Im an American!

I must have been about 8 yrs old. I was waiting in the car with my older sister while my mom finished packing our lunch for school. My sister was talking about Mexico saying how she wanted to go but couldn’t. At the time I didn’t know why she couldn’t go to Mexico and come back legally.

When my mom got back in the car I asked my mom why they couldn’t go to their home country and come back without having to cross the border illegally. She explained the whole citizenship and racism thing to me but I was stupid at the time so I didn’t really understand what she meant. Finally my sister mad it all clear to me by saying “You’re a gringo Maury. You were born here so you’re an American can come back and forth.”

            That was the first time I was referred to as American. I was raised as a Mexican but I had grown up to be an American. I realized the meaning of the term “American” varies from culture to culture. In poverty stricken nations people want to be “American” so they can have the opportunity to live a wealthier life and provide their children with a better chance to succeed in life. People from better off nations come here to get the freedom that the constitution promises. But in the end, almost everyone migrate here to start a new life.

Conflicts between different groups have been a reoccurring theme in history since the beginning of time. Conflicts can be sparked by the tiniest insult towards another’s beliefs or preferences. The bad thing is that one person always starts the problem, the opposing sides of the argument both play a role in the fight and in most cases someone wins. Sometimes the arguments just end because the people realize that a huge fight isn’t worth the trouble. But in both instances, everyone gets affected by the results of conflict.

For example Abigail started the problems in Salem when she was caught doing witchcraft. When she was accusing everyone else it was her vs. the accused. But in the end both she and the people being persecuted all suffered from the incident. Many people lost their lives from persecution and Elizabeth had to flee because of the paranoia caused by her false claims.

john protor.. hero or stooge.

In my opinion John is the only hero in the whole play. There are a few others like Rebecca who are goo people but don’t really do any heroic acts. And then there are all those fools who take people’s lives based on ignorant beliefs and false statements. Those are the bad guys in this story, the people who live safely throughout the story without the fear of getting persecuted.

            Anyways, back to John. John did some wrong when he had his affair with Abigail but he’s a human, a young male human being. And at least he confesses his sin to his wife. That’s the only thing that matters, that he was semi-loyal to his wife. But the thing that really made him loyal was that he gave up his own life to prevent the “witch Hunt” from gaining more power and getting out of hand. He was a well respected man in town and if he were to plead guilty to witch-craft everyone would believe in it.

            He resisted being able to live with his wife for many years ahead and got himself hung. All for a good cause of course. Because he resisted he didn’t get his confession posted out in front of the church and he didn’t give his family a bad name. in the end he was loyal to his friends and his wife, that’s the only thing that mattered to him. That’s what made john a hero.