Zainab Saleh Monologue

I am Zainab Saleh, from Iraq. I’m currently in the United States. I wake up every morning to the voice of my seven siblings, or they wake up to mine since they’re always blame me for waking them up from a good dream they were having. First and foremost, I’m thankful to my parents because without them I wouldn’t be here. My dad sacrificed the company of his parents, siblings, and friends to give us a better life. He actually came here to the U.S. before my mom, sister, and I and lived alone for two to three years working in the meat industry and still does. I see it--the amount of cuts and wounds he’s gotten to give us an opportunity at life both physically and emotionally. My mom sacrificed her education, the sight of her own mother and loved ones. She’s the one who took care of us when my dad was gone, and provided us with food. I can safely say that my mom operates as a pregnant single mother of eight right now because my dad works from early morning to sometimes midnight. My parents have showed me what it means to care and love, but I think caring and loving oneself is a

The song, “Human” by Christina Perri, reminds me that I’m not perfect, and under the pressures of my friends, siblings, parents, and myself, I can break, and that’s completely fine, and it will happen if I continue to ignore my limits. I had listened to this song as motivation when I used to run. When I was running, and I knew I had reached my limit, and I should stop because my side feels like it’s being pierced by knives, and I can’t feel my limbs, and my mouth felt like the Sahara Desert, I kept running. I was scared that if I stopped that meant that I was giving up, and using “I’m only human” as an excuse to stop. Soon, after I learned to accept it, I learned that there’s no such thing as perfection and even those who seem to be