The Open Mind: My Life, the Ronald Hampton Story

By Ronald Hampton

When a man takes time to look back over his life he can make peace with the decisions he made because he can see that his past was a preparation for his present, then that is a man whose future is as bright as the morning sun.

Every person whos blessed to walk this earth knows the struggle it takes to make it big. It is equally plausible that every person also knows the ease with which one can lose everything and expend the energy of two lifetimes trying to regain and rebuild what was lost. Ron Hampton has experienced life with material possessions and financial gains many will only ever read about or see in movies. He has also experienced life without hope or a clear sense of what lay ahead for him.

• Language: English
• Publisher: AuthorHouse
• Release date: Dec 14, 2016
• ISBN: 9781524654603

Ronald Hampton

My name is Ronald Hampton. I was born on February 27, 1943, in a little town called Englewood, New Jersey, on Humphrey Street. This book tells about my life, which was a journey that seems like only a little while ago. Now at sixty-seven, all I can say is that “there is a purpose that I am alive today.” As you read this book, you may come across situations that you might be in right now, but do not give up on yourself.

Book preview

© 2017 RONALD HAMPTON. All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means without the written permission of the author.

Published by AuthorHouse 12/15/2016

ISBN: 978-1-5246-5461-0 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-5246-5459-7 (hc)

ISBN: 978-1-5246-5460-3 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2016920632

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Thinkstock are models,

and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Thinkstock.

Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

CONTENTS

Foreword

Chapter One: The beginning

Chapter Two: The new house

Chapter Three: The Nellie May Black family reunion

Chapter Four: The parties

Chapter Five: Life started to get weird

Chapter Six: My sister’s friend

Chapter Seven: The army days

Chapter Eight: Goodbye vietnam

Chapter Nine: Bad news

Chapter Ten: I was not the same anymore

Chapter Eleven: Single and separated

Chapter Twelve: Still hanging out with my ex

Chapter Thirteen: The new comers

Chapter Fourteen: Into the woods we go

Chapter Fifteen: Things got worse before they got better

Chapter Sixteen: Another obstacle

Chapter Seventeen: Now i can see purpose

DEDICATION

I dedicate this book to the one through whom the vision that lies within this book was given, my Heavenly Father. I give all reverence to my Savior, Jesus Christ. For no man can come unto the Father, but by Him. I thank God for His gift of the Holy Spirit who has empowered me with the strength to record all that has been revealed to me about my life. I give God all the glory for entrusting me with such a task that He has faithfully completed it to the end.

You will never be free until you free yourself from the prison of your own false thoughts. – Philip Arnold

FOREWORD

When a man takes time to look back over his life and he can make peace with the decisions he made because he can see that his past was preparation for his present, then that is a man whose future is as bright as the morning sun.

Every person blessed to walk this earth knows the struggle it takes to make it big. It is equally plausible that every person also knows the ease with which one can lose everything and expend the energy of two lifetimes trying to regain and rebuild what was lost. Ron Hampton has experienced life with material possessions and financial gains many will only ever read about or see in movies. He has also experienced life without hope or a clear sense of what lay ahead for him.

His early childhood days in New Jersey were filled with family and friends all around, but he did not always find a natural fit with everyone. Ron’s creativity and sensitivity were only matched by his desire to be like the more popular boys in the neighborhood. He found music as a great outlet for him to express himself, but no melody was enough to squelch the longing he had to be noticed and to be included by those whom he looked up to.

After leaving high school, Ron enlisted and was deployed to Vietnam. While in Vietnam he was exposed and introduced to a myriad of drugs and thus began a slow, downward spiral that would last for nearly 3 decades. The drug use, coupled with prowess with various women, was Ron’s way of compensating for the deficiencies he had felt most of his life. The influence of illicit substances were his way of escaping how he truly felt about himself and the path his life had taken. Being a witness of death during wartime and experiencing extreme stress on his psyche exacerbated the problems he was having and would continue having in the future with drugs and the certain impact war has on a reluctant soldier.

The heart-wrenching story in the following pages is one that must be told because it has been lived and has come full-circle. Ron takes the reader into his eyes and allows the reader to see what he saw as a young boy, a soldier, a father, a husband, a factory worker, an amateur photographer, a homeless man, music and movie enthusiast, and an addict. The reader can feel the concrete steps and asphalt streets of New Jersey and the bristling trees in the woods. The reader can hear the friends who mark each chapter with personality and the women whom he gives reasons to love as well as to leave. The reader can smell the fear in the streets and the fear that came from Ron’s gut. The reader is allowed into the heart of Ron’s thoughts as though it is a movie written and filmed only for your consumption. However, it is a story of triumph and struggle that many post-war vets, recovering addicts, retired factory workers, fathers who were absent in their children’s lives, and men who wish they were better husbands will relish in because Ron’s story is their story.

