Her Announcement

“Every step that I took I felt fear for my life, I did not know if I was making the right choice. At one moment I remember closing my eyes for a second and thanking God for letting me have a wonderful innocence.” These were the words my mother expressed to me wile she crossed the desert to America. Learning about my mother’s immigration to America has been both pleasurable and painful to me because as a child I was naïve and did not understand the huge sacrifice that my mother had to go through in order to have a better life.
As soon as my mother informed me about her journey to America I began to feel that my future was more valuable than I had thought. Her story gave me a reason to take school work more seriously and apply self discipline to my daily routine. When I was in the 6th grade I knew that in order to live a happy life and in order to take care of my mother I had to focus in school and not slack off . Just the simple fact that she crossed the desert to live a better life encouraged me to always strive for the best. Her history gave me a sense of who I am and where I came from. In addition to that, her cruel journey motivated me to never find an excuse for fear, “Just get it done!” she would say. I don’t feel a sense of embarrassment, rather on the contrary I feel pride and pleasure for having a mother that exchanged her fear for her child’s happiness. Now I’m able to understand why she emphasizes the importance of an education and of being a citizen. She knew that voting equaled having a voice in society therefore, she encouraged my brothers and I to register when we were eighteen.
On the other hand, her unforgettable story brings pain and tears to my eyes. The thought of my patient, loving mother crossing a disgusting sewer makes me realize that nothing can be taken for granted. Her past is an eye opener for me because I no longer see the world as pink as I thought it was. I feel pain for not being able to understand my mother when she quietly cried and wanted a couple of minutes to herself. I have discovered the true reality that everyone thought was a simple conversation. I feel pain when I watch the news and hear people arguing that, “It was the immigrants decision to cross, there is no one to blame but themselves.” I feel shame for not being able to do anything about her citizenship. My mother has applied and still has not received her citizenship papers. Her case is open, but the process is long and tedious. I feel pain because I know the struggle that she went threw to come to the United States and still be rejected and looked upon as a burden.
I strongly believe that her past made me the person that I am today. I feel fortunate to have a strong motivation in my life, but on the other hand it was painful to know the truth. It was and still is hard to understand her strength. She is a wonderful mother and friend.