Thursday, September 16, 2010

Up Hill Battle


My life has at times, some more than others, like if I'm pushing a boulder up a hill. Or in the case of the picture I posted, an elderly man pushing a shopping cart full of bottles and cans up a hill, passing a cemetery, hoping that the cans collected will garner enough money for food and bills. Everyday is a struggle, that's the chip on my shoulder. I have different chips, depending on the day, month, year or decade. They all come back to the "I am not a legal resident" chip that has been on my shoulder since I was brought here. It's get's pretty old pretty fast and I've noticed that. From conversations to the way I act and go about my life.


Unfortunately I build my life on that foundation. At times I wish I had known better than to focus on it, had someone to help me make some sense of it all, but what's done is done. A lesson I learned. With the DREAM Act coming up for a vote within the next week, it's all mashing together. 18 years of life and the hope that it will all change in a matter of days.I hear all the rhetoric from organizers and people from within the movement saying that the DREAM Act will hurt our communities because undocumented kids will join the army instead of going to school. That it should not be passed.

I've had my fill of defending myself and what I and other DREAMers work for. The time is here. We need to make this happen. We can't waste our time arguing with people that are divisive. We need the DREAM Act now.