I have been reading a book about Mexicans that live along the border with The United States, near San Francisco. All of these people live in a garbage dump and search around for the essentials to survive. The story is told through an American citizen (about college aged) that goes down to Mexico to help out.
The author portrays this to be a real sob story, and how nobody is at fault for the situation that all of these people are in. All of these families that live in this dump are very poor obviously, yet all of these families are very large anywhere from 6- 10 kids, and some of the children (the average age is about 15 years old) even have their own children. I ask why, if these families are so poor, why they continue to have children that they can't feed without assistance. And it isn't like all of the families ever lived comfortably and had a lot of children in that time, and just ran into some hard times. These families have been stuck in poverty for generations, yet they have families that are so large, that the parents can't feed them.
It angers me that people get themselves stuck in this rut, and when they realize that there is nobody to blame but themselves, they start crying about it and don't do anything. One family (who had just had yet another child) father can't find work in the field that he WANTS. Beggars can't be choosers, as the saying goes. This man now stays at home, watching the mouths that he can't feed because he doesn't WANT to work in the jobs that are available. He needs to get to work, doing whatever jobs come by, to try and make life better for his family.
People no longer seem like they want to work for anything anymore. They want to (and do) take the easy path and have everything they have handed to them. In this book, all of the people in the dump live off handouts given to them by hard working people. The author says "how Mexican people are reluctant to accept handouts" That line really confused me. These people wouldn't need to accept handouts if they worked at what they needed.
Another thing that came up in this book was that several families were going to illegally cross the border into The United States. The man helping the poor families was a native to the region, but lived in the United States. The man did not attempt to stop them from going to the country that he presently lived in from becoming leeches on it.
This man had strong feelings for Mexico, and thought of it as a better place than The United States. While his family is from Mexico, and you should love the country that you are from, your loyalties need to stand firmly planted in one place, and you need to pick and choose carefully what that page is. This man lives in The United States, and uses the resources that it has to offer. If he likes Mexico so much, why doesn't he just move back?
The horrible living conditions in the area that this man is from can make some think twice about saying things like I said above. It is sad to hear about these kinds of situations, especially the ones that can't be helped by the people in it. The author of this book's father (who was born in Mexico, but moved to The United States and became a citizen here) was traveling back to Mexico. When he lost control of his car (or the corrupt police pushed him off the road, I am unclear exactly as to what happened exactly) he drove off the side of the road and into a town, where the locals searched him and his car for anything valuable. He was knocked out because of the crash, and it took a very long time for his family to track him down. By the time that they got him to a hospital, he was in very bad condition. To add to the problem, the hospital was not equipped to handle his injuries and he died. The line is very blurred when it comes to things like this, but the needs of others can't be put before the needs of our own.
It is sad think that these things happen, but people need to make up their minds when it comes to these things. Like I said above, loyalties need to stand in one place, and in one place only. As the saying goes "If you sit on the fence, you get poked in the ass"
Thursday, January 26, 2012
Tuesday, January 10, 2012
Milkweed Jerry Spinelli
I just started reading Milkweed by Jerry Spinelli. It is about a boy named Misha who is an orphan gypsy boy living in Warsaw in 1939. He is found by a boy named Uri, who takes him to live with some of his friends (all teenage boys) in the basement of an abandoned barber shop. Misha knows nothing of his past, and until Uri named him Misha, he went by names that people yelled at him. An example of one is "stopthief"
The boys steal everything they own. All of their food, cigarettes, and other possessions are stolen from people on the street. The boys do not waste what they steal, and don't hurt anybody while they do it. All is well, even though the Nazis begin to shell Warsaw. Soon they have invaded the city.
For a few weeks after the invasion, all remains the same. Misha looks up to the Nazis ("Jackboots" as they are called in the book) because they give away bread to people. Misha also makes a friend in this time, named Janina. Around this time, food starts to become scarce, and the boys no longer live as comfortably as they did before.
Eventually, the Nazis begin moving people into a ghetto. Since Janina's family is Jewish, they get moved into the ghetto. Many of the boys that Misha lives with are Jewish, so the boys all move into the ghetto as well. They find that conditions are far worse in the ghetto then they were outside. The boys all sleep under a large blanket, and they no longer have a roof over their heads. Misha (being very small) can squeeze through a small hole in the brick wall constructed around the ghetto. He goes out into Warsaw to get his hands on whatever food he can find, and brings it back to all of the boys as well as Janina and her family.
It amazed me how the what kids know nowadays is the exact opposite of what kids knew years ago. Now, everyone is booksmart, and nobody is streetsmart. That has been the exact opposite situation in the book so far. Misha, who is roughly 9 years old, took care of, and continues to take care of himself, without much, if any, support from others. He doesn't know much about history, or science, if he knows anything at all, but he knows what he needs to survive. My sister, who is 10 years old, could never survive if put in Misha's situation. She knows far more than he does about school stuff, but she doesn't have any of the characteristics needed to survive on her own. I wonder whats better for a kid to know. Maybe it depends on the situation. Misha raised himself for most of his life, but my sister grew up in an average family.
The boys steal everything they own. All of their food, cigarettes, and other possessions are stolen from people on the street. The boys do not waste what they steal, and don't hurt anybody while they do it. All is well, even though the Nazis begin to shell Warsaw. Soon they have invaded the city.
