essay subject about an experience that changed you or you learned from

Think before your act




For certain people it is hard to make proper decisions when they are mad.

Most of the women in my family tend to let their emotions influence their

judgments and actions. Through out the years, I have witness bad consequences

caused by thoughtless actions. I learned a valuable lesson that is to always think

before you act because your actions have consequences. A particular event in my

life taught me this lesson.



My mom made the decision to take in my cousin from foster care.

This was hasty, but seemed to be a necessary choice for our family at the time.

My cousin’s foster care environment was mentally and emotionally unhealthy for her. My family is composed of my mom, my seven-year-old sister and my eight-

year-old brother. I am the eldest sister therefore I try my best to be a role model to

my siblings through leading by example. From 2004 to 2010 my cousin and I use to

live at my grandmothers house with my aunties and uncles. During that period of

time we where exposed to a lot of aggressive arguments. My main goal as a big sister

is to prevent my brother and sister from having similar childhood experiences. All

those negative memories came back to me when my cousin returned to live with us

in 2015.That year. I felt like history was repeating itself. Aggressive arguments were

dominant in the house; I remember a particular one that changed my way of

thinking.



Running up the stairs of the patio, my cousin and I heard my mom yelling at

my little sister. Before I opened the door, I told my cousin to be nice and that we had

to help my mom by cleaning the house like we do every night after practice.

Knowing that my mom was exhausted from a long day and my cousin from practice I

still hoped that we could have a peaceful night without any yelling. After getting

ready for bed my cousin and I had to go downstairs to do our usual chores while my

mom was taken care of my siblings. My cousin would show that she was annoyed by

stamping down the stairs and over exaggerating her movements. At that moment

I knew that my hopes were to high. Indeed as we were cleaning up, my cousin would

be disrespectful to my mom. I knew that she was doing that to avoid doing her

chores. My mom is sometimes to tired to argue with her. But that

Thursday night was the not case, my mom insisted and started arguing with my

cousin. To prove a point my cousin would always target the family by saying

heart full words which would enhance my mom’s anger. That night was the time

when I realized that every action had consequences. My cousin started to push my

mom and being brutal which made me automatically think that I had to prevent my

brother and sister from seeing my mom loosing her temper. I knew I had to control

the situation because I was scared of the consequences. My mom also started being

brutal; her movements were over exaggerated and her voice started to pitch hirer

and hire, as they would throw words at each other I told my mom to not touch my

cousin because I knew that would be crossing the line. Ignoring me, they both


started pushing each other afterwards, my mom was sitting on my cousin on the

floor because she had just slapped her. Putting to much presher on my cousin I

tried to remove my mom from her. My cousin was screaming. My mom asked me

why I did that insinuating that I was not supporting her. Within me I knew it was the right thing to do. She had forgotten that my cousin was still the social

responsibilities and that she could call the police at anytime. In result of this violent argument my mom and cousin had bruises

on their body, which meant that my cousin could support her complaint if she

wanted to call social service. I knew that she was going to call them in order to have

revenge. Since I didn’t succeed on preventing any physical violence I shouted

crying, to my cousin that if she picked up the phone and lied about what

happened the social service would take her away from us. I was also scared that this

situation could have an impact on my mom having custody of my brother and sister.


All this fear, caused by thoughtless actions made me realize how fast a situation can

change. I was scared to loose my cousin and my brother and sister. From that night

to know on I have always tried to put my emotions aside, when needed, in difficult

situation to be able to make a smart decision where I would not regret the

consequences.