A Better Life

My father did not have the opportunity to get an education, he was born in a very poor neighborhood and at the age of fifteen he had to move to the city to find a better job. He said he worked making bread and agriculture then, years later, he married my mother. When my mother got pregnant, my father started to buy watches and sell them on the streets. It was a good job and he would get a lot of money. He decided to emigrate to the United States when things started to get worse in Guatemala. He couldn’t keep selling watches because he would get robbed and leave him without the necessary money to eat in the week.

My father came to the United States the same day I was born. I did not have the opportunity to meet him until I was eleven years old. The reason for that was because he got the U.S. citizenship and he was finally able to travel. I came to the United States at the age of twelve. I did not want to come to the United States but I was forced. Every time I would ask my mom for the reason she would say that it was for me to have a better future. Now that I am seventeen years old, I am very thankful for that decision because I have the opportunity to study the things I want and don’t have to spend a lot of money. I have the opportunity to help my family in Guatemala economically.

Just like my father and I, the reason why people immigrate to the United States is so that they and their families can have a better life, get a better job, to have money to eat or to send to the family in other countries, to run away from the violence, corruption, unfairness and because people can have they things they never thought they would have. People get to have the opportunity to have a better education and become whoever they want. People come here because they can be free and have everything they’ve always wanted.