Essay #1

Starting a New Life

When we are just little kids we adjust to the things around us. We know what’s around us, like the people and the houses. Now what happens if you have to leave that entire life behind, because you and your family have to go to another country. All the friends you met, and family that you know, well you have to say goodbye to them. That happened to me when I was twelve years old, we had to move out of our country Mexico to get into the United States.

I used to live near the border and even though the U.S was on the other side, we were on a poor side of the state. It was a really nice place that I liked, but we were not living that well, so my dad decided that we should give it a try and move to the U.S. It was not my dad’s plan but it was our only option so that we could live better. After we sold everything that we had, it was time to go to the other side. We arrived to the place that some guy told my dad, we waited there for like two hours before we met with some guys. We got in a van, I was a little scared but was not nervous, they started talking with my dad and mom, while my brother and I were playing. We got to a house were we slept for a while but then I heard my mom, “wake up it’s time to go”. When we were ready, my dad stopped us and began to pray.

It was a cold night and I was happy at that time, and to be honest I really don’t know why I felt like that. If I was leaving my country I thought that I would be kind of sad, but it wasn’t the case. We walked for ten minutes and then we finally got to the place. It was really bright because of all the lights, and officer or someone from the immigration came to us and asked some questions, but I didn’t even paid attention because it was my first time seeing those types of weapons, they were not small guns, it looked like if they were going to war. I looked at him and asked, “Have your ever used them before?” my mom squeezed my hand really hard that I wanted to cry.

            Around ten minutes passed and the officer was still asking questions. I wasn’t scared, but then sudden all I heard was some people yelling, “Run, Run!” at that time I got scared. The officer stayed with us, but he kept a hand on his gun. More officers came to where we were and they were not as friendly as the first one. They looked really mad, and one of them started talking really loud to my dad, but my dad never seemed like he was scared or nervous. After a while we finally started moving, they finally let us go. While we were walking all I saw was people sad and crying, a woman with a baby in her arms, it looked as if she was talking to God. There were like two kids around my age who were really scared, I could tell by the look on their faces.

            We kept walking and I started talking to my mom and asked her, “Why were those people crying?” she told me, “Soon you will understand”. We finally met a guy in a car and we got in, he drove around five hours nonstop, and then we finally me our uncle right here in Oxnard. It was so different from the place that I lived. Nice houses and grass everywhere, I felt strange but it looked good. We got to our uncle’s house, and it was a really big house and there we finally met our entire family living here, and that’s how I got here. Now being on this side is really a good place compare to where we lived, but I will still miss where I used to live.

            After everything that I saw that night it changed my life and the way I look at life. It made me realize that not everyone have their life as good as we. Life is not fair for many people and I wonder why, but I will never get an answer. We all have our struggle at some point of our lives, their just totally different problems. If this is a country where people believe in a God then why do they have to show a card to get in? Everyone should be able to go where they want, because we didn’t created the planet, so we have no right to claim what territory is ours. This experienced showed me that if your want a better life, it won’t be easy but it could happen.