For a few weeks after the invasion, all remains the same. Misha looks up to the Nazis ("Jackboots" as they are called in the book) because they give away bread to people. Misha also makes a friend in this time, named Janina. Around this time, food starts to become scarce, and the boys no longer live as comfortably as they did before.
Eventually, the Nazis begin moving people into a ghetto. Since Janina's family is Jewish, they get moved into the ghetto. Many of the boys that Misha lives with are Jewish, so the boys all move into the ghetto as well. They find that conditions are far worse in the ghetto then they were outside. The boys all sleep under a large blanket, and they no longer have a roof over their heads. Misha (being very small) can squeeze through a small hole in the brick wall constructed around the ghetto. He goes out into Warsaw to get his hands on whatever food he can find, and brings it back to all of the boys as well as Janina and her family.
It amazed me how the what kids know nowadays is the exact opposite of what kids knew years ago. Now, everyone is booksmart, and nobody is streetsmart. That has been the exact opposite situation in the book so far. Misha, who is roughly 9 years old, took care of, and continues to take care of himself, without much, if any, support from others. He doesn't know much about history, or science, if he knows anything at all, but he knows what he needs to survive. My sister, who is 10 years old, could never survive if put in Misha's situation. She knows far more than he does about school stuff, but she doesn't have any of the characteristics needed to survive on her own. I wonder whats better for a kid to know. Maybe it depends on the situation. Misha raised himself for most of his life, but my sister grew up in an average family.
Thursday, January 5, 2012
The Things They Carried Tim O'Brien
Before Christmas Vacation, I read a book called The Things They Carried by Tim O'Brien. He had a very interesting pattern of switching between different main characters. At times, it made the story very hard to understand, but other times, it gave everything said a higher meaning.
When Tim O'Brien found out that he was being drafted to fight in Vietnam, he didn't know what to think about it. He decided to run away to Canada, and stopped for a rest at a small lodge right on the United States/ Canada border. An old man lived and worked there, and Mr. O'Brien stayed at his lodge for about a week , and helped him out with various tasks. Even though the border was less than 15 minutes away, Mr. O'Brien still decided that he didn't want to disgrace his family and decided to return home.
The way that Mr. O'Brien turned around instead of going across the border really surprised me. It made me think about the whole idea of the draft. The draft has its pros and its cons. One thing thats good about the draft is that it makes the army larger, and allows for everyone in the army to have a little less work to do. It makes things less busy for everyone when there are more people to bear the load. But on the other hand, the idea of "quality over quantity" comes up a lot. Wouldn't you rather have 5 very committed soldiers over 10 not so committed soldiers?
It also surprised me that Mr. O'Brien made the decision to come home. In other books that I have read about Vietnam, the person being drafted seems to stay stuck in the middle. It normally takes someone to push him to make a decision. Go to Canada, or go to Vietnam.
A trend that I have seen with non fiction books about people that went to Vietnam is that when the soldier comes home, he is normally crazy, or kills himself. One of those things happened in this book, but not to Mr. O'Brien. One of the men in his platoon went home and eventually hanged himself. I want to know why this seems to be very common amongst Vietnam Veterans, but is very seldom heard about with other wars, such as World War II and Korea.
Mr. O'Brien did mention that at night "ghosts" could be heard that could drive a man crazy, but wouldn't similar things happen in other theaters of war? I do know that Vietnam Veterans did not receive a warm welcome when they came home like veterans of World War II did. Perhaps this added to the trauma, and is why suicides are not as commonly heard about amongst World War II veterans. As for veterans of later wars, I'm sure new programs have been established to help veterans deal with grief. There seems to be a program, study, or commission on almost everything nowadays.
When Tim O'Brien found out that he was being drafted to fight in Vietnam, he didn't know what to think about it. He decided to run away to Canada, and stopped for a rest at a small lodge right on the United States/ Canada border. An old man lived and worked there, and Mr. O'Brien stayed at his lodge for about a week , and helped him out with various tasks. Even though the border was less than 15 minutes away, Mr. O'Brien still decided that he didn't want to disgrace his family and decided to return home.
The way that Mr. O'Brien turned around instead of going across the border really surprised me. It made me think about the whole idea of the draft. The draft has its pros and its cons. One thing thats good about the draft is that it makes the army larger, and allows for everyone in the army to have a little less work to do. It makes things less busy for everyone when there are more people to bear the load. But on the other hand, the idea of "quality over quantity" comes up a lot. Wouldn't you rather have 5 very committed soldiers over 10 not so committed soldiers?
It also surprised me that Mr. O'Brien made the decision to come home. In other books that I have read about Vietnam, the person being drafted seems to stay stuck in the middle. It normally takes someone to push him to make a decision. Go to Canada, or go to Vietnam.
A trend that I have seen with non fiction books about people that went to Vietnam is that when the soldier comes home, he is normally crazy, or kills himself. One of those things happened in this book, but not to Mr. O'Brien. One of the men in his platoon went home and eventually hanged himself. I want to know why this seems to be very common amongst Vietnam Veterans, but is very seldom heard about with other wars, such as World War II and Korea.
Mr. O'Brien did mention that at night "ghosts" could be heard that could drive a man crazy, but wouldn't similar things happen in other theaters of war? I do know that Vietnam Veterans did not receive a warm welcome when they came home like veterans of World War II did. Perhaps this added to the trauma, and is why suicides are not as commonly heard about amongst World War II veterans. As for veterans of later wars, I'm sure new programs have been established to help veterans deal with grief. There seems to be a program, study, or commission on almost everything nowadays.
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