Sophs #5-- The American Dream
Your final journal assignment for the first quarter is an appropriate one. You've studied the early colonists and then the early Americans. Both groups of people had visions of the greatness of America. The Puritans envisioned a religious "city upon a hill" nurtured and protected by their God. America's founding fathers constituted a democratic republic that would encourage other governments throughout the world to also engage in a social contract with its citizens, ensuring a protection of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. America was created to be a model of government for the rest of the world.
A Frenchman, Guillaume Jean de Crèvecoeur, emigrated to the colonies in 1755. He married a American-born women, raised a family, and farmed in Orange County, NY. Life was going well until the Revolutionary War broke out. Unwilling to choose between the revolutionary and the Tory cause, de Crevecoeur fled to England, leaving his wife and children. When the war ended, he published a book in 1782, Letters From an American Farmer, adapting the pseudonym of an American farmer, James, and writing back in epistles to his brethren in England. The book told of the promise of the good life in America; it is one of the first written statements of the American Dream.
The notion of the American Dream (even today) represents a romanticized ideal of the hope and promise of America. For de Crevecoeur, the American Dream promised these new and exciting gifts to all who dared to call themselves, Americans:
1. America is an asylum, a refuge for Europe's poor and downtrodden
2. The American society is a melting pot of people from all over Europe
3. The American economy rewards the hard worker with a chance to get ahead.
4. The American is free to worship as he pleases, and religion demands little of him.
5. Americans are the western pilgrims, bringing the best of Europe to this new land, and making it better. Americans are looked upon as leaders of the world.
Throughout America's history, there is no doubt that the American Dream has been realized by millions of successful people. There is also little doubt that reality of America did not always live up to the Dream. Undoubtedly, millions of people experienced failures, too--nightmares, not dreams.
Look over the five aspects of deCrevecouer's Dream listed above. Write about how one of those ideas either rewarded OR failed an individual. Ideally, I'd like you to relate a personal story about a relative or someone you closely know. However, if you absolutely cannot think of someone, you are free to write about someone else. In that case, provide your information source at the end of your writing.
posted by JTF @ 7:54 PM
26 comments
26 Comments:
The aspect of the American Dream I am going to focus on is the American economy rewards the hard worker with a chance to get ahead, and how it reward individuals. This very idea has been drilled into my head by generations of family members. My mother’s family came to the United States during the Civil War. They were told that if they fought for the North, they could become citizens. Those people were so focused on making a new life for themselves and their children, they accepted the offer and worked hard their entire life. Even my grandparents are an example of this idea. My maternal grandfather was born at the beginning of the Great Depression, he worked hard his whole life and was rewarded by getting good jobs and the oppurtunity to meet President Nixon, he encourages me to work hard everyday so I can do even more than he did. My paternal grandmother was born in rural Montana town, she worked hard and now she writes articles for a boating magazine, she too encourages me by telling me to never let anyone tell me I can not do something.
My grandfather portrays deCrevecour’s American dream best in the sentence “the American economy rewards the hard worker with a chance to get ahead. My grandfather was one of ten children to my great grandfather who moved to America from Italy. My grandfather was very poor and they grew most of their food. Like many others my granddad did not want to stay poor instead he wanted to follow the American dream and
Become a successful man. My grandfather new that this would be difficult and would require a lot of hard work but America was the perfect place for his dream to grow. He went to school and worked hard to become a civil engineer. He worked hard as a civil engineer and the economy did treat him well, he no longer had to grow his own food or live day to day. He married and had three children that he supported very well and who he taught to work hard and be successful. My grandfather is probably the hardest worker I know, if something has to be done he will get it done. This attitude worked great with the American dream and I think his dream did come true.
