My Family Coming To America

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Recommended: Post war family structure

Throughout the early 1300's to the ending of WWI, a conflict was always present among the Turks (Ottoman Empire) and the Serbs. Major conflicts distanced from 1389, the Battle of Kosovo, to 1878, which was the Serbian-Ottoman War (with uprisings and military action before and after these events). Within this time frame, there was a family which consisted of five brothers and one sister, and of all under the Ottoman rule during the 1800s. Under this rule, the Turkish soldiers had the desirable power to enter a home of a civilian, take away the female(s) of that household and use her for their pleasure. In addition, Turkish soldiers arrived on the doorstep of the five brothers and one sister and demand that the brothers give up their sister in …show more content…

I was the first of the “Simić” family to be born in America and my parents (fathers side) were the first to come to America and prosper during their stay. However, prosperity did not come easy for them. Both parents came from rags, had been raised with old values (do what is told with no exceptions, etc), and overall a very different environment than someone who grew up in America during the 70s. My parents had endured communist rule from birth to their twenties. During the breakup of Yugoslavia and the rise of a republic (Republic of Serbia), financial problems arose, scarce food supply and money were a daily worry, traveling five hours a day for a college education, showering in the sink, and overall just a bundle of misfortune. Compared to myself, I do not have to travel five hours for an education. I do not have to worry about food on the table or financial instability as my parents did. I do not have the right to complain about how “tough” my life is when the life for my parents were 10 times worse. Therefore, knowing that my parents had it extremely worse than myself, I am proud of where they came from, come to a country in which they knew no English at all somehow prosper.

A last name isn't an official documentation for governmental issues or “professional titles.” A last name tells a story, whether it be interesting or not. A last name needs to be deserved rather than taken for granted, as the people who held it and gave you the honor to obtain it faced extreme misfortune. A surname should be cherished, valued, and inherited for as long as the world shall

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