Chances, Choices, and Changes: A Memoir About Taking Responsibility and Self-Determination

By Stephen C. P. Green

Today is your chance to make a choice to make a change or stay the same. Everyday chances are given or taken in life. With those chances, we all must make choices that will bring changes in our lives, or cause our lives to remain the same. If you want to make a change today, the choice is yours. Take a chance and see how wonderful your life can be!

• Language: English
• Publisher: Outskirts Press
• Release date: Oct 18, 2016
• ISBN: 9781478783404

Stephen C. P. Green

Stephen C.P. Green is an elementary school teacher in Los Angeles, California, with over twenty years of experience. He earned his Master’s Degree in Cross Cultural Teaching from National University and his Bachelor’s Degree in Communications from Howard University. His passion is helping others to recognize and maximize their full potential in life, each amazing day at a time.

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The opinions expressed in this manuscript are solely the opinions of the author and do not represent the opinions or thoughts of the publisher. The author has represented and warranted full ownership and/or legal right to publish all the materials in this book.

Chances, Choices, and Changes

A Memoir About Taking Responsibility and Self-Determination

All Rights Reserved.

Copyright © 2016 Stephen C. P. Green

v2.0

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This book may not be reproduced, transmitted, or stored in whole or in part by any means, including graphic, electronic, or mechanical without the express written consent of the publisher except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

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ISBN: 978-1-4787-8340-4

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PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

Dedicated to

Charles Wesley Green, Jr.

and

Juanita Phillips Green

Table of Contents

Chapter 1

The Chance to Envy, the Choice to Work, the Change from Dependence to Independence

Chapter 2

The Chance to Negotiate, the Choice to Take Control, the Change from a Boy to a Man

Chapter 3

The Chance to Settle, the Choice to Leave WSU for Howard, the Change from Ordinary to Extraordinary

Chapter 4 

The Chance to Go Home, the Choice to Go Far, the Change from Playing Safe to Embracing Challenge

Chapter 5

The Chance to Fulfill Dreams, the Choice to Seek Help, the Change from Arrogance to Humility

Chapter 6

The Chance to Doubt, the Choice to Question, the Change from Blind Faith to Willful Worship

Chapter 7

The Chance to Love, the Choice to Commit, the Change from Me to We

Chapter 8

Every Day is a Chance to Make a Choice, to Make a Change, or Stay the Same

Summary

Every day is a chance to make a choice, to make a change, or stay the same.

Life is a great opportunity, filled with chances to achieve. We are all given chances to make choices in life. The choices we make determine whether our lives continue to evolve and change or stay the same.

I believe that it is to our advantage to examine the chances that we have been given and to develop the ability to recognize the current chances we have to make choices. The choices we make are what life is all about. Someday we’ll look back on our lives and evaluate the sum of all the choices we made. Some of the choices will inevitably have been the wrong choices. However, if we are careful and wise, most of the choices we have made will have been beneficial to us.

That is the objective of this book. I want to share with you the choices I’ve made and how they have led to the life that I have lived so far. As I approach the age of fifty, I am looking back at my life. I feel fortunate to have been given the chances that I have received. Examining the choices that I made, I feel compelled to write them down. I wanted to get an overview of how I’ve arrived at this stage of my life. Moving forward, I would like to have an even greater awareness of the chances I can take, the choices I can make, and the change I can cause for my life and others.

I have felt empowered by the statement at the top of this page. I repeat it to myself each morning—sometimes, several times a day. I am an elementary school teacher. I teach fifth grade in Los Angeles. My main goal as an educator is to provide chances for my students to make choices that will empower them to learn and to think independently. At the beginning of each school year, I direct students to draw a timeline. I ask them to imagine that they all will live to be one hundred years old. Then, I ask them to draw hash marks at every ten years. At fifth grade, the students are ten years old. The timeline illustrates how young they are and how the majority of their lives will be lived as adults. I want them to see how precious childhood is and the luxury of being in school, practicing life skills. They can make plenty of mistakes and wrong choices in the classroom that they cannot afford to make out in the real world as adults. I try to simulate life out of school, to teach them how to make choices—choices that will determine whether they have a fulfilling life or a difficult, challenging life. I teach them that their lives are in their hands.

I know that for some of the students, the meaning of the timeline and the lesson it is meant to instill may not bloom in their minds for many years. However, they must be introduced to the fact that their lives will be built on the choices they make. Sadly, many adults have yet to understand this simple idea. So, this book is for them—maybe, even you, too.

The ancient Greek aphorism, Know thyself, demands that I examine my life, the chances I’ve had, the choices I’ve made, and the changes I’ve made in my life, before I could adequately educate any of my students on the topic. So, I set out to write this book to that end. I was fascinated by the choices I’ve made—the big choices and the little choices, as well. Follow me as I relive my life’s journey through the lens of the chances, choices, and changes I’ve made. I hope that in the end, as with my students, you will begin to see your life in the same manner, giving you strength, perspective, and power.

CHAPTER 1

The Chance to Envy, the Choice to Work, the Change from Dependence to Independence

I was very fortunate as a child. Both of my parents were in the house, in contrast to many of the households of my friends. My parents didn’t have a perfect relationship, but they worked to keep things together. They had both been through divorces before they met, so they had a clear idea about how things fall apart. They also saw the affect their divorces had on my brothers and sisters. It’s likely that when they had entertained thoughts of separating, they decided to stay together for the benefit of my twin sister, Charlyn, and me.

One thing I recall was that my parents usually agreed on how they would raise the children. Both of my parents worked for the State of Michigan. So, they earned a modest, middle-class income, collectively. When we were eleven, my parents moved Charlyn and me from Detroit to Lansing. Detroit was earning the reputation it has as a dangerous place to live, and a hazardous place to raise children. Most people didn’t have choices; those who could leave the economic despair, crime, and drugs behind, usually did. So my dad took a job as an equal employment officer, up in Lansing.

Lansing was a small, quiet town compared with Detroit. My sister and I were bored, not having our older brothers and sisters around the house to entertain us. The year we moved there, the development our house was built on was brand new. Ours was one of the few houses on the cul-de-sac. There were few houses, and less children to play outside with. We