June 10, 2007,
This is the day I relinquished my selfishness in order to serve a greater purpose.
This is the day I will give something that money cannot buy.
This is the day I sacrificed a portion of my life to fight for the beliefs of others.
This is the day I started to look ahead rather than the ground that I walked.
This is the day I will learn more about what it means to be 'free'.
This is the day I started my steps to become a United States Marine.
I will never forget this day for the rest of my life and the reasons for it. Yet, it is the same reasons why I felt like all the things above have gone to waste. When I stood on those yellow footprints where many have stood before me, I knew right there and then I was going to do something great with my life.
You see, I was not born in this country (United States of America) let alone knew it existed. I was born in Barangay Cabudian in the Philippines where we had no electricity, running water, or stable shelters. Where community mattered more than money. A village of laborers earning close to $0.50 for a days worth of work. That's right, I come from a third world country where we do everything to the best that we could and have a keen understanding of what it means to have nothing. We do everything to survive from starvation, diseases, natural disasters, politics and those who wish to disrupt our ways of our life.
So to start, I would like to describe how we lived.
This is the day I relinquished my selfishness in order to serve a greater purpose.
This is the day I will give something that money cannot buy.
This is the day I sacrificed a portion of my life to fight for the beliefs of others.
This is the day I started to look ahead rather than the ground that I walked.
This is the day I will learn more about what it means to be 'free'.
This is the day I started my steps to become a United States Marine.
I will never forget this day for the rest of my life and the reasons for it. Yet, it is the same reasons why I felt like all the things above have gone to waste. When I stood on those yellow footprints where many have stood before me, I knew right there and then I was going to do something great with my life.
You see, I was not born in this country (United States of America) let alone knew it existed. I was born in Barangay Cabudian in the Philippines where we had no electricity, running water, or stable shelters. Where community mattered more than money. A village of laborers earning close to $0.50 for a days worth of work. That's right, I come from a third world country where we do everything to the best that we could and have a keen understanding of what it means to have nothing. We do everything to survive from starvation, diseases, natural disasters, politics and those who wish to disrupt our ways of our life.
So to start, I would like to describe how we lived.
Our shelters are made of bamboos, cheap ropes, coconut leaves and could be transported by able bodies. Our food are grown on the land that we live on, nurtured with parental care as if they were our children. Our entertainment systems are the open fields, a radio and the farm stories of random events by others around our community. Yes, this is what you have as someone who lives in a third world country. Do I resent of being born into this life? NO, because I learned to be more understanding of people's situation rather than judgmental of things I do not know.
So what does talking about my past have to do with this blog? My past has a lot to do with this blog, as you can tell I was not born in a rich family or live a perfect life. My family struggled from the beginning and only until coming to the United States of America did things started to change. I'm not saying that my life became perfect, rather my life has gotten a little easier. You could work for more than $0.50 a day and you learn the value of a dollar to how hard you work. The system of living had changed, money took over time and work had taken over community. I was still a kid, but I can already tell how the United States of America functioned. Remember, I had only learned about the USA after moving. I knew I wanted to get in on the action and be "American". I wanted to be proud.
So to speed up the process, I'm going to skip all of my beginning education history and go straight to my junior year of High School.
So what does talking about my past have to do with this blog? My past has a lot to do with this blog, as you can tell I was not born in a rich family or live a perfect life. My family struggled from the beginning and only until coming to the United States of America did things started to change. I'm not saying that my life became perfect, rather my life has gotten a little easier. You could work for more than $0.50 a day and you learn the value of a dollar to how hard you work. The system of living had changed, money took over time and work had taken over community. I was still a kid, but I can already tell how the United States of America functioned. Remember, I had only learned about the USA after moving. I knew I wanted to get in on the action and be "American". I wanted to be proud.
So to speed up the process, I'm going to skip all of my beginning education history and go straight to my junior year of High School.
As many people close to me may know, (not including my dad, sorry dad if you're reading this). I was not always a good child, meaning I did some bad things that a lot of people even my close friends didn't know. I drank, smoked, and also had an incident in school where I almost got expelled and had my teacher leave school because of an incident (again sorry dad). Yes, I was not a perfect child if you did not know about this yet. Then things started to change for me during my junior year of High school.
