Pea

A Dejar La Patria
By: Luis Pea

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Aye Mis Hijos! I arrived to this town as I was looking for a job opportunity to play my guitar and settle down. As I was on my way to the cantina when I saw the most beautiful girl in my life. I was trying to start a conversation with her but, she turned the other way and refused to talk with me. So I followed her to her house to serenade her. I played the guitar for hours but, she never came out. The next week I saw her again this time I asked her again she said it was Maria. A few years passed and we got married and had two children. I left town to find more jobs in other towns. I found another woman she is rich and I plan to marry her. Whenever I have to visit my son and daughter I bring them gifts and spend time with them. One night I came to visit my children but, Maria saw me with my mistress so I fled. The next day I returned and I heard the awful news she drowned her with my children. I regret ever involving myself with this rich woman and now my children and my wife are dead. Now every night I here the weeps of my children and Maria in restless search haunt me. What have I done? In the Latino culture one story that is always told is the story of La Llorona. This story was told in our homes to teach us as children one to never walk alone at night, two to always be respectful to our parents, and most of all to never do something that we are going to regret in the future. La Llorona shows us that jealousy can drive a person to do crazy actions that we will regret for the rest of our life.If I were to tell the story would tell it from the perceptive of someone close to her. This story has been told in a variety of ways by a variety of people. Wherever or however the story is told it always deals with the same issues. As children we are told that La Llorona will

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take them mistaking her children in order to go to heaven. As the story goes she is denied passage to heaven due to the fact that she lost her children. She is in forever search of her wandering children that maybe mistaken for a lone child at night. The story of La Llorona tells us how we can prevent events by happening. This story is told to people to scare and by scaring the lesson is more learned. The moral of the story is to keep your mind clear don't do something your are going to regret and don't let jealousy control you and your actions. Because this can forever change the life of anyone but, because of this story children can learn the moral of this story.

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El Sueo Americano My name Luis carries along with it a meaning. That meaning is fighter or warrior. Which is originally from Latin. My name derives from the name Aloysius then later made its way to Spain where it later the name Luis was born. My name means a lot to me since I was given that name because of my grandfather. I have known my grandfather for the first seven years of my life until he day he passed away. So you can assume that I did not see the least of his capabilities but, what I didnt see I heard in stories. I heard about his journey through life. My grandfather Luis had to come to the United States to provide for his family in Guadalajara Mexico. My Grandfather had to cross the border and through the desert to reach America the land of opportunities. At the time his family was poor he could not the even have the luxury to have a coyote to escort him through the barren and desiccated desert. So he crossed with four other men which he had no knowledge of their existence two days earlier. I can imagine those men were going through the same issues of poverty to sustain their families economically. As the wandering caravan of hard working men crossed the one of the few places on Earth that can be called hell food was beginning to be scarce. Luckily my grandfather carried his knife that day. He peeled a cactus and he gathered prickly pears and one of the other men used his knife to kill a desert hare. I imagine those men were very great full that my grandfather was prepared for such a journey. Then they reached Tucson Arizona where all of the men went their own ways. My Grandfather was an illegal immigrant so their was a constant fear of deportation. He traveled to many states including Kansas, Tennessee, Louisiana, Alabama, Illinois, and

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California. He also did a variety jobs including construction, meatpacking, woodworking, field working and many more. My grandfather was a man of many talents. My grandfather was beating his back all day every day just to get money sent to his family to survive. One story that I will never forget is the story of my grandfather is about working in the fields here in California. The story goes my grandfather was working hard on the tomatoes and the boarder patrol came. Everyone that was illegal fled the boarder patrol was occupied with them. The only illegal left was my grandfather. He stood firm in his belief and refused to run and because of that that boarder patrol did not suspect him to be illegal. My Grandfather lived up to his name of being a fighter. My grandfather was resilient. No matter how hot the sun boiled above or how many times the wind was knocked out of him he always worked to sustain his family. I think my grandfather ver even knew the definition of quit. He is my role model, he is the one I base my life on. Everyday I remember and I to also strive to live up to my name.

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Mi Hroe My Grandfather meant everything to me as a child. He was always their for me. He was the definition of a second father. The story of the hard working man in the ever lasting efforts to provide for his family. He in a way never stopped working for his familys benefit. All the work he did was for the schools of his daughters and the food of his family. His worrying for his family drove to focus on his work and not on himself. My Grandfather did everything but, one thing he did not do as much was rest and visit a doctor regularly. He was not a fan of modern medicine. Unfortunately nature began did its part. He always cared for other forgetting himself. Many years later him and his family now live in California. In Stockton located in the central valley. His family was economically stable because of the hard work he did in the United states and what he pioneered in Mexico. As time advanced so did his youth. . He now felt like his family was taking care of him but, he always wanted to be the provider. So the time he was home he helped care for me the barer of is name. He was always a kind man ever representing a sign of melancholy and always continued to. At the same time I watched him suffer. I was the witness of his pain which eventually became my own. As my brother and I returned from School eager to go trick or treating that night we were surprised by the uneasy sight of my Grandfather fallen on the floor of the bathroom he could not get up so my family called the ambulance. Our Halloween was spent in the hospital around the bed of my grandfather. Later that night the doctor told us that he was paralyzed and would never walk again. He only traveled by wheelchair with the help of a person. The pain was not in his legs but, in his pride.

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On his wheelchair the worst time of his life the most miserable for his health. His health was degrading along with his mental state. He knew the time was approaching as so did I. My grandfather complained to my mother I want to go home to Mexico, return to my land. Out of respect for her father she abided. He arrived in August the raining season along with me and my mother. One day later from his return from America. Him awoken from sleep asked of me and my aunt for asked for a drink of water. Forgive me for all those years I could not be with you were his last words to his daughter. He new it was his time so he bid me farewell. In a matter of minutes he passed away on the hands of my aunt and me watching. His funeral was blustering with the weeps of the grateful. Although the last chapter of his life was all suffering in the coffin he looked like he had a sense of relief. It was my first death to witness, the first being the hardest. Evermore true when that person is a relative, your guardian, your teacher, your hero. From then on that moment has ever defined my. As I heard his it has inspired me to become like him, to live up to the name I was given. To also not rein act his mistakes as he would of wanted me to.