Personal Narrative: My American Hero

" The biggest adventure you can take is to live the life of your dreams."- Oprah Winfrey. This quote meant a lot to a 13 year old youngster named Jared, who lived in the most impoverished town within Cambodia. To be quite specific, Jared resided in an old, rusty village, during the year of 2001, that he'd been living in since birth. His greatest aspiration in life was to become a geneticist. However, he did have a few roadblocks, such as poverty, and zero education. Whenever unoccupied, he strived to pay his Grandma Seda a visit at her senior citizen home, which was funded through the Cambodian government. Speaking of her, Grandma Seda was 96 year old lady and happened to be the grandmother of Jared. She was located at a senior citizen home 20 miles away from Jared's home. Six months ago she was diagnosed with leukemia and slow organ failure. Since her diagnosing, her health has been deteriorating rapidly.

Change is inevitable. Whether it be positive or negative, change is constantly happening. More than often change can take you from the known world and spit you into the unknown, where you return a changed person. While embarking on the journeys provoked by change, you are on a hero’s journeys. The hero’s journey was popularized by Joseph Campbell. When describing what prompts hero’s journeys, Joseph Campbell said,

What would happen next?!  She began to go down, she put one foot down on the next step.  The ladder began to wobble Chu-yi, holding on tightly stops moving ,and the ladder is still.  Chu-yi knew that could have been bad.  She makes it half way down the ladder while her heart is beating like a drum.  Chu-yi starts to hum the swift birds's song to calm herself. Bang, Chu-yi hears the sound and hurries down the ladder.

The deep waters of sorrow and pain have overwhelmed me in the past months. Agony and despair has left me breathless as I stay on the surface of the waters, trying to find the hope and love deep down in the water. I am scared to go further to discover as I might drown in the love from the Father who loves me so. The waters can only keep me sane for so long until I let go and let God take over. The waves have overwhelms my eyes that I have become blind; blind with anger and violence so that my emotions have become equal with the storms. How can your love seem so innocent as the farther I go it becomes more dangerous? I am left breathless as you take me deeper. Deeper into something that can leave me wanting more.

Once there was this red house at the end of the street. Who lived in there you ask well there is this 17 year old girl and her mom. The girl's name is Z she plays baseball she loved baseball till one day she went blind because when she was walking home with her friends suddenly there are a gang of girls from her school went to go pick a fight with her.

As someone who was raised on stories about American revolutionaries, I have always admired the “Great American Heroes.” After all, my history classes were filled with passages about George Washington, who dared to defy the great British Empire, Susan B. Anthony, who dared to fight the patriarchy, and Martin Luther King Jr, who dared to resist segregation…

The way the story begins is probably the same as others. Obviously you are born and raised somewhere. Well my story began in Worcester Massachusetts. I was born on January 15th, 1995, to wonderful parents who people might think is not your usual mix. My mother is from the Dominican Republic and my father is from Ecuador. Yes, I know, the weirdest mix ever but it brought me into this world, so I'm proud.

I never realized how boring and long a car ride could seem when you’re anxious and excited for what’s to come. I never knew what waited down the path I chose, and how easily something can be lost. These events led me to the way I am today and whom I want to be in th future.

I was playing with my super hero figure when my dad walked by me, he was headed into the kitchen. He looked my way and continued toward the fridge, grabbing some freshly cut peaches from the contained they sat in. My mom had just cut those today, she specifically told me to wait till dad eats some before I can get some.

My “American Dream” wasn’t exactly my American Dream so I’m gonna make up some stuff. The way I will achieve my American Dream is to kinda try in school, just enough to pass it at least, and I will help out my community by doing things around in my area which is almost nothing because I live in the middle of nowhere. In school I will need to finish my English work and complete all of my aows. In Algebra I will have to try really hard because math is super important in life but math is extremely hard and and is dumb but you have to have it.

Some people view the outside world as a dangerous place full of disparity and misery, others like to embrace that unknown and try to use it as a catalyst for inner growth. I like to see myself as the latter, the individual who lives for the rush of the unknown. I looked down to see what I could only describe as a dream come true. It was a ticket for a six month tour around Asia that would lead to the complete immersion of native culture and tradition- Vietnamese Pho, the mountain folk of Nepal, the Muay Thai martial arts of Thailand, Chinese Architecture and the beaches of Laos are some of the places that we got to experience first-hand. As a participant I was expected to live with 15 other individuals from around the world that I had never

“Ding, ding, ding, ding, ding!” The school bell rings. Peter and I were playing football at recess when we heard the bell. We quickly rushed up the stairs to get to class. I was so happy to see back Peter in school after his sick leave. He looked happy and his attitude shone brighter than the sun. Even after what had happened to him about a month ago…

Life always seemed more stressful in the time of the choosing and everyone knew it. When the young men and women went quiet and their demeanors changed you knew they had just celebrated their sixteenth birthday and that the choosing was upon them. Gerald had just turned this age and before he knew it the gut wrenching ceremony would be there. The choosing happened only after an individual progressed to an adult in their life. This annual event determined someone’s trade for the rest of time on the world.

The sun beamed down on my tiny little head as I walked up the stairs onto the top deck of the cruise ship. I was only ten years old and about to do the scariest thing I had ever done in my life. On the ship, there was an obstacle course that hung over the deck. It seemed like it was about thirty feet tall and I thought it was crazy. To add to the tension, I was also extremely afraid of heights. There was even a part where you would walk out onto a ledge that hung off of the ship. Nothing was between your feet and the water about forty stories below, except for a little yellow platform. The people up there doing it were insane and I couldn’t imagine doing it myself. The thought of me going up there was already crazy, but knowing that I would have to do an obstacle course too was insanely crazy!

That's touching and she should not feel that way she should enjoy her kid life to the fullest, people are going to say what they want to say and she should pay them no mind. I had the chance to a go through a wonderful thing in my life and I would not trade it for anything, I was so proud of my little boy that every time I tell this story it brings tears to my eyes. We have boys out day and that's when me and the boys just go out all day have fun, movies car racing, just fun stuff. This time it was just me, and my youngest and he wanted to go to the movies, I said ask one of your friends if they want to come with us, then you have a buddy to talk to because your brother is not going to here. So he is like dad I'm taking Braden and I'm like who is that and he said the blind kid in my class, I 'm like ok so I guess we not going to the movies then, he is like yeah we going the movies, is alright dad they have this cool stuff in the theater a special ear phones which narrates the whole movie with all the sound effects. To make the long story short Braden is my hero, this kid sense humor is so hilarious he don't let his blindness affect him one bit he leave his life. When we got to the theater everybody was looking at us probably think the same way I did when my son told me he was taking him.