Always Running

Reading Luis Rodriquez’s book Always Running is definitely one of the most shocking books I have ever read and we are only five chapters in. while reading through chapters four and five and learning about all the things he was into was such a culture shock. The whole time I was reading I was assuming that he was at least nineteen years old at least; that is until he mentioned that he was only fourteen. I couldn’t believe this when I read it. He had already been through so much and seen so many bad things happen and he had been a teenager for a little over a year. It got so bad to the point where he wanted to end his own life because everything was weighing him down so much. When I think back to my biggest worries when I was fourteen the only thing that comes to mind is whether or not my parents and I would make it to our basketball tournament on time. There was no remote threat on my life at any given point and I did not live a life as hardened as Luis did. Every day he walked out of his house could have been the day he never returned and the saddest part is that probably nobody would have wondered why. This man was caught up in so many bad occurrences that it’s a wonder how he ever made it out of his situation and become such an influential person. The fact that he know advocates from an anti-gang perspective speaks volumes to the amount of work he put in to get out of his situation. Not many people can get out from the tough spots they’re in and many times they do not have it as rough as Rodriguez did. I think it’s a miracle he ever made it out alive and it really shows the type of person Rodriguez is.