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Perspective
The best thing you can do for yourself if you're tryin' to get out of the gang life is get yourself somewhere where you can see things from a different angle. Get out of the 'hood for a little while, look around, see how the rest of the world works.

I know from my own life that it's damn near impossible to do while you're still on the streets. It took a near miss with getting locked up for 10 years and a coach fightin' for me to get out. I ended up doin' a summer with the YCC (Youth Conservation Corp) instead of 10 years with the Youth Authority. Either one would've changed my world. I'd already done a year at YA and came out more fucked up than I was going in. I don't even want to think what 10 years would have done. My crime this time was being 15 and homeless, going to school and tryin' to get my shit together. The judge said I had to live at home or I violated my probation. I got lucky and had a coach who knew me...he talked the judge into YCC for the summer and then lettin' me get on with my life.

YCC put me out in the woods with a bunch of other young g's from all over the state. I hated it at first. It was hard work, buildin' trails and diggin' trenches. But...it was the first time I'd been clean and sober for 3 straight months since I was 7 and it was the first time in my life I didn't have to constantly watch my back. I was tired and sore but not beat up. At first I couldn't even sleep at night because it was too quiet. Eventually I started seein' how good it was not to be fightin' all the time and to really sleep at night. How beautiful the mountains were and how much better I felt breathing clean air. All first time shit for me.

I didn't get out right away...but I knew it was out there. I got my shit together and graduated from High School...never did live anywhere. When I was 24 I finally had enough and had to get all the way out. I no longer had family obligations to deal with as my mom died from cancer when I was 23. I applied for financial aide under the state university system's Adult Re-entry Program (so much for the "I'm too old" excuse). I got a bunch of Grants and applied for the campus as far from the 'hood as I could get (700 miles). The campus had 5000 students and the towns population was 20,000. It took some getting used to but it was worth it. I learned some valuable lessons about how to handle myself in this sort of world. I also learned that old street kids might not have the best book education out there, but we're miles ahead of the rest in other skills.

These skills are what I try to bring out in other g's wantin' out. I have been a US Forest Service Wildland Firefighter for 12 years now. I have got 15 ex g's from the 'hood into similar jobs over the last 8 years. Twelve of 'em are still hangin' tough and workin' their way up. It's hard to move to small remote area's at first...and some of you might think it's crazy. Most of the 12 that made it so far want nothing to do with the old life now. They're all over...California, Oregon, Wahington and Idaho...one just got picked up as a Crew Leader in Montana.

Here's where all those old neighborhood skills come out. The hardest thing for me was learning how to reroute all that anger that I had been livin' on for so long. You never lose it all, but if you can take most of it and turn it into a positive energy to pursue something you really want you'll be amazed what you can do. Another thing is all that B.S. you hear about bangers being nothin' but a bunch of followers. If you're still alive to be readin' this on a site like this you're a Leader not a follower. That's whats kept you alive long enough to be wantin' to change your life around.

All the ex-g's I've helped get out have turned out to be cool under pressure and natural leaders. All they needed was a change in perspective. These folks are leaders, but instead of runnin' a corner or leadin' in a drive-by they're leadin' crews of 20 into wildfires. They're usin' their skills that don't allow panic to keep these crews safe on a fireline instead of gettin' 'em killed on the streets. They're savin' homes and lives instead of takin' 'em. And most important...they're goin' back to the 'hood and talkin' about it and gettin' more out. It's never too late as long as you're alive...ya just got to get to where you can see.

Lito