Too many people give up and settle for a fraction of their potential. Strong people usually move silently; and the weak start riots. Regardless of your strength level, it is always important to remember that in the pursuit of knowledge and prosperity one must always remain humble and modest. The ability to live this way will inspire and prepare you to become wiser and more mature. In my culture, we are caterpillars beneath our parents. Unfortunately, my father left to be with another woman when I was a child. The new woman despised my family and bragged that her family had traveled to the United States while she left us in Haiti. Since then my elders have always reminded me that I am no longer a caterpillar. Like a caterpillar, I crawled like my peers. I ignore my seniors whenever they criticize me. I enjoyed doing what I did; I was angry and rebellious. It was fun, dangerous and exciting every day. However, just as many caterpillars transform into butterflies, I realized that I had a higher calling to be something more, and it took a tragedy like the 2010 Haiti earthquake for me to make that change. In January 2010, a huge earthquake damaged Haiti, killing many people. Many believe the earthquake was just another event. A friend of mine said it was an act of “voodoo” because the Haitians had made a pact with the devil to gain their independence from France. During this time I was in my mother's business, sitting in the front row talking to the customer, suddenly I felt the house shaking, wow, it was very scary, and after four minutes, going outside, I saw many houses, buildings collapsed, I was afraid, afraid. Thinking of my mother, I run like a winner to see what happened to my house. Unfortunately my house fell under my mother's house, I was crying, I was sad, but my mother was fine, she only broke her legs. When I saw my mother live I was so happy and very sad to see a house in the neighborhood collapse losing her entire family. I felt empty, down. I remember talking to an elder at my church one day. He told me that, child of God, you move forward, despite encounters and obstacles.