Using the past experiences and childhood tragedies is no excuse to not push to succeed in life. In “The Priviliege of Youth: A Teenager’s Story of Longing for Acceptance and Friendship,” by Dave Pelzer, Pelzer proves that past tragedies are no excuse to not work hard to succeed, but they are proof that anything can be overcome. This story is about a boy, Dave Pelzer, who used his tragic childhood as an encouragement when going through tough situations. Pelzer believed that if he was able to survive his childhood, he could survive almost anything. Pelzer did not let his childhood get in the way of having a successful future. As a young child, Dave Pelzer lived in an unsafe and unproductive home. Pelzer lived with alcoholic parents that abused him in every way. His mother would turn the rest of his family against him and blamed him for all of their troubles and misfortunes. Pelzer would be locked in the basement and treated as an animal until one day he was taken away from his family and entered into the foster system. Unlike many other children, Pelzer saw that foster system as a positive thing, he felt that it was a chance to get away from his family and to start new but as years went on he realized it was a very difficult experience as well. …show more content…
Pelzer had been abused, cursed at, beaten, and humiliated but he pushed forward and chose to look at the positive. Pelzer did not feel bad for himself but he worked harder to make his life better. He did not use his past as an excuse to be a reckless teen but he used it as encouragement for when he was going through a tough time because he new that he had gotten through worse. This story really encouraged me to try and look at the bright side of situations. I realized that it is so important to be grateful because some people have it a lot worse than I do and just because something seems bad for a moment I can overcome it because it is not as horrible as I feel it