Essay I Excerpt
After these operations and chemo treatments, we were informed that the operation he needed, in order to entirely save his life, was only done in one place. San Francisco General Hospital. In order to get there, since his mother was living there at the time, and she was a naturalized US citizen, she applied for me, Tincho and my son Paul who was three at the time, to come to the US for the operation. Even though I learned English in school, I was stressed with the idea of going to another country for an unknown amount of months. We discussed it and decided to sell the ranch in order to pay for the operation. It was a hard decision; the area was gorgeous with mountain ranges, waterfalls, and fresh air and, if it were for me, I would’ve never left. Still, though, human life is more valuable than material possessions.
Paul and Tincho left in April of 1989, and I was going to arrive three weeks later. More than anything I missed my dear son and wanted to be with him. I missed my husband too, but the relationship was starting to get rocky. When I got on the plane, I felt nervousness, anxiety, stress, wondering what I was going to do in California. I had been to the US before on vacations with my family, but we never went to California. Two of my sisters were already living in the Bay Area, so I knew that I had some people to talk with. But I still wanted to stay in my place of birth. I arrived in May of 1989 and started crying when I saw Paul again. After the operation, the doctors told us that he was going to need to be under close observation for the next five years in order to make sure that cancer wouldn’t return.
Five years was going to be a long time, and I had no idea how fast it would go. We got our green cards that year, I got a job, and Paul went off to school when he was at the right age. After the five years had passed, the doctors still wanted to keep him under close observation for another five years. At that point, there wasn’t any reason to go back to Argentina. We had already settled, and Paul was thriving.
Essay II Excerpt
The paper, “Migration, Immigration, and Community: A Commentary” by Mr. Dan Landis describes it as such: “Migration can be thought of as a conclusion or a process. As a process, it has a beginning when the individual first conceives of leaving the culture of birth and passes various points along the way as he or she makes the journey to the culture of settlement. Once in the new culture, migration continues as he/she adopts and negotiates the aspects that will become part of his/her behavioral and cognitive repertoire.” So, in a sense, a person is reborn when they migrate because they will end up adjusting to their new found home. In a home, acceptance is needed in order to feel welcome. However most of the time, migrants are instead looked upon as entirely different beings and are either feared or mistreated or a mixture of both by those in a higher social position.
Community Call to Action
After all the research done for the last three essays, I would like to focus on the underlying factor that faces most immigrants when coming into America: The sudden change in culture, language, and social economics. Every country has its own set of traditions that have been shaped by its history and these three dynamics. When one immigrates to another country, whose history is vastly different from one another, it’s like being born again, no matter the age of the immigrant. They would need to adjust to the new culture and circumstances, and for many, it can be overwhelming. To achieve the American Dream, they would need to be fully accepted by the surrounding society, have the proper education, and the qualifications to find a good job with a well-paid rate to set them on the right path. Some ways to make the load lighter for these immigrants is by spreading the inspiring stories of those who have succeeded before them and having an open mind towards them by getting to know their culture and embracing, rather than repressing, the differences. By giving them respect, kindness, and understanding that they also want the best for their family, will help them to be able to continue onwards. This, in turn benefit’s everyone because it will promote unity in the community.
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