Coming to the United States

Sometime in 1978, my mother brings my sister and me to escape Viet Nam to Songkhla, Thailand. We arrived in San Antonio, Texas nine months later in July, 1979. It is here where I began my “American” education. It is this education system, and the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) through the medium called “television”, which shred lights on me as I become conscious of what happened to my home country was not the fault of my own people. Regrettably, growing up in “America” as a foreign kid, barely speaking English, moving from town to town, and changing school annually is not straightforward. In a flash, the realization of what happen to my country vanished as it comes down to a mean of survival. I am on my own in this strange country and society, and I must do what I do to get through at the age of twelve. The recollections of my beautiful country, home, schools, and friends, appeared in the back of my mind from time to time, nevertheless I did not have time to reflect upon them. The questions of why we left our country and came to such a distance place called the “United State of America”, never get a “real” answer. Until now, July 9, 2011, I am attending history 21, conducts by Professor Toshio Whelchel. Thirty-two years later, I am asked to compose an essay for my midterm title: “Modern American History: From the Overthrow of Hawaii to the Philippines War”. The anxiety in my stomach agitates and my eyes begin to tears, not because it is the “midterm” paper, not because I forget how to write, not because lettering is my weakness…but the memories. April 30, 1975, the reverberation of bullets piercing through the night, the gloomy stench of smoldering dead bodies, as bombs rained down upon us, and guns fired upon innocent ci...

... middle of paper ...

... Horrendously for Philippines and Hawaii, their resources and people are the target of western imperialism, capitalism, racism, industrialization, and military power in the name of ‘democracy’. Against their will, these people must endure imposed western ideology, and sacrifice their life in the fights for self-government. On the other hand, those who came armed with intentions would use any means possible to get what they came for. For some conniving characters seeking self-fortunes, and protecting their own interest, they walk a fine line of morality. Where they can not apply forces, propaganda is their powerful allied. This is an endless cycle of how empire rises and falls. What goes down in history for future generation is the doctrines of the why and the how to go about obtaining the resources that enable one nation to rise or fall.