To what extent does a person’s neighborhood shape who she or he is?

I am who I am despite my neighboorhood, yet I am who I am because of it.Please don't let the palm trees and nice coating fool you. These buildings are fairly new, and therefore look it. But the people inside it are crazy. It's weird because where I live most people don't have jobs. Almost everyone sells or does drugs, and the gas station down the street lives in constant fear of being robbed. You'd think that a guy like me who doesn't believe in a criminal lifestyle would have a hard time fiiting in, right? Wrong, the people in my community is just that a community. They fight each other, yet they support each other at the same time. It's like outsiders don't get the same leway as those who been living there for years. The people around there support me, which is weird becausein the places I've lived before it was the opposite. People hated that I was a lot smarter than they were. Their jealousy caused them to discourage instead of encourage my positive outlook on the future ahead of me. I was very much similar to the kids around me, but I always knew there was something different about me. As I got older I became more comfortable with who I was and the people around me became cofortable as well. Your neighborhood is always going to have an affect on who you are. As human beings we are products of our environments. But what I've learned in life is how you look at your environment is more important than the actual environment itself. I've become comfortable with where I am, It's home.