The first year attending elementary school in the United States, some students made me feel welcome, but others made fun of me although they were the same race as me. They laughed because I struggle learning and speaking my second language.

During recess I always sat by myself on the bottom of a tree throwing small rocks up in the air to be entertained as I watched the other students played basketball, soccer, and others just playing around with their friends.

“Puedo jugar?” I asked one of the students whom spoke Spanish.

“Si,” he replied.

I finally started to make new friends in my new school, and I was filled with euphoria.

Fourth Grade

Mr. Zavala, my fourth grade teacher, was very helpful, who taught me that I should always have confidence.

“Why don’t you do your work, Lorenzo?” he asked me once.

“Because I don’t understand anything you’re saying,” I said.

The next day, Mr. Zavala had another teacher in the class. During independent reading, she would teach me how to read word by word and how to pronounce them. At the end of everyday, I was assigned to read. All the reading helped me on my English.

“Lorenzo, you should always persevere, and not give up,” Mr. Zavala said.

His words impacted me, and caused me to keep on learning.

Fifth Grade

Christian, Jonathan, Wendy, Netzy, Leslie, Stephanie, and I used to play a game called “chamoy”. Today I still regret playing it because the referral went into my record.

“Why would you do such a thing!” the teacher yelled in my face. “You’re such a brilliant kid.”

I didn’t answer. I just kept myself quiet with my head down all the way to the counseling center thinking what would come next.

The counselor asked, “Why would you be touching girl’s behind? You know that the referral is going to go into your record, right?”

“Yes,” I lamented.

I was lucky I didn’t get suspended because the day this happened was during the days of district testing.

Sixth Grade

Every morning I arrived to my English class, sat on my desk, put my head down, and fall asleep because I started to hate school. All I heard was students asking questions and the teacher answering them.

“Lorenzo, wake up!” Mrs. Howell screamed on my ear.

“Aaahhh!” I complained.

“Do your work.”

“Am not going to do anything.”

When the grades were due, I had almost all D’s. I started to recognized  that grades were really matter for the future. At the second semester I improved my grades, and started to give school my priority.

Seventh Grade

On September 14, just after ten days of school started I broke my shoulder and crack part of my collarbone. I stay at Kaiser Hospital for three days because my arteries and muscles were severely damaged. I missed school for almost a month, and fell behind in my work.

Mrs. West forced me to write with my broken hand because I was able to move my wrist, but the doctors told me to not do any movement with my right hand. Mrs. West didn’t care, so I stopped doing my work for her class. One day she got mad, and sent me to the counseling center.

Eighth Grade

At the end middle school, student were dressed formal, the amphitheater was completely surrounded with balloons, and parents cheered for their child as they passed to received their certificate for completion of middle school. As the ceremony come to an end, the students went to find their parents to take pictures.

As I walked to the crowded aisles, I encountered with one of my seventh grade teachers.

“Congratulations,” Mr. Coon said.

“Thank You,” I responded with a smile.

“Are you ready for a bigger challenge?”

“Of course.”

“Do well in high school.”

“I will, Mr. Coon. Thanks for the advice.”

Mr. Coon advice was never forgotten because high school is very important, and then comes college.

Ninth and Tenth Grade

During ninth and tenth grade all went well, and were exactly the same. All I did was arrived home, eat, and come back to school for soccer practice. When soccer practice was over, I came back home to do my homework because high school was becoming very important to me.

Some days, I used to think that focusing on school too much was a waste of time because I wasn’t able to have fun. Therefore, on Fridays I didn’t do anything, but just have fun.

Eleventh Grade

I have just started the eleventh grade, and am having difficulties with my AP Biology class. I never do my homework, and wait until next day to get the answers from the teacher.. Sometimes I feel like giving up for this class, but that’s not going to happened.

The story “Boy Without a Flag” by Abraham Rodriguez, Jr. the narrator (Abraham) refused to salute the American flag because he was brainwashed by his fathers words,” All this country does is abuse Hispanic nations.” Abraham’s decision caused him to get punished by Mr. Rios. The flag meant almost nothing to the narrator because his belief towards the flag was worthless for him.

The story shows that teachers were disrespecting Abraham’s freedom because Mr. Rios was forcing him to salute the flag, and people have the right to remained silent without humiliating the Pledge of Allegiance. For example Mr. Rios said,” You should do what you’re told. I’m not playing no games with you, mister. You hear that music? That’s the anthem. Now you go stand over there and put your hand over your heart.”

During life people make right and wrong decisions. If I was  in Abraham’s position, I would have rose up, put my hand over my heart, and start singing along the Pledge of Allegiance with the other pupils. Because I really honor the U.S.A.; provides many opportunities for foreigners. Many advices could be given to people, but nobody can change their ways of thinking because is their responsibility if they want to change.

The narrator was not a good American because he said,” Because I’m Puerto Rican. I ain’t no American. And I’m no Yankee flag-weaver.” This shows that he didn’t had no respect for America. Abraham had an American Dream, but his father made it disappeared with his discouraging words,” You have to find something serious to do with your life.” He didn’t support Abraham because his parents sustained him from his achievements.

The story was a great example of someone’s freedom, where it was used in a wrong perspective, which made it a good story to learn a good lesson. What stood up the most in the story was when Abraham disapproved to salute the flag.

Being “Not Time Conscious” benefit beings because they can plan out things based on the seasons, but being “Very Time Conscious” is better because people don’t depend on a solar clock. “Not Time Conscious” can cause people to loose track of the time, and “Very Time Conscious” can provoke people to become lazy. The differing perspectives might have affected Europeans settlers and Native Americans because Europeans were more advance in technology. I recognize that being “Very Time Conscious” is superior because it’s more accessible to keep track of the right time.