The presumed triumphs one imagines a result of material success is shown here as awakenings from an American dream and it touches the heart and causes re-examination of priorities for any person seeking wholeness and acceptance. The process of self-discovery and soul recovery that Ron traces over nearly 3 decades, reveals the necessity of every man and woman to claim his or her own sobriety and sanity, for the sake of establishing integrity in every familial and casual relationship. Ron’s ability to claim his truth, share his story and pay forward some good by sharing his journey is his way of graciously holding what appears to be a microscope that allows the reader to peer into Ron’s story. However, upon closer examination it becomes very obvious this raw telling of Ron’s story is really a mirror for others to find the blemishes, motes and logs in their own eyes while Ron exposes his own.

Reverend Cedrick Bridgeforth, EdD

CHAPTER ONE

The beginning

M y name is Ronald Hampton born February 27 th 1943 in a little town called Englewood N.J. on Humphrey Street. This book tells about my life, which was a journey that seems like only a little while ago. Now, at 67, all I can say is, There is a purpose that I am alive today. As you read this book, you may come across situations that you might be in right now, but do not give up on yourself.

I remember my childhood days growing up with my mother and an older sister. We were relatively from a poor family. My mother got divorced and my stepfather stepped into the picture when I was in second grade. There was a time when we lived in a two family house. We lived downstairs with my grandmother and my Aunt and her two children lived upstairs. My cousins lived down the street. We had quite a few colors in our family. For example, there was a cousin whose name was White, then somebody, married into his family that was named the Browns. Eventually, we moved next door to somebody named Mr. Green and down the street lived Mr. Gray, so as you can see, there were quite a few colors there.

THE DIFFERENCE

I knew all along that I was different from the rest of the kids in my family because one Christmas everybody got a brown sled as a gift, and I got a red one.

I don’t remember a single day that I didn’t get a beaten by my mother or sister. When my sister and I would fight, somehow it would end up being my fault so if I didn’t get a beating at least once or twice a day, I would think something was wrong. My mother would send me out of the house and tell me to go and break off a switch. What I would bring back looked like a switch to me, but it was a branch from the tree. If it was too small, she would go out and get a bigger one to beat me with. Why she would do that never made any sense to me. Those are beatings you can never forget, and they just stick with you.

I can remember, also, back when I was five, there was a crawl space in front of the house and no one could see it as it was dark inside, we used to go through a little hole. As we were playing, an older kid told me to pull down my pants which I felt a little weird even at that age but somehow he wound up pulling down my pants and he pulled down his and he was trying to mount me. No penetration was involved but that really messed me around. Of course, I was told not to tell anyone and I kind of shut that out of my mind and that has been a problem through a great part of my life. I truly believe that could have been the cause for a lot of the things that I went through in my life and this is the first time I am speaking it out about it.

KINDERGARTEN

I used to love the times when I was in Kindergarten. The best things I loved about those times were the graham crackers, milk and sleep times. When we got out of school, we played little games like Kick the Can, Drop all Leaves, and another game called Red Rover, I Dare you to Come Over.

At that time, we didn’t have a television like now. All we had was a radio and a Victrola. We used to listen to Amos and Andy, Phoebe and McGee and the Green Hornet on radio. I remember people sitting around the radio watching it like we do television now, especially when the Joe Lewis fight was on. I will never forget dancing to those records that were played on the Victrola. I recall those records being very large in size and they were called 78’s. I loved to dance and I still do, but I just don’t have all the moves anymore. Finally, we got a TV and we were lucky to get one at that time when only a few people had them on the street where we lived. It was something!

CHAPTER TWO

The new house

M y mother had a house built, and I believe the year was 1951. We moved from Humphrey Street to a place called Shepherd Avenue in Englewood, New Jersey, and we felt like we were doing pretty well. Because of this, I had to move out of one school, which was an all black school, where I wasn’t being taught much to a new school. This was a diverse school consisting of both black and white students.

I was in my third grade there and it was a little tough for me. I was not a straight A student or even close to that. I had a problem, and I couldn’t keep up with the class the first year. My teacher sent a letter home saying, If Ron doesn’t improve in his studies, he will have to repeat third grade. With that voice in my head all the time, this began to play