How American Culture Has Influenced My Life

The United States has always been “home” to me because I feel that I have lived a bit of the quintessential American story. With immigrants for parents who was hoping for a better opportunity than what was offered from their home country. Moreover, my upbringing was a blend of my parent’s home culture and the new American culture combined with a United States education. As I have matured, I have noticed how much my life has been influenced by society’s opportunities and issues. The American character is the crossroads of opportunity, struggle, and hopefulness because it is not only a reflection of the founding father’s ideas, but also a reflection of minorities who have interjected their experiences that shaped my American journey. For much of my childhood, I was babysat by a great-aunt in Compton, CA. While recalling my daily ride from there to my home in North Long Beach and the buildings along Santa Fe Ave, with boarded up, broken windows. Reflecting on this, I now realize these buildings were projects. Since then, the buildings were abandoned and new developments have overtaken those properties. Because Americans expect a high standard of quality of …show more content…
All things considered, we took out loans for San Diego State University, which resulted in failure and debt. Consequently, I came home, started part time work, and within a few years had a family. I changed jobs a few times before finally realizing that “It was the ideal of ‘book learning’; the curiosity born of compulsory ignorance,” which would lead me out of a low income life (Dubois, pdf). I felt like I did a disservice to my children who use many of the public service programs that I never qualified for while growing up. Going back to school as an adult has been easier with a more grown up mentality. I feel as though my parents’ grit and hard work has paid off in ways I can now show to my own