? Would you travel the world, spend more time with your family, or even make crystal meth in order to pay off all of your medical expenses? Well that is exactly what Walter White did when he discovered that he had an inoperable case of lung cancer. The Whites were a middle class family living in New Mexico. Walter was a high school chemistry teacher, and his wife Skyler was an ‘author’ of short stories, but they never took off. They would need more money in order to keep Walt alive. I wish to commemorate Walter White for his acts of braveness and determination, and the sacrifices he made in his life.
Walter was a family man; he lived to keep his family safe. He had sacrificed his own safety among others in order to provide for himself and his family. You would think that cooking meth would be the biggest safety risk for Walter, but he was a chemical genius. Walter studied chemistry at the California Institute of Technology, after he graduated he was given the opportunity to work for a billion dollar company, but due to a falling out in a friendship he chose the education route, making yet another sacrifice.
Walter was a brave man. He sought out all of his competition and eliminated them one by one. He made sure the he was going to be the best in his business and make it very clear to everyone else. When his partner Jesse was brutally beaten by a rival dealer, Walt chose to approach the man, and ask him to pay for Jesse’s hospital bills. When the dealer refused, Walt then blew up the room with fulminated mercury, and took all of the dealer’s money.
Walter approached death and decided to take charge of his life. He was tired of playing by the rules and being a good citizen. He saw how much money could be made in the meth business, and said if they can do that why can’t I.
Walt was an extremely determined individual. He did whatever it took to provide for himself and his family. Being a high school science was not enough to support his family so Walt worked at a carwash for a few years until he got into the meth business. His goal was to just pay off his medical bills around $90,000, and then he would be done. He earned that in the midst of about 5 months. Now what? He decided to keep going, to earn enough to give his family a good financially stable life in the event that he passed. $737,000. That will be the end of his meth-cooking career. $737,000 and all of the madness that he has been involved in; from ruining his marriage to innocent people being killed, $737,000 it will all come to an end. Now when he surpassed that amount, he simply kept going out of pride. He was the best of the best and he knew that, he knew that he had a great amount of power. Walter kept supplying meth to the great people of Albuquerque, New Mexico until he had made around $80 million. He was swimming in a sea of diamonds, or crystal meth for that matter. In the final episode of Breaking Bad on September 29, 2013 Walt finally expressed his reasoning for continuing his meth dealing endeavors, "I did it for me. I liked it. I was good at it. And I was really… I was alive."
You may see Walter White as a criminal, degenerate or villain, think about it from his perspective; this was the only thing that made him happy, the only thing he could be really proud of. Walter was a determined and brave individual who had to make many sacrifices in his life. Living with cancer can be a terrifying experience for many people, but Walter chose to accept it and take control of his life. I would like to end with another quote by Walter White, “Every life comes with a death sentence, so every few months I come in here for my regular scan, knowing full well that one of these times – hell, maybe even today – I’m gonna hear some bad news. But until then, who’s in charge? Me. That’s how I live my life.”
Gilligan, Vince. "Breaking Bad - Felina." Breaking Bad. Dir. Vince Gilligan. AMC. 29 Sept. 2013. Television.
