Precious

It was Saturday night. I had been contemplating for the past hour of whether or not I should stay in for the night or if I should go out to my friend's party. My thoughts were suddenly disrupted when I saw my older cousin peering at me through the doorway of my bedroom. I was surprised by her visit because I rarely saw her since she works all week. At that moment, I decided to stay in for the night and spend some quality time with my cousin.

We decided to eat a left over box of pizza from the day before as our dinner and watch a DVD from my collection. I had a good number of movies sitting at the end of my book shelf, untouched from my Black Friday DVD shopping splurge at Target and Best Buy. Amongst the group of unopened movies, my cousin chose for us to watch the movie, "Precious." One of the actresses in the film had won an Academy Award for “Best Actress,” so we assumed it had to be a great film.

In a nutshell, the movie depicted a young, 16-year old at-risk high school student, Clarice Precious Jones, who had gotten kicked out of high school for being impregnated for the second time by her own father. She lived in poor, run-down neighborhood in the state of New York, with her psychotic, verbally and physically abusive mother. Precious lived life at home as practically a servant - cooking, cleaning, and living through the everyday physical abuse from her mother. Due to her situation of being pregnant again and seeming troubled, her principal had her removed from high school and placed in an alternative education program, "Each One Teach One.” She told Precious that the program would better suite her and other students with similar backgrounds rather than public school, because it would provide them with the extra help, attention, and care they needed to excel in school.

Surprisingly, throughout the film, I found that no matter how abused and talked down Precious was by her own mother, she secretly always had a positive outlook towards life. Her mother did not support the idea of her getting an education because she believed Precious was too stupid to learn. Instead, her mother wanted Precious to live off of welfare, just like she did, since she was going to have a second child. But Precious did not like the idea of being idle and lazy, like her mother, and living off welfare. She liked going to school and learning.

In one scene of the film, Precious told herself, "Someday I'm going to break through...or someone is going to break through to me." This thought reflected Precious's positivity and faith in herself that there were going to be better things for her in life than what she was currently living through. She just didn't have the right outlet. What more, she was also very prideful, which caused her to be resistant to the help of others, such as her teachers and principal. Why? Mainly her reasons were because she feared her mother, and that she was ashamed of her life and was uncomfortable telling others about it. Thankfully, it was only when her principal sent her to the alternative education program, Precious realized that it was the best thing that ever happened to her.

The education program Precious was placed in, not only was directed in preparing at-risks students for their GEDS, but teaching them important skills needed to help them break away from their unhealthy lifestyles. During her first few days in class, Precious was not as open to participating in class discussions compared to her fellow schoolmates. However, after some time, she eventually learned to feel comfortable to open up in class about her troubled life. She came to realize that her teacher and classmates became like a second family to her because they shared their utmost personal things to each other. Every day in class, Precious and the other students were required to journal about their thoughts for the day. Journaling helped Precious come face to face with the problems she was dealing with in her own life, which gave her the further strength and motivation to want to break away from the destructive life she was living with her mother. Journaling became her outlet to see things clearly about what she needed to change.

Towards the end of the film, Precious reported to welfare of the abuse she’s been experiencing at home for a long time, so they stopped funding her mother. She was also able to finally leave her mother with the
help of her teacher from her program, so she can start living a much healthier life for her sake and for her young daughter and newborn son. She was later awarded a literacy award from the mayor for her stupendous progress at her program and was also given a check to help her and her children survive financially.

I would have to say, watching this film really touched me because it opened my eyes to a part of reality I was blind to. Even though it was just a movie, it is a reflection of reality today. What I mean by this is that, for me being able to live such a cushy life, it has led me to easily forget about those at-risk, like Precious. Since I've been around friends and family, all who loved and supported me throughout my entire life, I forgot that the “ghetto” even existed because I wasn't raised in an environment where I saw troubled individuals everyday. I had forgotten about those who aren’t able to live a comfortable and somewhat easy life like me. There are actually youths out there who live like Precious, whether we see or hear about them or not. Those abused physically, sexually, and verbally and those who are involved with gang and drugs – this is their everyday life. When you are happy, you can be easily blind to everything else that doesn't affect you directly.

As I watched this film, I couldn't help but feel thankful for the alternative education programs offered out there to help at-risk individuals. This film immediately reminded me of my internship, which I had been volunteering at for about a year now – Forward Step. It serves similar to the same purpose as Each One Teach One in the movie Precious, except it serves at-risk adults as well. Forward Step is aimed at teaching the highest at-risk adults and students the necessary soft skills needed to overcome their dysfunctional and unhealthy behaviors to lead better lives; that being for students - to excel in school; and for adults - to help them gain and keep employment. I feel thankful for being able to volunteer in an organization like Forward Step because it feels inspiring and extremely fulfilling to be part of something that serves the community for the better.


Before volunteering at Forward Step, I never really brought myself to think and realize that this whole other part of reality filled with at-risk individuals existed. I live in a world where people I know live pretty normal lives, but really, just on the other part of my town, even a couple of blocks away, there are people living at-risk.

I’ve always believed that organizations and youth programs, like Forward Step, really put faith back into people's lives; making them aware that there are still good people out there and that there is still hope for a better tomorrow, regardless of where they come from. There are still people who care for others and for the success of our future generations…because who are we kidding? We all live in the same world and are all affected in the same way.

If there wasn't anyone with the will and heart to do something for our at-risk individuals, what will become of each and every one of them? Will they just stay lost and troubled forever? Individuals like Precious, who want a change, but can't find the proper outlet, would just be trapped in their destructive lifestyle for good.

I believe that for anyone living in these types of situations or lifestyle, deserve a second chance to live better, especially those who just happen to be born into a troubled background because of the lifestyle their parents raised them into. In Precious' case, her children would have been considered another generation of at-risk youths, if Precious never left home or received the help and support she needed from her program.

People living at-risk just need to have someone there to help them; to give them that boost to take that first crucial and life-changing step towards a better future.

-Genevieve Palo-Dy