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BRATTLEBORO

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View 7-day forecast

Weather sponsored by

Your support powers every story we tell. Please help us reach our year-end goal.

Donate Now

Your support powers every story we tell. We're committed to producing high-quality, fact-based news and information that gives you the facts in this community we call home. If our work has helped you stay informed, take action, or feel more connected to Windham County – please give now to help us reach our goal of raising $150,000 by December 31st.

Voices

The better road

‘I knew that I couldn’t change the past, or who I was, but I could make a better future’

WESTMINSTER — My road not taken was a road to violence, skipping classes, and defiance.

I was a very defiant child when I was younger, and I got kicked out of my kindergarten and preschool. I wanted the world to feel what I did, because I was smacked around quite a lot.

In elementary school, I didn't do my homework and got sent to the principal's office at least once a day. I would go to school with a new bruise every day. I was very angry at the world.

Then my father wanted to send me to a boarding school, and I didn't want to go. I ended up going, but I continued the behavior. I got in trouble so bad, I was almost sent off campus for a suspension, and I was very close to being kicked out.

* * *

I saw what I was doing, what I was passing up, and opened up my eyes.

I was going down a path that I soon wouldn't be able to turn back on, so I decided to walk backwards. I saw that there was just darkness at the end - nothing for me.

I knew that I couldn't change the past, or who I was, but I could make a better future.

I went down the road of success, of making better choices after I saw what I could achieve and the person I could become.

This road had a light at the end, and the road before didn't.

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