According to a Frenchman, Guillaume Jean de Crèvecoeurde, the American Dream promised new and exciting gifts to all who dared to call themselves, Americans. One of the gifts, he stated, is that the American economy rewards the hard worker with a chance to get ahead. One person who demonstrated this idea was my grandmother, Sonia Wylock. She grew up in Belgium; her family worked hard but did not have much money. During World War II, Sonia met my grandfather, Zygmont Pines; they married. She came to the United States by boat and started a new life with her husband in Delaware, since they believed they would have a better lifestyle in America. Sonia knew very little English, and effectively learned the language. They opened their own business which was a small grocery store on the East Side of Wilmington. They worked long hours while raising three children. For many years, Sonia did not have the money or time to visit her family in Belgium. After years of operating the business, they became successful. Eventually, they were able to take vacations, buy nice things, and move into a pleasant home in the suburbs. They lived the middle class lifestyle and enjoyed the American dream.
deCrevecour's aspects of the American Dream are definitely things to think about and are definitely all true. However, the aspect that I am going to focus on is the idea that America is a melting pot or a salad bowl. This means that there many, many different people in America. There are different ethnicities, religions, origins, social classes, etc. This is just like a salad bowl, or a melting pot. There's on place, or bowl, that contains a vast mixture of different people, or foods. On my grandfather's side of the family comes a man by the name of Jacques Cartier, famous in history. He claimed what is now Canada for France. He also described and mapped the Gulf of St. Lawrence and the shores of the St. Lawrence River. He was orginally from France. He fled France in order to try to discover western passages to the wealthy markets of Asia. This shows that people from all over the world come to America for many different reasons. Some for religios purposes and others for a new life.
What I chose to talk about was DeCrevecour’s aspect of America #3 stating that The American economy rewards the hard worker with a chance to get ahead, well that actually isn't true because i have an uncle who moved to America because he heard that every one who comes here has a lot of money, but when he came here, every thing was going fine in the beginning. He received a green card then became a citizen and he decided to go to school and get his master's degree. He was in school for 5 years and came out with about $85,000 in loans, then he became a real estate agent for about 4 years after school, so he decided to go back to school again for about 4 years to get his doctorate's degree and after school he decided to own his own store and start a business. He still had loans but his credit didn't show any wounds so he received a loan to start his business and for about the first one and a half year his business flourish, he was "living the American Dream", and then all of a sudden this millennium around 2005 his business slowed down, he lost workers, he lost incoming money, customers etc, and the company slowed down and in 2006 things started looking like they were about to rise until this year when wall street started falling, he is facing foreclosure from the mortgage company, he lost his car in a hit and run and his house needs repairs, he needs money but all he seems to find these days is bad luck.
I guess there are lucky people on this earth and people who aren't so lucky but I really doubt that there is such a thing as "The American economy rewards the hard worker with a chance to get ahead", I just think that they help you but when you show the slightest hint of falling, they seize back all of what they gave you like it was for rent only.
The point I am using is the melting pot comparison to America. I have to say that I strongly disagree with that statement for a couple big reasons. For one a melting pot melts things together and once it does that then you probably can't tell what ingredients first went into the pot. Maybe some countries are like that but, America is highly unlike that. America in my point of view is more like a salad of many different ingredients. The reason I say that is because, a salad's different contents are clearly visible to the naked eye. America is very much like this because, for one you have many different races like: White, Black, Hispanic, Asian, and many more. Anyone can pick out a white person from a black one in a city or town, just like you could pick out lettuce from tomatoes in a salad. Also instead of just races you have many different cultures from all over the world. All of these cultures can be picked out fairly easily for one reason: When comparing a Christian family to a Jewish family you can clearly see that the two families celebrate different holidays dating back centuries ago for example: Christian families usually celebrate Christmas every year and usually go to a church. A Jewish family however usually celebrates Hanikah and usually goes to a synagogue. So as you can see it is fairly to pick apart the many different peoples of this nation. If America was a melting pot then everybody would be exactly the same in not only race but, culture as well.
