I woke up suddenly; I felt as if I really was at the mercy of howling gale and waves of surf and storm. My face was wet from sweat as if I was splashed by hundreds upon hundreds of gallons of water. I was dizzy and my head was in extreme pain as my bed felt like a rocking boat. I could have sworn I was hearing waves and I could have sworn that there was a distinctive aroma of salt water filling my room. However, as I pulled my head up from the comfort of my pillow, there was nothing. Everything was dark and all I could hear was the white noise of my fan ten feet away. This wasn’t the first time; my family’s stories really pierced their way into my mind. Though I have no real recollection of the events that unfolded when my father escaped communist Vietnam by boat to go to the United States, I will always remember his stories as if I was really there. I will always remember the tone of his voice and the movement of his lips as he …show more content…
America changed him; America changed us all. In that conversation, I realized what my father had that I didn’t and that was an appreciation for life. He had left his home and family back in Vietnam to create a better life and future for himself and the family that he would eventually create. At that moment, I knew what future was to fall before me. In that one hour of eye-opening realization, I knew exactly how I was to draw my life. I vowed to dedicate my life to the betterment of other people and to put them before my own self. I was given an amazing childhood and it was time that I paid back my debt. With this newfound aspiration, I aimed all my efforts into becoming an officer of the United States military where I could feed my devotion to duty for those who did not have the same luxuries as me growing up. For the people who fought for people like me, I want to continue their goals. No more would I live off others but rather live for
What was not the same, however, was myself. I had always possessed a love for our free, opportune country, and those who pay the ultimate sacrifice to protect it. That was the driving force for me to even enter an essay into the contest to lay the wreath. After the ceremony, the cost of freedom became more evident to me than ever. This ceremony transformed my love into a passion.
My name is Mildred Owens, I am 13 years old and my father had to go and fight in World War I. Today was the day that he finally got to return home to us. He had been away for almost a year. It was 1918, the end of World War I. The Last Battles had ended and we the americans had won the war.
When I arrived in the U.S at age 12 ½ it was a huge adjustment for me as I did not speak English. I was suddenly living with a family and not in the orphanage that I grew up in. it was hard for me to leave my orphanage in China I had lived there my whole life and thought of the orphanage as my home. After being adopted and now living in America I have so many opportunities I did not have in China.
My identity has always felt inextricably linked to what Miami is. A city that is teeming with immigrants, a city with dreams stacked and slopped atop each other, and a city that is living proof of the failed American dream. I say so because of my early observation that generation after generation of immigrants often seemed to stay trapped in dead end jobs; I saw this within my own family – within my grandmother, my aunts and uncles, and even my cousins. Here it was even within my own family tree the deep implicit message that there was no way out of our socioeconomic level. When I made it into an Ivy League college, it was a message that was slowly re-enforced by the fact that my demographic was the most represented in the custodial staff rather than within my own classmates.
On May 01st if everyone lived like me, 3 Earths would be required which means it would take 5.2 global hectares of productive land just to support me. Just looking at the results I expected it to be lower because of the lack of activities. My American footprint is below when it comes to earths, but over when it comes to the global hectares average. The five categories that contributed to my ecological footprint was food, shelter, service, goods, and mobility. Food was the highest contributor with a 1.4 gha and mobility had a 0.8 gha which was the lowest out of all the categories that contributed to my footprint.
The first eight years of my life, I spent in India where I was born. Growing up I was constantly reminded by my parents that I needed to make them proud by getting a good job and living a good lifestyle. They told me this because they did not want to see me live a hard life like they did. When I was nine years old, I moved from India to the United States of America. The reason why I moved to America was not because I was living a bad life in India, it was so that I could have a better education and more opportunities in life.
I used to have this grudges in my heart when everything go hard that would made me wanted to blame my parent. But I can’t because I was not raise to think that way. When I come to America, I was eleven years old and no one asked me if I wanted to come it just happen in a second. I was in a cold place with extended family that I never met before and that one person who raise me and made me feel secure was still back in the country. I had to lived months without her and next thing you know I adapted and convince myself they are doing this because the wanted the best for me.
I want to earn my way up to a good university and earn my degree, apply to an outstanding dental school and start my long years of residency that lie before me. One of my goals in the future is to help others in need for medical attention. It makes me happy when I see others happy. I want to give back to my community and help others so I can earn the respect that I’ve always wanted.
To illustrate, Pat Tillman gave up the career that he loved to go serve for our country after 9/11. He was an amazing football player on the Cardinals. Then 9/11 happened and he decided to join the army. He saved many lives. Tillman said, “Somewhere inside, we hear a voice, it leads us in the direction of who we wish to become.
My vision for America is that we can have peace everywhere we go not having to worry about their futures being corrupted. Hopefully that someday America’s troops won’t have to be in foreign countries fighting for their lives and in possible danger. That nobody will worry about terrorist taking over and ruining futures. Children going to school not knowing that there could be another kid there with a gun or even a bomb. These events are happening today
To serve on the most humbling and honorable platform of my country is to become a lawyer that joins the United States military, and use my skills and education to keep this country safe. To serve the men and women who put their lives on the front line to protect United States citizens from foreign and domestic threats. I now dream of becoming a lawyer, because it is a worthwhile and fulfilling challenge that offers numerous paths to victory. I believe the fighter in me will meet the challenge of law school and provide an essential outlook in the veteran’s law clinic. Helping others and being a catalyst of change is important because I believe I have something to offer.
This journey is taking forever! I'm getting tired of the crowded rooms that I have to stay in with the stinky, smelly people I'm just plain out tired of it! They need to take a bath! Anyways, I'm James Fehrenbach and I'm coming from Germany.
As a result of my brief armed service participation I was allowed to learn the true meaning of self-sacrifice. The firsthand knowledge of the loss an individual faces during and after service to our
“Everybody can be great…Because anybody can serve. You don’t have to have a college degree to serve… You only need a heart full of grace. A soul generated by love.” - Martin Luther King Jr. My life’s mission is to serve with a genuine, compassionate love and empathy toward all humanity.
My Dream to Serve Ever since I was little, I have always admired people who served our country. I still remember all of the stories that my mother would tell about her career in the military. I didn’t understand it as much as I do now, but I was still admired at what she would tell. During my middle school years, I would occasionally read books and articles about the military, and what they would do during their everyday lives. It would make me feel like I had a purpose in life, and it would make me feel better about myself, and that is when I decided to have a dream about going into the Air Force.