Discuss your short and
long-term goals. Are some of them related? Which are priorities?
A Chance to Live the American Dream
My
uncle and I were walking to my grandma’s place with groceries in hand when he
broke our silence, “Until now, I never understood what Mom meant when she said
she didn’t have a big chance since the beginning.”
I looked at my Uncle Juan, puzzled, “What do you mean?” I
asked. He met my gaze for a moment before gesturing all around him. I followed
his gesture, and looked around us as we walked along Villa Madero’s streets
back to my grandma’s place. Since my great grandpa died, my grandma tried to
visit as much as possible to help with his farmland.
It
was my third time in Mexico, but this was the first time I realized the
cultural differences when compared to Seattle. The other two times visiting I
was four and eight years old, so the only difference I saw was that every
relative I visited didn’t have a running toilet. Now at seventeen and a year
away from college, I noticed the uneven bricks of cement that were supposed to
be a street. I noticed the dogs that walked freely without owners. I saw old
trucks pass that always contained at least four people in the back. I saw
children as young as five years old selling fruits alongside their families. I
watched men walk around, after working on their farmland, with dirt covered
t-shirts and jeans with either a cowboy hat or baseball cap to protect them
from the sun.
At
the time, I didn’t understand my Uncle Juan’s statement because I had never
questioned my grandma’s choices: I knew how much she had strived for something
different. She had brought my mother to the United States with the “American
Dream” to make something of herself and her family. That is as daring as it
gets. I was raised alongside my four uncles, aunt and mother. I’ve grown up
calling my grandma, “Mom.” When I was a baby, my grandma worked as a maid, went
to community college for criminal justice and put dinner on the table. The hard work she put herself through so that
we could have a better chance of success inspires me. My grandma is the reason
why I plan on becoming successful to share a comfortable living with my family.
I will further achieve her American Dream.
In
the short term, I plan to graduate high school and volunteer during summer
vacation. I will work a summer job to save money for my freshman year of
college, which I hope will be, at Seattle University. Because Seattle
University’s Jesuit values follow some of my own values such as diversity,
dedication to the community, justice and faith, it has become my dream school.
In the long term, I plan to become my own boss of a company. I also plan to
become more fluent in Spanish for more business opportunities and to connect to
my family members who don’t speak English.
My
newfound understanding of the hard work my grandma accomplished solidified my
determination to go to college and get a good job. Like my grandma, I will
follow through with my goals or continue to make new goals when circumstances
change but I won’t stop to give up. Her actions taught me that every goal I
make is a priority because each goal will lead to the next. I finally rested my
gaze on him and replied, “Yeah, Mom did pretty well, didn’t she?” We stepped
inside my grandma’s place with that day’s groceries in hand.
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