Guillaume Jean de Crèvecoeur’s dream of “The American economy rewards the hard worker with a chance to get ahead” represents my grandfather. My grandfather Agnelo D’Mello came from India to America in hope to one day bring his whole family to America. When my grandfather first came to America he had a wife and three children that were still living in India at the time. In India he was a computer progammer. He owned his own business and was very famous and popular. He first got a job working for local company who dealt with computers and programming them. After years of working hard at that company he was promoted to vice-president. He was a vice-president for ten years and tragically the company had to close down due to some finacial problems. After working hard he was back to square one. After a year he started his own company. At first it was not that successful. After years of working hard and developing the company my grandfather finally got his first major breakthrough. His company was recongnized by another major company who needed computer programming assistance and that lead to more bigger and better business from others. After being in this coutry for twenty-one years my grandfather finally brought his family to America. In the beginnging after my grandfather had settled he first brought his son, my uncle Cliffton here. Then he brought his wife and finally brought my mother, father, brother and me. This shows to say that hard work has its own rewards. My grandfather worked hard for what he wanted and he had the chance of bringing his family to America.
A Frenchman named Guillaume Jean de Crevecoeur created a list of aspects for the American Dream. One of them is, “ The American Economy rewards the hard worker with a chance to get ahead”. This relates to my Grandfather on my dad’s side perfectly. He was “brought up” in a time were he had to heat his bath water on the stove. He didn’t find this an ideal lifestyle. He didn’t want to be on the low side of society, so the combination of hard work and persistence pushed him ahead. DeCrevecouer’s aspect number three is exemplified in my grandfather in the way that our economic system allows people to move up in social class. That is exactly what he did, went out god a good education, decent job and slowly crept his way up the status ladder. As he’s always told me, “ When I was young my hope was to grow up have a family and provide for my kids everything that I didn’t have”. If our economy back then was strict and didn’t allow people to move up in society, my grandfather wouldn’t be were he is today. DeCrevecouer’s list of aspects for the American Dream are absolutely true, and my grandfather is living breathing proof; that with hard work and dedication comes great reward.
America is known as a “melting pot”, sometimes a “salad bowl”, but it all says the same thing; we are a diverse country. I have an aunt married into my family from Spain. She has lived in the United States for over 40 years. She still has a very heavy accent and has taught her children, who have taught their children, to speak Spanish. My aunt lives in California where a very large portion of the population is Hispanic, and in my aunt’s neighborhood there are also a lot of Vietnamese families. I have a cousin married into the family that is from Mexico. I am descended from a mostly Italian heritage, but also German, English and a few others. There is no one that is strictly “American”. We come from all over the world. We all have different backgrounds and different beliefs and different whatever. But one thing is the same. We are all in the same pot. All of our ancestors came here for the same reasons and because of them America is the country it is today, for better or for worse.
The aspect/notion I would like to focus on is America as an Asylum. America is very well an asylum, being the home of millions and millions of immigrants. In fact, my great grandparents came over to America from Italy. Back then, coming over to America was seen as a relief, a new way to begin life. There were famines, persecutions, and many families were poor. To come to America was like being saved in all possible ways. America was seen as a ray of hope that began a new life. There were endless job opportunities, and many poor Europeans with big families thrived in America. Even today, America is a refuge and home to many, "Illegal Immigrants." Although they didn’t get the same warm welcome our ancestors did, they still view it as a place to start over and possibly thrive in ways they couldn’t back home. And that is what is amazing about America. It is a place where you can come to forget the past, and work to improve your future. So deCrevecour's portrayal was of America was very much as true as it is today as it was then. America was, and most likely will always be that asylum that many will find hope in.
