I have a friend named Rose. She is in her thirties and is married with two children. One of her children is mentally disabled. She has been married for fourteen years. When I met Rose I thought “this family is white trash” and never planned to associate myself or my family with them. Rose is not a very clean person and I on the other hand have OCD (obsessive compulsive disorder) with cleanliness. Rose did not celebrate her children’s birthdays with parties and their clothes were always worn and never fit. Rose did however have a nice car, and her husband drove a new Shelby mustang.  When I moved here I did not have many friends and still don’t, but she was kind to me and welcomed me into the neighborhood. Over time I got to know Rose and realized that she had a terrible marriage. Her husband cheated, he mistreated the children and treated her terribly as well. This made it even harder for me to be her friend. You see I am a very outgoing, assertive type person and looked at her as being weak. As I came to know Rose I learned she had a terrible childhood. Rose was abused sexually and physically and mentally growing up. She grew up in a home with very little money and little involvement from her parents. I slowly realized this life was all she really knew. Abuse was normal to her and because she did not have nice things as a child, she didn’t think her kids should either. Rose had a large family and had two brothers that were mentally disabled and they were never given any special care, so she did not know her son would need that extra care. As time went on I found that Rose had a HUGE heart and was willing to do just about anything for anyone, (which was part the problem) and was a great person. I was able to teach her to be stronger although she is still with her husband, she has made a huge improvement in her ability to speak up when she feels something is not right. Rose has taught me more than she could ever know. I judged her before I gave her a chance and she turned out to the BEST friend I have ever had in my entire life. She is so positive and always sees things in a good way. That is something that took me almost thirty years to accomplish. I looked at her as weak when in reality she has always been strong, sure we still parent differently and I would have left her husband years ago; but Rose taught me that even though life can really suck and it is not fair, you can still see the world as a good place and still trust people. She also taught me one of the most important things in life, not to judge someone before you give them a chance. Had I went with my initial thoughts I would have never met the greatest friend I’ve ever known.