Listening to other people’s stories gives us a different perspective on life. Not every one shares the same cultural background, interests, and needs. Life is a unique experience and no one else experiences it the same way as yourself. Some people make bad decisions and through their life stories you may realize that you don’t want to follow that same path or if you listen to a beautiful life story, full of courage, perseverance, and success, most likely you will feel inspired to do something great as well. People and their stories influence our lives every day. It is important to take in what they have to say and learn from it.
When I think about my life, I feel really blessed to have had the opportunities and the parenting I had. I was born and raised in Brazil. Even if you are rich there, poverty is part of your every day life seeing it daily on the street and on TV. When you grow up seeing kids your age begging for a coin or two because they absolutely don’t have any opportunities, you definitely grow up with a different view of the world. When I turned 15, we moved to United States because my mother wanted to give my baby brother and I a better lifestyle and opportunities. In the beginning it was hard because of the language barrier and because we didn’t have much money, but I didn’t have to see homeless kids on the streets anymore and my mom didn’t have to pay a small fortune to give me a decent education. At school I made new friends, many from different parts of the world. I taught them about Brazil, they taught me about their countries and we learned about America together. We talked about similarities and differences our countries shared and what was specifically different about America. Moving to the US was a tremendous experience. We went from an upper middle class in Brazil to a poor class in America. I saw my mom, who was an architect, waiting tables to support her family in the land of opportunities. I did a lot of growing up in a short amount of time during the hard times of adaptation and I am so glad I was able to see both sides of the coin.
Because of my personal experiences and everything I learned, I feel the need to fix injustice in the world. Even though I might never see it fixed, I’m glad to know I did my part to fix what I can. I didn’t forget the kids my age asking for a coin at the streets sign on my way to school.
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ReplyDeleteYour story is so sad. But I think sometimes it takes sad eye-openers to show us that we need to make a difference. I'm glad that it has for you, it seems like it is a good motivator that is driving you to accomplish good things!
ReplyDeleteThank you for sharing Juliana.
ReplyDeleteIt's stories like yours that give people like me a different perspective. I was born in the United States with parents from the United States. I'm your typical white middle class "American". But, unfortunately, it took classes like SLICE for me to really start to understand what it means to be "American". It seems to me that you, as a Brazilian immigrant, have a mucher greater sense of what "America" is supposed to be than those who happened to be born on this piece of land. I, like many others, often take for granted the fact that I am "American"; and its unfortunate to me that I have such narrow perspectives sometimes. We can all use more stories like yours to give us a more global perspective of our own lives.