I believe that my Grandmother was strongly rewarded by two of these ideas. They are that America is a melting pot of people from all over Europe, and that the American economy rewards the hard worker with a chance to get ahead. My Grandmother was from a little town in Austria and moved to America to pursue her dreams. She was Austrian Figure skating champion, and when she moved to America, she got jobs skating in shows. Many Europeans were just like my Grandmother, and moved to America to pursue their dreams. At times things were very rough for her, because she didn’t speak any English, and skating in shows didn’t make all that much money. But she said it was one of the best times in her life. Most people in America are accepting of immigrants from Europe, and will try to help them out. She picked up English fairly quick, being that she had taken a few courses of it in school, and soon met my grandfather. They got married and had my mom and uncle. At this time my grandmother stopped skating in shows, and got various jobs coaching figure skating. She was very dedicated to her students, and worked very hard at what she did. She got the money she deserved because of the American economy. My grandmother is one of many immigrants from Europe that was rewarded by coming to America. I think that she really achieved the American dream by working hard, and it paid off.
One of the aspects that Crevecouer’s Dream discussed was, The American economy rewards the hard worker with a chance to go ahead. This aspect relates to those who work hard in life and get something for it in the end. I couldn’t really find a personal story from someone in my family that would relate to this exactly, but I first thought of my cousin when I heard it. My cousin is a softball and volleyball coach for Archmere. She is an amazing coach and is recognized a lot for her coaching abilities. She had to do a lot of hard work before she got to where she is today. She had to work hard learning how to play the sport and earning her way onto teams to play. She had to work hard everyday to achieve how well she can play. She then started to help others when she was older to learn to play the sport as she started coaching. She has coached for many years. Each year she has gotten better at coaching her teams, and taking them far even to championships. She has helped me before with softball. She is very helpful and knows what needs to be done. After doing all that hard to work to get where she is today, she is now in newspapers and known by a lot of people as a very good coach, and she has been awarded for her coaching abilities.
My grandmother came over to America in 1945, the end of World War II. She came from Scotland and soon became accustomed to America’s “melting pot”, one of
deCrevecouer's five aspects of the American Dream. When she arrived in America, she had to assimilate herself with the culture of America and get used too many things that were different from her homeland. Being a native Scotsman, she had no problems being socially accepted into America’s culture. If she had been German or Japanese though society might not have been as accepting since World War II was just coming to a close. She moved to New Orleans and lived on a Navy base with my grandfather. One of the first things she had to get used to was the weather of America, which was quite different from that of Scotland, where it rains almost every day and is cold. On the Navy base, she began her first real interactions of other ethnic groups that were on the base, bringing to mind the whole melting pot idea. She also had to get used to the fact that America, at this time, was much more spread out and she would have to drive to get places, like the store, where back at home, everything was close and she could walk everywhere. In Scotland, there was no mix of race as in America. Although she became part of the American melting pot, she was still proud of her Scottish heritage and customs and even joined groups like the Daughters of the British Empire and attended the Scottish Games regularly. In all, grandmother adapted well to American culture and indeed became part of deCrevecouer’s Great American Melting Pot. I never met my grandmother, for she died before I was born, but I know she was a wonderful woman, happy to be part of the American Dream with my grandfather, but also proud of her heritage.
If it weren't for deCrevecour’s American dream, my family wouldn't be living in this great country. Mr. deCrevecour's dream of creating a melting pot is a reality for my family. My father's grandfather, William Czachorowski, was born and raised in Poland. He had a rough childhood and life. He was poor and had very little. His family struggled to get by. When he grew up, he decided to make a change. William came to America searching for many things. One of those things was a job. Another was a chance to start over. Lastly, he was in search of the meaning of life. He wanted to make something of himself. My family always referred to him as an "adventurous son-of-a-gun". When great grandpa William got here, he was blown away. I wasn't around to see or remember this, but he did what many other foreigners did at the time. My great grandfather William Czachorowski signed his name in the book of all immigrants that came over. This book is located in Ellis Island and is now a major historical touring site. I have visited there in the past but I unfortunately didn’t get to see my great grandfather’s signature. My ancestors are just some of many who came to America from different countries. One of America's greatest features is that it has so many different types of people from different parts of the world. Our diversity is what makes this great country of America such a wonderful place to live in.
