By Andrew Thomas -EPOCH Times
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Joseph Brooks grew up on the east side of San Antonio, Texas in a violent neighborhood controlled by gangs and organized crime. His father was a long-haul truck driver and his mother was a maid. Despite the circumstances of violence, poverty, and drugs, Brooks mother refused to let him fall into the gang lifestyle.
Brooks mother wouldn't allow him to speak or act like the other kids in the neighborhood. If he were to get a woman pregnant, he would be expected to marry her and take care of the child. If he were to be arrested, she would not bail him out.
Violence and gang activity were so prevalent that Brooks would simply look out of his bedroom window to see men with AK-47s shooting wantonly into the air. He would call 911, but as soon as he told the operator where his location, they would hang up on him.
Abuse and Bullying
Gangs sold drugs, ran guns, controlled the prostitution trade, and would recruit children from the playground. The majority of the kids Brooks had grown up with had been slain in the street by the time he was 17 years old.
In addition to the rough conditions of the neighborhood that Brooks had to contend with, he endured personal traumas as well. As a child, he was sexually abused until age 12. The abuse was understandably confusing for such a young child.
"I knew it was bad, but I felt guilty. So, I just held it in," Brooks told The Epoch Times. My parents never knew.
After the sexual abuse stopped, the bullying at school began. As an articulate kid in an inner city school, he was ridiculed for the way he spoke, which led to severe bullying and intimidation.
Furthermore, he was bullied for being in special education classes. He was stuffed in lockers, spit on, kicked, and cursed on a daily basis.
"It was painful. It was relentless. For three to four years that abuse took place," Brooks said.
Getting Big
However, by the time Brooks was 15 he had begun to develop physically. He would lift cinder blocks in his front yard, and would lift regularly at his high school gym. Unfortunately, Brooks became a bully himself. However, after he joined the football team he had an outlet for his aggression.
Brooks father had passed away when he was 11, and his mother died when he was 18. After she passed away, Brooks experienced severe depression and would drink himself to sleep every night after work.
One night Brooks was sitting on the edge of his bed drunk, and in a particularly dark place. He loaded a 9mm bullet into the chamber of a Glock pistol, put the gun under his chin, and pulled the trigger the gun didn't fire.
That incident would change his life forever, he went on to build one of the largest personal training studios in Texas along with his late wife of 30 years who passed during Covid in 2020.
Joseph Brooks lives in Texas and has 5 successful adult children and inspires others with his story. He is a featured TV expert and has helped thousands.