The United States Marine Corps recruiters came into my school for their yearly pull up competition event. Of course I didn't participate I just wanted to watch and listen. I wasn't interested at first about joining the Military until everything in my life started to cave in, I had to figure out what to do after high school and I had to figure out how to better myself as a person. In addition, I didn't want my dad to still be stressed about feeding another mouth by himself after raising 3 kids on his own. These were things that were going on in my mind, I had to make a quick choice, I only had 1 year left. So, I signed up for the military.
Of course that's just half of the story. Out of anything, I wanted to return something back to this great Nation that has become my home. I mean, I did say I wanted to be American, what's the better way to do it. Also, It wasn't even the 9/11 incident that pushed me to think about the military, because, when you were a middle school kid, that wasn't what you were worried most about. Of course, you hear the adults talk about it and how bad it was, but you had homework and you had a teen life. I just wanted to do something to get somewhere in my life and to do a service for others.
Of course that's just half of the story. Out of anything, I wanted to return something back to this great Nation that has become my home. I mean, I did say I wanted to be American, what's the better way to do it. Also, It wasn't even the 9/11 incident that pushed me to think about the military, because, when you were a middle school kid, that wasn't what you were worried most about. Of course, you hear the adults talk about it and how bad it was, but you had homework and you had a teen life. I just wanted to do something to get somewhere in my life and to do a service for others.
Now, I question everything I've done in the military and why I joined. Have I done a good service for this great nation? Am I truly American? Has things changed? I mean, this is my home, the land that I served, and yet, I feel deep down as if, it wasn't... worth... it.
When you came from where I came from and to move to a place that you wanted to do your best to protect, that's where it hits deep. America... has changed from my childhood. The America that I used to dream about has been split apart, torn asunder, and has slowly started to disappear. I see more people who judge rather than try to understand, blame more than help, fight more than create peace, greed more than equality, and speak rather than listen. Yes, we are individuals in this great nation and we have something called "Freedom".
When you came from where I came from and to move to a place that you wanted to do your best to protect, that's where it hits deep. America... has changed from my childhood. The America that I used to dream about has been split apart, torn asunder, and has slowly started to disappear. I see more people who judge rather than try to understand, blame more than help, fight more than create peace, greed more than equality, and speak rather than listen. Yes, we are individuals in this great nation and we have something called "Freedom".
Do I know what it freedom is? I've know what freedom meant after 4 years of not having any, I've known what freedom meant when I came to America, and I've known what freedom meant when I had a choice in life. Yet, people take freedom for granted.
NOTHING IS GOING TO GET FIXED! If, we don't stand together and solve the problem together. NOTHING IS GOING TO GET FIXED! If, we continue to blame others more than try to solve it ourselves. NOTHING IS GOING TO GET FIXED! If, we just accept everything without questioning. I mean for heaven sakes we are AMERICANS!
I apologize for making it seem like I'm shouting at you from the screen. I'm just tired and I know you might be too. I just want that day to mean something, the day when I walked through those doors and believe in something more. An America that can move forward through anything if the people are willing. We are divided as a whole, each having a piece of one pie and the other not liking what is serve. So why not find one that we can all share and appreciate. This is the America I want for our future generation, an already great America that is even better.
Thank you for reading, as usual, you are just another random person online who can also make a difference.
NOTHING IS GOING TO GET FIXED! If, we don't stand together and solve the problem together. NOTHING IS GOING TO GET FIXED! If, we continue to blame others more than try to solve it ourselves. NOTHING IS GOING TO GET FIXED! If, we just accept everything without questioning. I mean for heaven sakes we are AMERICANS!
I apologize for making it seem like I'm shouting at you from the screen. I'm just tired and I know you might be too. I just want that day to mean something, the day when I walked through those doors and believe in something more. An America that can move forward through anything if the people are willing. We are divided as a whole, each having a piece of one pie and the other not liking what is serve. So why not find one that we can all share and appreciate. This is the America I want for our future generation, an already great America that is even better.
Thank you for reading, as usual, you are just another random person online who can also make a difference.