I wanted to give you a little background on my motivation to create this blog. It started when my 7 year old son and I where having a conversation while on a family vacation in New York City.
We were walking around town just talking about all the people on the streets and how everyone was talking in different languages.
I could sense he was intrigued by this and asked me where did all these people come from? As we were rushing through the crowd I just quickly explained to him that these people came from all over the world. A brief explanation was fine as the day before we had been to the Statue of Liberty and we already had spoken about how people from all over the world leave their country to come live in the United States.
A very matter of fact conversation between a father and a son and then he asked:
" Daddy - Do you remember the day you came from Nicaragua?"
I must confess, I have not answered his question. Why? I don't know? But I will and I do know that the search for the answer is the motivation for this blog.
Today, the topic of immigration if such a galvanizing issue in America. It does not matter if you are an illegal immigrant or if you have gone through the process to come to America legally. The day you arrived in America, is the same for all....the begining of your journey.
Here is the story of mine:
My journey began on Saturday, March 27, 1982. It had only been a month since my 13th birthday. It was a sunny day in Managua, Nicaragua and I remember being excited that our family (mom, dad and my two younger brothers) was going to Florida on vacation.
It was suppossed to be just a for a week! My grandparents, my aunts and cousins were all at the airport to wish us farewell. There was lost of crying and excitment and I thought - We are coming back next week so why all the crying?
I did not understand then, but my parents knew what was about to happen as they made the most courageous decision of their life. My parents made a good living in Nicaragua and gave us a great life, but life was not easy then. We had endured some very difficult times since the Sandinista Revolution in 1979 and like most parents...they wanted a better future for us.
Even it if meant leaving it ALL behind. A brand new beginning, full of uncertainty and doubt, but with the hope that in America they could give their children a better life.
We arrived at Miami International Airport and I remember the crowd, the lights and how clean everything was. A college friend of my father was waiting for us to pick up us and take us to his home in Davie, Florida.
Not having any clue which direction we were heading all I remember was how many cars where on the road and all the billboards. I could not read most of them as I did not speak any English (only my father spoke English) but I do remember being able to recognize the McDonalds sign.
This was my first of many trips on I-95. We arrived at the house were we would be staying for our "vacation" and the thing I remember the most was that there were so many people there to greet us. It was like a big welcome party to celebrate our arrival.
At 13 years old, I did not get to grasp the meaning of that day, however, for my parents it must have been such a scary moment. I am lucky that my parents are still alive and I thank them for all their sacrifies they have made these last 25 years. I am most greatful for the courage they had to bring us to America in search for a better life.
Today, I am living the American dream.
2 comments:
This is your loving brother, Henry. I don't remember it being like a sort of vacation, in any case, it is the most courageous decision I have ever witnessed, for our parents to drop everything, for us, for the dream of a greater future for their children, the noblest of pilgrimages; that is a tangible and exquisite demonstration of an unrelenting and powerful love that our parents have for us, we are lucky.
It is only after I became an adult that I realized this, how difficult it is to change your life in such a dramatic way, I can only imagine.
Hey Pablo, this is your cousin Roberto. What a lot of people don't realize about sacrifices immigrants make just to make a better living for them and their children is that they sometimes make the ultimate sacrifice, a lot of them die, a lot of them let go of their kids for good. You guys were fortunate enough to come to America with your parents, but not all of us had the same fortune. Could you imagine what it would feel to let go of your kids and send them to live somewhere far? Not knowing if you would ever see them again? Knowing you won't be there to console them when they feel sick or sad? That must be the toughest of feelings and I think my mom for the most part was very courages about letting me go. I don't even have the heart to move to the other side of the city just to not be far away from my kids, I can't even begin to imagine what it would be being in another state, much less another country!
Like a comedian once said, people bash us immigrants, but what they don't realize, is that to a point, we are more American than a lot of Americans born in this country. Many of us betrayed a country to be American, how many "true" Americans can say that? Lots of illegal and legal immigrants (non-citizens) volunteer to join the armed forces nowadays and are at the front lines of battles in the wars America is involved in. Recently I read an article where President Bush was in a citizenship ceremony where he presented certificates of citizenship to the families of soldiers that had died serving this country, they died for a country that wasn't theirs, but a country they loved and appreciated all it had to offer!
I remember the day I came to America, although in my case if you remember, it happened a couple of times. First in 1982 when I joined you guys shortly after you guys arrived to Florida, but left a couple of years later to live in El Salvador with my dad. While there I became a teenager, made a bunch of great friends that to this day, are my friends and get together with them every now and then. When I got back here on December 7th, 1987, I left a girl back in El Salvador I was crazy for, and who confessed her love for me the day before I came here. I also left a bunch of friends, and good times. I didn't know what I was coming to. I suffered a lot to be honest my first year or so. But it became a little easier after that, and today, I realize that it was the right thing to do to stay here.
People bash all illegal immigrants and say that they should come to this country legally. I tried doing it that way. They have no idea what it is to be dropped off at 1 in the afternoon on a Sunday afternoon in front of the Immigration building in Miami, just to get a work permit, just so that you can get in to the building at 9am Monday! (Yes, I had to sleep in the street Sunday night), and this wasn't in the best part of town in Miami, just for them to tell me that I had to return again, no wonder people come here illegally, and they get fake papers, the system has to be fixed if they want illegal immigration to stop. Plus, I have to add a little more bashing to the immigrant haters:
Remember, the majority of the 9/11 hijackers came in through Canada, not Mexico, but I have yet to hear any efforts about putting up a fence along the Canadian border to prevent terrorists from coming in. So is it security they are really after, or us people from south of the border just don't look as white as our neighbors up north? Something to think about. Happy Holidays to you and your family and hope to see you soon!
Roberto
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