The aspect of the American Dream I am going to focus on is the American economy rewards the hard worker with a chance to get ahead, and how it rewards individuals. the example i am going to use to show how the economy does this is my grandmother. when my grnadmother was my age, she worked at Arby's. she would work there over the summer and then stop during the year to gop to school. when she first started working there all she could do was wipe down the tables and change the trash cans. but as she kept coming back every summer she was able to do more and more in the store. she was able to work the cash register, the frier and she was able to make the sandwhiches eventually. and after four summers of working at the same Arby's store, she was promoted to manager. this shows that if you work hard ad never stop trying that you will be rewarded. this is a smalll example of how the economy rewards hard workers but i think that it explains it well. it shows that no matter who you are, if you try hard you will be rewarded no matter what.
Frenchman, Guillaume Jean de Crevecoeur, believed that the American economy rewards that hard worker with a chance to get ahead. His point is correct. If you work hard for your goal then you will achieve it. And in this process of working hard you will ultimately move up in life. My Grandparents worked hard for their children and taught their children to be hard workers. My dad is one of eight, he has four sisters and three brothers. Each one of them is successful because of what my grandparents taught them. They all were raised on a farm so they each had daily chores that they had to do. They survived and made their money by working on the farm. Each one of them had different traits that helped the farm strive. The one thing they all have in common is working hard for their money and knowing how valuable it is. My grandparents were great role models who showed that if you work hard you will gain things, even if it is just a family farm, which is still around today, it was their way of life.
DeCrevecouer's aspect "The American economy rewards the hard worker with a chance to get ahead," is a very true one. I feel this aspect best pertains to my father, Richard Truskolawski. My father has been working since he was a young boy, at age 19 he began working at the Hercules building in Wilmington. He first started out as a janitor, sweeping and dusting each floor. He began working his way to the top and has now been an employee for the company for almost 30 years now. He is now the manager of the building, and a very well respected man. He works very hard to support our family and does a very good job at it. He has been rewarded for his hard work with promotions from a janitor to a respected manager and everything in between, not to mention a nice house and a family. It took him many years to get to the position he is in now, but it was worth it. I am reminded everyday of how good I have it, and I am very thankful for it and it is all because of my dad. My dad took every chance he could to get ahead and it has helped him very much. If it wasn’t for his determination and hard work, he may not be where he is today. I respect my dad very much for his determination and skill, and he shows me that DeCrevecouer’s third aspect is a very true one.
2. The American society is a melting pot of people from all over Europe
My background is very diverse, which truely shoes that America is a melting pot. On my mom's side, there is a mixture of French and Irish. One of my great-grandmothers, my mommom's mom, came here from Ireland with her husband. My other great-grandmother, my poppop's mom, came to America from France. She met and married another French man here in the US. On my dad's side, there is also great diversity. My great-grandmother and great-grandfather, my grandmother's parents, met in England. My great-grandmother was from Germany and my great-grandfather was from London. My great-grandmother and great-grandfather, my grandfather's parents, met here in America. They both came here from Italy. My family is very diverse, and I come from many different countries. This shows that America is a melting pot for many different people and countries to come together as one.
Out of the five aspects of deCrevecouer's Dream, I am reviewing the idea that the American economy rewards the hard worker with a chance to get ahead. Though I believe this isn’t necessarily true in all cases, it turned out as a success for my father. My dad grew up with many disadvantages in his life, as a child his family was very poor financially, his dad was an alcoholic, and because he was one of seven children, he did not always get what he needed. He could have easily ended up a failure, but instead he worked hard in school and at other things to open doors for himself. He did amazingly on a number of state tests and with his grades; this got him in to Rutgers. He decided to take the bar exam, though he did not have the money to pay for any special classes to help prep him, he studied hard resulting in the best score in the state. My dad than joined a law firm and gained some personal experience, than he started his own law firm for personal injury. He has won some amazing mount-practice suits and now has the life he could have hoped for; his dream became reality because of hard work.
