This is the story of the author's younger days being raised primarily by his Uncle and Aunt on a farm in Missouri and the lessons instilled in him from time spent in the fields and in the nearby forests. It is a homage of a good man of Native American descent, trying his best to instill both old and new values and ethics in his young unexpected Anglo charge who, to make it even harder, was only in his care half the year, but then back at his motherÕs home in a gang populated area the rest of the year. It also is a story of the authorÕs growing up bouncing between two completely different worlds, trying to make sense of that schizophrenic lifestyle, and what it took to finally break free of it. This true story illustrates that no matter who you are or what youÕve done, with the right guidance, the right values, and the right amount of effort, you can rise to fulfill your potentialÉ but itÕs not easy.