“Cooperation” can benefit people because they work as a team to accomplish something. “Competition” is a benefit because you can try your hardest to take the throne from someone else. Being focused in “Cooperation” people would turn their backs to you due to your conceited manners. A Problem for being focused on “Competition”, you can forget about important things you have to do. The differing perspectives affected Europeans and Native Americans because they had different ways of thinking based on accomplishing something. My accordance would be with “Cooperation” because people should always convene to achieve what they want.

“Giving” is benefit because it shows that someone really cares about the world. “Saving” has an extraordinary benefit because you can invest in something important. The problem with “Giving” is crucial because when you’re trying to do something better for someone they sometimes forget about you. Sometimes when you save, you end up wasting what you have. These deferring perspectives affected Europeans settlers and Native Americans because Europeans preferred to save than to give. I agree with “Saving” because you can have savings for some special occasion.

Focusing on “Harmony with Nature” is a benefit because it’s an essential part of life, and we should not destroy it. “Conquest over Nature” is a benefit because people can build energy-production stations for a better way of living. The problem with focusing on “Harmony with Nature” is that there would never be harmony no matter how hard someone tries. A problem with “Conquest over Nature” would be that people would forget about land, plants, and animal life. These deferring perspectives affected Europeans settlers and Native Americans because they had different points of view about nature. In my opinion, i agree with “Harmony with Nature” because nature should not be abused.

America is always referred as “the land of dreams” because is absolutely abundant of opportunities for everyone. People migrate to America to have a better living and a fulfilling future; therefore, they can accomplish their dream. The basic reason they value America has been to be supported on their financial circumstances. Others come to escape political authority, and to get a better education. Panamanian singer, Giovana Guevana, recalled,” I was about to graduate…and I had a dream. My dream was telling me to come here, and I felt it. I felt that was the next step for me, and I just had to follow that gut, you know. I can’t really explain, but also one of the reasons, of course, was to pursue a music career, which is a lot of harder in Latin countries.” In 1999, Guevana came to the U.S.A to follow her dream; she accomplishes it and taught children.

My American Dream is not different from other Americans because each individual wants to pursue a career to become educated, and others just want to become famous in the artistic industry. My personal dream is to have a tremendous education; therefore, I can have an opportunity to study psychology or nursery. Consequently, my parent’s dream was to migrate to the land of dreams to furnish my education, life, and future.

I think the American Dream is accessible to everyone because you should never surrender until you get to the finish line. Many people have difficulty to accomplish their dream because of their citizen status, and their pursuing of their dream would just decline without hope to stand up anew to continue on. In my opinion, I think they should get on their feet and keep on fighting the war. Some dreams are troublesome to fulfill in other countries due to their government economic circumstances.

I believe the American Dream is still worth believing and pursuing because people should not stop until they reach their dream without barriers. To reach my American Dream, I have been taking education for granted, and getting outstanding grades. I think I will be able to reach my American Dream because I will remained optimistic until I get there.

To me, it is most important for society to be safe as possible because people should be protected to live peacefully without any violence. For example, there’s terrible violence around the world, where many innocent people get brutally harm or even killed. There was a case in Birmingham where a 17-year-old was shot hours after she had purchased an outfit for her first day of school.

I think we should be free to do whatever we want as long as we don’t damage or harm property and people, therefore, the world can have a content life. For example, you’re not going to committed a burglary or killed someone without having a cause.

I am not free to do whatever I wish because I can make a severe gaffe and be penalize. For example, I can end up in prison, a very harzardous venue, wher many people ger sexually abused and killed. Danny Trejo, a drug addict and criminal was in prison for 11 years and later recalled,” Juvenile hall, youth authorities…I was in a lot of trouble. I grew up like the characters I’ve been playing. But would I do things differently? I honestly believe that circumstances create destiny, almost. There weren’t too many ways I could have done things. The only things that were available to me were either be a labourer or be a drug dealer. So I became an armed robber. It was a lot of simpler.” This is a flawless example when people brake the law, which is not ok becuase they end up in prisons.

I think it is mos important to stand up for yourself to express what you believe because you can speak and give your oponion about what you think. For example, you can express your feelings about liberty and freedom.

          America is sometimes a violent country. There has been a time that America has attacked many innocent countries. For example, they dropped two atomic bombs in Japan, supposedly, to end the war. The atomic bombs killed many civilians including children that were like five to six years old or even younger. This type of violence can make other countries hate America.

          Some Americans are racist. In the past there was much racism against colored people, but in the present there are still racist groups such as the Ku Klux Klan or also known as the “KKK”. This group dislikes the immigrants. For example, there was the case of Martin Luther King JR. and Rosa Parks. This were two colored people that were victims of racism, but today they’re icons because they left there mark due to their fighting to gain equal rights for foreigners. This type of discrimination can cause people to become afraid of Americans.

            “Early in the morning on September 11, 2001, nineteen hijackers took control of four commercial airliners in route to San Francisco and Los Angeles”, said a news reporter. I still remembered the words he said as I was sitting down next to Mrs.Salinas, my third grade teacher. The news really impacted me because around 2,993 people died leaving something vety important behind, their families. All I can remembered about the attacks is planes colliding into the Twin Towers and the Pentagon, and people jumping off the towers.

            If was trapped on the World Trade Center, I would jump off because I wouldn’t have wanted myself to burned, therefore, my family could not have trouble identifying my corpe. There was people that were not able to identified their family member due to the ferocious flames burning their body without leaving no mark because everything turn to ashes. Automatically, I would have called my family, and have said,” If I don’t make it just remember that I love you all.” I would have said this because they were not going to see me again and would never hear my voice again after this day.