<human>: Could you distill the essence of the text into 1-3 sentences?

I was 15 when I was abandoned by my high school dropout, abusive parents. They were the kind of people who would tell you the sky was green and no amount of proof you offered otherwise would change the fact. And if you didn't like their proof, they'd just hurt you until you shut up about it. 

I lived in a very bad neighborhood- in fact my city is the national 'joke' city of my state, the outcast one no one will admit they come from and where crime and venereal disease go hand in hand. 

I was semi homeless, living on people's couches with little to no parental supervision. I had every opportunity to drink, smoke and hump my way into a ghetto existence with no boundaries but I didn't. I worked two jobs and supported myself, even when I didn't have a place to live. 

 I finished high school (the first in my immediate family) with honors and as a school captain. I completed a degree while again working two jobs and got off the streets. I now live in a fairly nice house with my partner (who is in the defense force) with a degree under my belt, a free-lance journalism job and I tutor in English and literacy in my spare time. I'm not the richest person, but I certainly have more than I need. 

All my other siblings began having children in their teens, are jobless and are walking advertisements for either crappy MTV reality shows or infomercials to why you shouldn't smoke. 

I sincerely do not understand how people find it so hard to break out of bad situations like homelessness, poverty or being uneducated. I find it hard to understand why people whine about not having money or resources when I made what I have out of nothing with little exertion and just common sense.
<bot>: I used to be homeless and had a shitty life but am pretty successful now, why can't others seem to break free?*