A Hopeless Future

It is hard to imagine a life other than my own. I have grown up in a poverty stricken area filled with disease. The whole town is in distress and no one else seems to care. No one is helping the situation and the fact that it is being avoided is only making life worse.
Every day I wake up dreading going to school. Many other children have the same idea as I do, but being a child from East St. Louis is different. I do not dread it because of the many hours of reading and learning, I dread going to a rundown filthy environment. It seems like a waste of time. As I walk to school, I pass by homes that are in shambles. I see other children also on their way to school. Many of them are causing mischief and goofing off. I believe that these children will become the next generation of East St. Louis criminals. When I finally make it to the entrance, I see the bars on the windows and chains on the doors. It is not a very welcoming experience. I walk to my chemistry in hopes that I will learn something valuable today. I was not able to do the homework assignment because we are lacking books and I did not get one last night. I sit through class and try to stay interested, but other students are distracting me with the sound of snoring and goofing off. I continue through my day and eventually find myself in my favorite class which is home economics. The reason this class is my favorite is because I know the skills I learn here can hopefully help me get a minimum wage job in the future. I go to lunch where I notice filth and the smell of sewage. We have already had one sewage overflow this week. I hope another one does not happen. I buy my lunch and sit down. It is not the best meal I have eaten, but it is often nice to get a warm meal. I try to ignore the many health codes that are probably broken in the kitchen. After lunch, I go to history and study hall. There is not much to do in study hall since teachers rarely assign homework. I am probably one of the few kids who wish for homework once in a while.
When school is over, I meet up with some of my friends. We decide to go to the football game. It is not very exciting because there are very few fans from either team. We hear the other team making fun of our conditions. They are quick to notice that are field is in poor condition and that we don’t even have goal posts. My friends and I decide the game is too depressing and leave. The walk home is scary since it is getting late. I never feel safe walking alone in the dark so I’m glad that my friends are with me. I make it to my door and my mom asks me what I learned in school today. I tell her what I tell her everyday: “Nothing”.
When I was younger, my parents always told me my life would be better than theirs was. They realized that I had a desire to learn and knew I could go far. I still have a desire to learn but sadly, I will never learn any more than what I already know about life. My parents are just now recognizing that my future is hopeless. I am stuck in a place where I cannot get out. Even if I could, I know others would not accept me because of where I came from. I always hope that one day everything will change and I will be able to learn more in school. I realize that I have few opportunities for success but I want to make the best of my life.