The Way to America

Ernest Ventura

Professor Freedman

English 101

23 June 2004

The Way to America

I consider myself lucky for I am here in America. I feel blessed because I’m living in a place where there is freedom. The United States without a doubt is the world’s greatest country. This, in general is true. There may be others who think it isn’t but as far as I personally am concerned, myself belong to those who believe it is. You may ask, why? What makes a nation great? Just notice how many people want to go in this land. I have lived my first seventeen years in an archipelago composed of 7107 islands located Southeast Asia, the Philippines. The weather is tropical (like Florida’s) and with more than seven thousand islands, beautiful, world-class beaches are everywhere. It is a nice country with a lot of problem.

Poverty is one among the biggest if not the biggest issue the government of the Republic of the Philippines is facing. A problem that even a very optimistic person (who almost believes that everything is beautiful including what is ugly) like me couldn’t see a tiny hope. I think the problem of poverty will remain for generations to come. I know exactly what I’m trying to portray because 17 years of living there is enough to see what’s going on. The rich gets richer and the poor gets poorer until death. Statistics shows that many of the people there in the Philippines would do anything just to have the chance to get themselves in here even beyond what rules allow them. The impression of Filipinos about the U.S. of A. is “a place where you want to be”.

When I was a little boy, I already have the idea that my family is petitioned to go to the U.S. and the expected date was after my Grade School graduation. When I graduated Grade School, nothing happened. I didn’t really care. I was happy living the simple life, studying and playing with my friends. Life continues… I finished High School just before I turned sixteen. Forgetting about the petition to America, I moved on straight to college.

I was in my second year when one September day, I got home from school, and then my dad approached me and without any introduction, revealed me that he just received a letter from the United States embassy in Manila, the capital. I don’t know how to react when he said, “Ernest, You need to give up your studies.” We will be flying to America in three months. I was shocked, that was totally unexpected. First thing came to my mind was to ask him, why that fast? We all thought that our case was hopeless and our papers got lost somewhere. We even feared that some people might have stolen our papers and used it for their own benefit. My grandma who was the petitioner was dying during those times. That’s the reason why my father wanted to process everything and get everything done as soon as possible. Those three months were really hectic. We live in a province separated by oceans to Manila where we needed to be interviewed and undergo a lot of stuffs. To make the long story short, our visas were stamped approval 24 hours before my grandma died. If we were a day late, I won’t be part of this class and all of the 14 long years of wait will end up to a very disappointing refusal.

We arrived in Vancouver Christmas Eve 2002. First few weeks were filled with fun and excitement. We visited various tourist spots of the Northwest but after that, my next six months were my worst six consecutive months in my entire life. I can’t go outside like I used to do because of the weather & transportation as well. Having no job and no money is another problem. Job-hunting was even harder because I can only speak very few English and so making friends isn’t that easy either. Until now, I am still having trouble generating words but I don’t consider it to be a hinder to success.

Therefore, I conclude that despite the very challenging start, I was able to establish my life (having a job, my own transportation and most importantly getting into college) and make it worth living after all. I’m so grateful and very privileged for where I am (although I also miss my beloved hometown too) and I will be proud to become an American citizen someday. The late Philippine Senator Benigno “Ninoy” Aquino was asked just before he got shot on the head going down the airplane on the airport in Manila that later named after him. The question was, “Sir, why are you still willing to go back in Manila despite the danger of getting assassinated?” He replied, “The Filipino is worth dying for.” I’ll quote him on that and stop by saying, “The U.S. of A. is worth dying for.”