My Arrest and Rebirth :: Law College Admissions Essays

My Arrest and Rebirth   With great embarrassment and pain, I mustiness tell you that I have once been arrested it was over a weight-lift with my brother Jacob.   The police attribute Jakes behavior to chemical dependence my parents cursed it on some unknown incident while he was at school. I dont know, myself I do know that I returned from Israel to find Jake had interpreted over my room, as well as anything else in the house he could manipulate or control. The TV, VCR and computer were his absolute domain I missed a calculus final because he took the car without permission. He refused to engage in any conversation at all with my parents. His conversations with me and soh were primarily a barrage of put-downs and insults. He kept lists of crimes other people had committed, for which he sought revenge, by stealing things or just hide them. Nothing was secure or safe at home I didnt feel secure or safe there. Home was worse nut house than the army had ever been.   How can I explain how traumatic this was for me? recall being asleep on the sofa (the only bed I had) and being awakened in the middle of the night by the blaring of the TV. If I complained, I would be either ignored or screamed at. If I pretended interest, he would start changing channels, or switch to the stereo. If I called my parents, my crime got added to his list for later revenge.   I pleaded with my parents to intervene, but they just called me egocentric couldnt I see that I had a sick brother, that I had to avail him by tolerating his behavior until he magically got well? Magically because we couldnt try any help that would require letting an outsider know We had a problem.   After he beat up my brother Sol, my father arranged Jake to leave until he cooled off, the first time he had ever intervened. scarce Jake called my fathers bluff he disappeared for two weeks.  This pattern of violence, abusiveness, drinking and disappearing escalated throughout the summer. After one particularly violent outburst, I finally act to show my parents that by refusing to deal with Jakes illness, they were hurting Sol and me. I staged a suicide attempt with sugar pills I had placed in an aspirin bottle.