Dear Dog

I'm writing this post as a letter to Dog the Bounty Hunter since I just finished his book.


Dear Dog,

Reading your book, Where Mercy is Shown, Mercy is Given had to be one of the best experiences I've had while reading. I had a lot reflection of my own life as I read your words. How you kept talking of trying to over come and learn from your mistakes and yet people were always there to remind you of them. That is something I know all to well in my own life. Granted I never made mistakes that landed me in jail, but I did make ones that lead me down a much harder road then I should have had to travel and still travel at the time I am writing this. Towards the end of the book really was when I started to see things that made me really think. I grew up in a family that was more then just broken, it was shattered.

My grandmother made the mistake of marrying the man that got her pregnant at 18. She had two more children with him while putting up with his abuse. After a few years she finally got rid of him. She spent the next years working between 2 and 3 jobs to support my mom, aunt, and uncle while they grew up. My mom and her siblings threw it back in her face by all getting hooked on drugs or booze or both. Each one of her children destroyed their lives in one way or another. My aunt was a drop out on all sorts of drugs. My mom as 18 and pregnant with me while addicted to drugs. And my uncle, well he graduated as far as I know but he was an alcoholic and on drugs as well.


My mom had me and after a series of men had 3 more children by the time I was 9. She had already been in jail for a felony by the time I was 5. She didn't really take the greatest care of us. As my therapist has said, she did the bare minimum for us in every way, even food wise. At 8 my grandmother got a hold of me and made sure I stayed on the right path, but the years of mental abuse from my mom and her many boyfriends, along with the neglect and mental abuse she gave had left it's toll. At the age of 9, I had a serious case of PTSD. I started to heal up over the next few years until my mom popped back into my life as though the last 4 years had never happened and she was the world's greatest mom. This brought it all back with a speed so fast my head nearly came off. Needless to say at 12 I was in for a long rough road. I spent the next 3 years struggling to return to some bit of normalcy. I never partied, never drank. I was a good girl in always but school work. Still managed to pass classes, but not with the grades I could have. Just shy of my 15th B-day I was sexually assaulted. This set me back yet again. It was 2 years before I could really handle anything with guys. I made the mistake of marry the first man to make me feel special, wanted, and loved. I followed in the family footsteps so to speak in retrospect.


3 years of an abusive marriage in where no blows were ever physically landed, but many were mentally, emotionally, and sexually is enough to break any woman, but some how like always I survived. Granted he did have an affair and did divorce me, but I see it as my escape and chance to grow, heal, and become who I've always wanted to be. I met my ex-boyfriend through a mutual friend and while he never abused me. We didn't ever have the normal fights or mile stones a relationship had. 2 years later, it was over and I was left to pick up the pieces of my life. In the course of this 5 year struggle I did achieve one great thing. I became the first person in my family to attend and graduate college. Though only with an AA as I am now moving on for my BA so I can get my JD.

That's where I am now. Picking up the pieces of my life and trying to move on. I've got myself in therapy so I can learn to leave all this pain behind. That's what your book has helped me to see, just how far my holding on to my past had held me back. I've held onto every scar and hurt like a large blanket around my shoulders. Holding on to this pain has slowed down my education and following my dreams. I'm working on letting go and moving on. Your book has helped me see that and has helped me have the courage to really work on and my own insecurities.

I wanted to say thank you for such an inspiring book and glance into your life and your family. I hope one day to give you this letter and let you read just how much you have changed one person's life without ever having met them. I look forward to the day that I may get the chance to give you this letter and hopefully it will be when I have healed and gotten far in my life so that I can stand tall and with pride in front of you. You are a hero to me and so is Beth for surpassing her struggles as well. I send you well wishes and good thoughts for your who lives and that of your family.

With all the love of a sister,

Serin kNight