“America is an asylum; a refuge for Europe’s poor and downtrodden.” I know this to be true for a few of my relatives from Poland. These relatives are Jewish and were persecuted and kept in concentration camps during the Second World War because of their religious beliefs. They were branded like cattle and many of their family members were killed. They somehow managed to escape this imprisonment. They then fled to America for refuge from this persecution and for a new start. They settled in Chester, PA, and my family has lived in this area ever since. Free from religious persecution, they were free to continue their lives the way they wished in America. They soon had a business in Philadelphia that was successful. They lived the American dream. They had all the religious freedom they wanted and also made a business in the promising American economy. This is an example I know of how Europeans came to America for refuge.
de Crevecoeur's views on the American Dream happen to be very accurate. I am going to focus on the aspect of the American economy rewards the hard worker with a chance to get ahead. I had a neighbor a while back who came all the way from the Philippines when she was a kid. She didn't have much money and needed to pay off the mortgage on her house and take care of 3 kids by herself, while having to work on her degree. She was working 2 jobs; one at the grocery store and the other as a part-time maid. She started off as just a cashier and worked all the way up to being a manager for the store. She eventually finished her degree and got a job as a pharmacy technician. Her hard work got her through the tough times and brought on the good times. Now she is a full time pharmacist at Christiana Care. She paid the last mortgage on her house only 20 years after she first purchased the house. That’s a good 10 years ahead of the average. This proves de Crevecoeur's “American Dream” of the “American economy rewards the hard worker with a chance to get ahead.” I never really thought of that woman as realizing the American Dream until it was introduced to me.
The aspect of the American Dream I'm going to focus on is how the American economy rewards the hard worker with a chance to get ahead, and how it rewards individuals. I believe America is the greatest country because of this aspect. The capitalist society with a free-market economy of America differentiates itself from all the other countries. My father, the man I respect most, has used the oppurtunities of America to his advantages. My grandfather, who started the family business which is now today Doherty Funeral Homes, took a lot of risk. He set up his business near Hockessin, an area at his time that was not fully developed yet. My grandfather was hoping that the area was going to develop and become populated. He took a big risk, and fortunately it worked out to his benefit. My father, being the only male out of 7 children, was given the business when my grandfather retired. My dad has worked very hard at running, owning, and taking care of the business. My father is a very successful man because of the risks that he has taken and the hard work that he puts into his profession. America has rewarded my father for being a smart small-business owner, giving him the oppurtunity to be as successful as he is; yet, I feel that the government has also failed my father and many other Americans. With the government like it is, my father pays a lot of income tax,federal taxes, and state taxes. My father has to pay a lot of tax dollars and gets punished for being successful? The government punishes those people who are successful and reward those who are not motivated or are not hard-working. America keeps taxing my father, taking his money that he earned and does whatever they want with it. To me, that is unjust, especially when there is people who get tax cuts and recieve their stimulus checks who don't even work or pay taxes. America has provided the Doherty family, whether it be my grandfather or my father, with more than enough oppurtunities to be successful; I just feel that it has failed America as a country in a way.
My great grandfather Angelo Citro came over to America from Italy when he was just about 18 years old. He didn’t like his job there and knew that in America the economy was much better and hard workers were rewarded much more than they were in Italy. Also he knew that he’d have a better chance of being able to start his own company, which was something he had always dreamed of. As soon as he got here, even though he didn’t realize, his dream was already in the process of becoming a reality. He fell in love with a young widower whom he married and had twelve children with. Thanks to his many sons his dream became a reality when he founded the company Angelo Citro and Sons. This company proved to be a huge success for him, especially since he had six sons to help him start the company and work for him. Eventually they moved on to do whatever job they wanted to do and my great grandfather became too old to continue working, but he was satisfied that he had accomplished his life goal. He had a wonderful life and was so incredibly glad that he chose to move to America and live the American Dream.
