What Does It Mean To Be Where You Are From?
In class, we had time to reflect on various questions; however, one question that stood out to me happens to be the Title of this story: What Does It mean to be Where You Are From?
To me, this is a tough question. I was born and raised in Miami, FL, but my family is from Cuba, so I grew up with Cuban/ Hispanic culture, especially growing up in such a diverse place, such as Miami. I think this question is very open ended, as I share many of the values my Cuban family has raised me with.
To be from two places, such as Cuba and Miami means a lot to me. First, it has taught me to not only embrace my culture and tradition’s but to embrace other’s as well. Having family that escaped from Cuba due to the communist regime has taught me to empathize with the struggles and hardships my grandparents and parents were faced with. Though I personally have never dealt with suddenly having to leave a place I grew up in, and having to start a new life with no clothes or home, my family’s history has enabled me to look at my adversity’s in life and face it with positive hope and a positive outlook.
https://www.reddit.com/r/Miami/comments/a5vgaj/next_time_a_cuban_friend_tells_you_their_family/
Because I am grew up in Miami, I got to experience much of the Cuban culture and values. So being from Miami and growing up with my family’s values, means I am also from Cuba. Therefore, to be where I am from, means to be hardworking and to not take anything for granted ( i know it’s cheesy). This is a mindset that has driven me for most of my life. I cannot imagine what it feels like to be forced out my home because I have never experienced it. However, I look at at how my parents and grandparents moved to a country in which they did not have a job, did not know the language, and were treated differently because of where they came from, but still worked hard despite that their odds were against them. Though my family’s odds were not looking good once arriving to Miami, they were able to become successful by working immensely hard. As a result, it is because of their hard-work that I am able to go to such a privileged university, such as USC. So to be where I am from means to honor the struggles of my family; it means to be determined, to have perseverance, embrace change, be open- minded, be empathetic towards the struggles of other’s, remain positive, and most importantly, to have hope.