Kids who have a parent serving in the military must grow up knowing that their mom or dad faces the very difficult challenge of balancing their responsibilities in the Armed Forces with their family life.
That was the bittersweet reality facing Ruby Robinson as she celebrated receiving her degree from Columbia University’s engineering program. Ruby’s father, U.S. Army Reserve Captain Keith Robinson, had been stationed in northern Afghanistan for the last six months, and she understood that he would not be able to make it to her commencement ceremony.
However, in an amazing stroke of luck, the Captain was given approval to leave his unit. To make it to the ceremony in New York City, he embarked on a journey that lasted more than 14 hours — leaving Kuwait and making stops in Washington, D.C., and Denver along the way. Miraculously, he made it just in time for the ceremony.
With a bouquet of flowers in hand, the proud father greeted and gave a warm embrace to the new Ivy League grad. Tears of joy immediately flow from Ruby’s eyes and the crowd goes wild with applause and cheers.
“Congratulations, young lady,” he tells her in the clip. “I’m so proud of you.”
As Today.com reports, the army captain will remain in the U.S. for two weeks before returning to Afghanistan, where he will remain until the fall. As for his daughter, Ruby will be moving to California in the summer to start a job at Amazon.
Despite being apart, it sounds like they’re both fulfilling the duties that they trained for.
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This Inspirational Teen Proves That Your Living Situation Doesn’t Define Who You Are
For teenager Kendal Benjamin, home isn’t a place that you go to at night. It’s a state of mind.
The graduating senior at C.A. Johnson High School in Columbia, S.C., plays football and track, studies hard, and goes to school every day. In just about every way, Benjamin is a regular student. But at the end of the day, Benjamin’s life makes a drastic detour from normal. Instead of heading home to his family, Benjamin instead goes to Palmetto Place Children’s Shelter, where he currently lives, along with 19 other children and teens. “It’s not home but it’s something to help me get on my feet so I can learn life skills,” Benjamin told the local news station, WIS.
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Palmetto Place is a shelter that provides a safe and nurturing environment for children and teens who are victims of abuse and neglect, as well as teens who have no other place to live. In Benjamin’s case, his mother lost her job and was unable to provide for her children. While she tried to make it work, Benjamin, 17, says he finally approached her about their situation — exhibiting an act of maturity that far exceeded his young age. “We can’t just stay here and we’re making like everything’s alright because it’s not alright,” Benjamin said. “So I need to go take care of me so you can take care of you. Hopefully when I take care of me, I can help you out later in life.”
After bouncing from place to place, Benjamin ended up at Palmetto Place, one of the few shelters that houses teenage boys. “There are very few that accept males over the age of 12,” said Jill Lawson, an area social worker. “So, if the parent or guardian and younger siblings go to the shelter, where does that leave the male high school student with nowhere to go?”
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Despite his living situation, Benjamin keeps moving forward. “It’s not like I’m going to go to school angry, sad, because I don’t have anything to eat or my lights are off,” he said. “[I] Just go to school like nothing happened, just like a normal person… I just don’t like feeling sorry for myself.” That positive attitude hasn’t been lost on his coach and teachers, all of whom have become an integral part of his support system. “[Benjamin] does not blame anybody. And he doesn’t consider himself a victim,” his football and track coach Jerry Jackson said. “Plus, [he has] intestinal fortitude, to stand and endure adversities when most people his age would just break down and say, ‘woe is me.’” It’s that determination, as well as his thoughtfulness, that led Jackson to make Benjamin one of the team leaders this year. “The other kids can look up to him, and he can be an example and role model.”
Erin Hall, Palmetto Place executive director, told WIS that the organization works closely with the school on cases like Benjamin’s to make sure that they are getting the support they need. “They know which kids will thrive at Palmetto Place and which kids really need to be here in order to succeed, graduate from high school and move on to bigger and better things,” Hall said.
As for Benjamin, he doesn’t let homelessness define him. Instead, it drives him to make a better life for himself. “Sometimes you have to make a way when there’s no way,” he said. “Life is not easy but you have to get through it some type of way — well, in a positive way.”
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