Michael Parsons, a man who had the courage to testify in a shooting murder trial, comes from a broken home and once lived a life of crime himself.However, Mr Parsons, 32, says he made a decision to choose “right over wrong”. Now, he hopes a book he’s started writing about his life, which includes episodes that have affected many of Bermuda’s young people, will be comforting and inspiring to others.“My name is Michael Eugene Clarence Parsons. I was born and raised in the area of St Monica’s Road, known to many as 42nd street,” begins his story.Mr Parsons writes that his days as a young boy in that neighbourhood were “some of the best times” in his life.“My family used to live in a house just behind where the buses park up next to the Seventh Day church, where they still park up today. I can remember there was a hot food place right across from the church called Pepper Pot.“There was this old woman that had worked there. Every child, parent, people in the area respected (her.) As life went on for me, things looked all good and well in my life. Both my parents were together and it was a good feeling to know you had family,” he explains.“But sooner or later things that you as a child wouldn’t understand began to turn.”Mr Parsons writes candidly about how his parents, who separated, had a big fight in front of him and his sister one night.“It ended up with my sister staying with my mother while my father took me by the hand. (I remember) walking out of the house with just my pyjamas on, not taking any other clothing with me,” he writes.“I can remember at some hour of the night walking with my father hand to hand through St Monica’s Road, only a short distance from where we was staying, not knowing where I was going to rest my head that night.”Mr Parsons says they ended up at his father’s girlfriend’s house five minutes away, and he never returned to his family home again.“The most frustrating thing about those events that took place were that I had just left Dellwood School to attend West Pembroke Primary, so (I had to) adjust not only to the new school but life changes I was facing at home as well,” he explains.Mr Parsons says that living in the St Monica’s area with his father, he got to know some of the young men who have ended up losing their lives in shootings.“The whole neighbourhood was very close with each other. Many of the childhood friends, some passed through the gun violence that has taken the Island by storm in this past few years, which for me I take to heart because it doesn’t have to be this way,” he writes.“We all as people make choices; at the end of the day we are not perfect. As people we make mistakes, but it’s (about) what you learn from your mistakes. And only you yourself can allow that mistake not to happen a second time.”He adds: “Many of my friends whom I had grown up with, we really never had our fathers around that much to guide and show us many ways in life.”“We as kids just observed many things that was around us, meaning watching the guys on the street sell drugs, finding ourselves getting into mischief, stealing bikes, anything for attention.”Mr Parsons ended up getting into trouble with the law and also at school; getting suspended for fighting.“All these things were playing a vital part in my life from that night leaving my mother and going with my father, then to not being looked after,” he writes.Mr Parsons ended up feeling like a “second rather than the first priority”.“In a case like that a child would find themselves fending for themselves, and that meant on the street, following friends and not weighing what was good or bad,” he writes.“It would be a chip on your shoulder that you would get used to carrying, so life for me was only getting more and more frustrated. (I) didn’t see my mother much and my father was more of a ‘see you when I see you’ type of relationship.”Mr Parsons ended up being taken away from both parents and put in foster care with two different families, which “didn’t work” so he ended up going to a boys home known as Observatory Cottage. There, he met counsellor Michael Weeks who is now a Government minister.“[He’s] a man I can say through all my obstacles had a great part in changing my life to a certain degree, teaching me life skills, things as a child I wasn’t taught,” writes Mr Parsons.“For me I never blamed my parents for anything. For me it was tough love, you know. That’s what made me stronger and that’s why I am happy to be the person I am today.”Mr Parsons said he has changed his life around these days, and is determined to make the most of life despite the challenges he has encountered. When he has finished writing his book, he wants to take it to schools and speak to the students, to spread a message of hope and understanding.He feels that it is also important for the leaders of the Country to play their part, along with the people of his generation who are now parents themselves.“I feel that people that are in Government need to reach out more rather than always assume that all is bad. They need to sometimes travel in the back of town areas to see how people of Bermuda are living and to kind of build a relationship with the people because after all, we are all Bermudians,” he said.And he urged parents not to make the same mistakes that affected their own lives as children.“Many people may not agree with what I am saying. I can’t put myself in the shoes of people who have kids because I don’t have any myself, but I know I will have a plan that my child will never have to go through what I had to go through.“The beginning starts with quality time being spent. I just hope that many will look within themselves and be yourself. And if your friends say they are your friends, they will respect (the) accomplishments you want in your life. That is what a friend is to me.”