Two inspiring examples of change
There's that saying, "With age comes wisdom."
Sometimes, though, wisdom has more impact when it comes from an unexpected source.
Today, Staff Writer Kerry Lester brings us the compelling story of 21-year-old Elgin resident Kevin Echevarria, who speaks to students about how he turned his life around and how they can do the same.
"I was that person that people looked at and said, 'What is he going to accomplish? The only thing he does is get in trouble,'" he admits.
Echevarria had a life-changing revelation as a junior in high school. After years of hanging around with the wrong crowd, he started taking his life more seriously.
Last week Columnist Burt Constable told us about 18-year-old Andre Logan, who chose to follow positive role models and stayed in school despite being homeless. He recently went through graduation at Round Lake High School and plans to start at College of Lake County this fall.
Logan's is the kind of story we normally hear after someone does something wrong - as an explanation and part of a plea for understanding.
"About 9 or 10 at night, she'd say, 'I'm having some friends over. I need you to go out,'" Logan said, describing life as a 14-year-old paying rent to his mother for sleeping on her couch.
Instead, Logan used his mother's poor decisions as motivation.
"I tried to sell drugs, but I looked around at my community and saw how much pain that caused to families and how it broke up my family."
These young people are driving home a familiar message we sometimes fail to believe: It's never too late to change your life.
It's a message that's especially relevant these days.
Layoffs have forced a large number of people to reinvent their careers. An uncertain economy means many are trying to change spending habits developed in better times.
Others, troubled by the emphasis on childhood obesity or doctor's warnings, are adjusting family meals and exercise routines. Then there are always those struggling with common vices such as smoking. Or nagging issues such as cleaning out that garage filled with junk. Maybe it's something as simple as getting to work on time.
None of these are easy. Learning new skills. Watching a marketplace revalue a career that used to reward handsomely. Modifying goals and values that once defined our suburban lives.
When money is tight, time is short and the future seems uncertain, anything can seem insurmountable.
That's why stories like Echevarria's and Logan's are so important to tell.
These young men prove otherwise.