2. The American society is a melting pot of people from all over Europe.
The American Dream aspect that relates to my family is “The American society is a melting pot of people from all over Europe.” My mother’s grandparents came over to America from Italy and Poland. My father’s grandparents both came from Ireland. My mother’s grandparents wanted to come over to America to escape war and have better opportunities for a better life. They brought their traditions and customs to America and passed it down to their children to keep the Italian culture alive in their lives. Today we still are influenced with the foods we eat and the family traditions that were started long ago with my mother’s grandparents. My mother’s grandparents that came from Poland wanted to better their lives and escape the war. My mother lived with many polish cultures in her household and still live out that way today. At birthday parties we sing the Polish happy birthday and celebrate with many polish foods. My father’s grandparents came over from Ireland to better their lives and escape the food famine happening in Ireland. Also they wanted to find work and escape persecution. My father’s grandparents arrived at Elis Island with anticipation to start a new life. They also brought their cultures to America in many ways. As a child, my father learned the Irish way of living and an Irish religious life style. Today my father’s side of the family is influenced with the customs brought over from Ireland. Many of our foods at our family functions are Irish foods.
In 1782, Frenchman Guillaume Jean de Crevecoeur published a book with his ideas of the promised good life in America, which became the notion known as the American Dream. One aspect of de Crevecouer’s American Dream is that “The American economy rewards the hard worker with a chance to get ahead.” An example of someone who rewards from the economy because of hard work is an entrepreneur, or a risk-taker who has the skills and initiative to establish a business. My parents own their own executive recruiting business, called McCormick Executive Search. However, it took a lot of hard work for them to create. After college, my mom spent seven years working for a separate recruiting business. She started out as your average young worker in Corporate America, which played a very important part in her decision to start her own business. By doing that, she gained the experience, knowledge, and skill needed to branch out by herself. Because she worked so hard at the beginning of her career, she was able to have to the chance to get ahead and work for herself, and then soon alongside my dad. This is one example of how the American Dream worked for a successful person.
I think a great topic to write about; especially in today’s society is “The American economy rewards the hard worker with a chance to get ahead.” Every day, week, month, and year we hear about more and more Hispanics, and people of foreign ethnicities are crossing borders and sneaking into America in hope of finding a better life for themselves and their families. I can relate extremely well to this situation due to the fact that my friend Victoria’s father is from Honduras. Mr. Lopez snuck into the United States when he was 19 years old with one of his friends, hoping to find a job so that he could send money back home to his mom and his sister in Honduras. Mr. Lopez said that he searched everywhere for a job, but nobody would hire him because of his lack of education and “missing” citizenship records. He shifted from homeless shelter to homeless shelter for an entire year forcing him to learn English all by himself, until finally he got a job as a janitor in a law firm that paid minimum wage and under the table. One day, while cleaning, Mr. Lopez began in a conversation with a lawyer that was present at the firm, and helped the man out with a problem that he was having with the records on his computer. After 2 years in the United States, Mr. Lopez applied for citizenship to the U.S. He said that it took a year and a half, but after answering every question right on the citizenship test, Mr. Lopez was granted citizenship. The first thing Mr. Lopez did when he earned his citizenship was head out in search of collages. With no records of SAT scores or any grades, Mr. Lopez had a hard time filling out applications. Mr. Lopez then decided to take an SAT prep course at a local tutoring facility, and come the next time SAT’s were given, he was able to take them. Mr. Lopez answered only 5 questions incorrect on his test, and was granted a half scholarship to Yale University. The other half of tuition came from another scholarship given to him by the law firm he did janitorial work for. Mr. Lopez graduated Yale in the top 10 of his class, and went on to become a lawyer. He now lives in New York with his family, and every year I am able to go visit for a long weekend over Christmas break. It is true, in America you can perspire to be anything in the entire world, all you have to have is faith, and be willing to do all that is necessary to reach your goal.
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