Essay On Coming To America

Coming to America
“You are in America, speak English.” As a young child hearing these words, it did not only confuse me but it also made me question my belonging in a foreign country. As a child I struggled with my self-image; Not being Hispanic enough because of my physical appearance and not being welcomed enough in the community I have tried so hard to integrate myself with. Being an immigrant with immigrant parents forces you to view life differently. It drives you to work harder or to change the status quo for the preconceived notion someone else created on a mass of people. Coming to America filled me with anxiety, excitement, and even an unexpected wave of fear.
When I entered the airplane I was as excited as a 6-year-old could be about losing the people she loved the most. The greatest aspect of my fear was the idea of losing my mother. As a child, I always

had a very independent nature about everything. I never asked for help in most situations and kept to myself very frequently. One thing in my life kept me guarded the most, this internal silent fear that I eventually had to come to terms with made me into the independent, headstrong person I am today. This fear occurred during my realization that at any moment in time my mother could be taken away and my family would be broken. This fear was kept dormant because like many immigrant families in America we thought that this situation would never happen to us. We thought that we were one of the lucky few who could actually “make it” in America and then figure out my mother's situation. Unfortunately, this mindset put us further behind than the rest. Our fears grew into massive capacity once my mother's immigration status came into questioning. Due to this, she had to hire immigration lawyers and spend years acknowledging the fact that at any point in time her visa could be revoked without any further explanation. My emotions ranged from anxiety to fear. These emotions kept me from enjoying valuable moments and memories with my family.
The best way to demonstrate this occurrence would be the most remarkable situation I have encountered throughout this years. Just over a year ago I had started a new job at Dunkin’ Donuts. This to me was a big step considering I was getting paid more than my previous place of employment and was only 16; Nonetheless, this was not the focus. From the start, I was ecstatic about the new experience because it had a range of different minorities working together. I would have never thought that this story would occur in a place of such high diversity.
The one thing I could never truly comprehend was how someone who only speaks one language could find themselves to be more intelligent or superior than someone who speaks two languages.

These people have talent beyond words-- literally and figuratively. They have the ability to express emotions in more than one way; the ability to comprehend conversation and contribute to an idea in different languages. How can you negate something that you do not have insight on and call it unintelligent because you do not have enough understanding to voice an efficient idea that contributes to society's understanding and growth? I grown to understand that ignorance is more acceptable in numbers.
Fortunately, contrary to what we had originally thought we were one of the few lucky ones. Our family stayed together and as immigrants, we continue to struggle through the many negative stigmas. This is not the ending to our story but simply a story of new beginnings in a foreign country. As my parents say frequently “America is the land of opportunity” and this is an opportunity I will hold tightly and never let

go.