I Am LTS...My Introduction To Steemit

Hello everyone,

I'd like to introduce myself to this great community. I'm excited about this site. I know the best is yet to come for all of us here. So, here is a brief history about myself. I'm currently 49 years old. I've been married for over 28 years and have two beautiful, intelligent, but most importantly, independent daughters. One is 28 and the other is 21.

I was born and raised in the South Bronx, New York. I lived there until the age of 19. By that age what once was a pretty decent, quiet, and safe neighborhood had transformed into a dangerous one. Drug dealers, users, pimps and prostitutes infiltrated our neighborhood quicker than you can say New York Yankees.

By the way I use to live about 30 blocks away from the OLD Yankee Stadium.

My neighborhood became so bad you were literally risking your life going to the local store to buy a loaf of bread or gallon of milk. Please believe me. I'm not exaggerating. For many years I witnessed people getting shot, stabbed, mugged, run over by cars, and I even saw a few people thrown off rooftops - in broad daylight.

Do you know how many times I was walking home from school and was unknowingly walking right into a shootout? Too many to count! There was also the problem of having prostitutes conducting their business in the hallway of my apartment building. To be quite honest I think I learned more about sex from walking pass the prostitutes than in school.

Drugs were being sold almost everywhere in my neighborhood. If two people were talking for a few minutes that usually meant there was a drug deal going down. I think my love and passion for commerce and business came from watching a whole lot of illegal transactions happening around me.

Most of my friends had no ambition to be more than what they were. They were happy living in the daily struggle of just surviving in the concrete jungle another day. But I wanted MORE! That's why I never did the things they were doing like drinking and using drugs. Believe it or not they respected me for that. You see, I didn't judge them. I accepted them as they were. We were like a family. I just didn't want to be like them.

And that meant leaving them and that environment for a better life. I wanted to go to a safer environment just to increase my chances of living a long life. Once that happened I could begin work on becoming an entrepreneur. And that's what I did! I've been living in the quiet suburbs of New Jersey over 20 years and earn my living online.

I'm proud of myself for getting out. Now, instead of hearing gunshots outside of my window I get to hear some birds chirping instead...lol

Don't become a victim of your environment...there's always a way out!