When I was a little kid, I never really heard people in my family talk about the American dream. No one has ever talked to me about the American dream so I would never ask about either. This year in my American literature class we are learning about the American dream. Now I ask myself, what is the American dream? My teacher, Mr. Shoji wants us to want to view the different perspectives of the American dream and how it is evolving over time. He assigned us a project to interview a person over the age of 50 and ask him about the American dream.

I decided to interview a very good friend of mine. To start the interview I asked my friend to introduce himself. He said, “My name is Mariano but they call me Mayo. I'm 51 years old and I was Born in Guanajuato, Mexico.” My friend Mayo has a lot of experienced in life because of his age. I really enjoy talking to him because I like in the way he thinks. Before the interview I assumed that his perspective of the American dream was going to differentiate because of his age and where he came from.

I really enjoy talking to him about this topic because I really liked the way he thinks. Now let me tell you about the life in Mexico. According to Mayo, “To be honest, my life in Mexico was extremely hard and difficult!” Living in Mexico as a poor person is like walking barefoot on sharp thorns. I have always heard many immigrants, including my family talk about the difficulties and struggles of living in Mexico therefore I wasn’t surprised to hear that, but it quite interesting to hear that most immigrants always say that the life in Mexico was hard. In Mexico there's a huge diversity in social classes: “In Mexico there is 3 different social classes. The first social class is the known as the rich class. The second one is the middle class and the last one is the poor class, that my family belongs to. Don’t forget this is just the basic three social classes, there is more in between the main three classes. My family was poor, but not the poorest because there was many other families way poorer than us.” According to CIA World Factbook, in 2012 47 percent of the people in Mexico were considered poor. That's almost half of the population of Mexico. If we compare this percentage to the percentage of poor people in the US it would big a big difference. According to The CIA World Factbook, in 2012 15 percent of the people in the US were poor.

Life in Mexico was not easy for the poor people it was like survival of the fittest: “Very early in my life I learned that life wasn’t easy living in Mexico. My dad would wake me up early in the morning to help him work in the fields or feed and take care of the animals. My father had to work his a*s off to raise a family of 6, put food on the table, and clothes on my our back. My dad did a great job raising my family, I can't say nothing bad about my parents; even though sometimes we would go to bed feeling hungry” Can you imagine having to work in the fields and going to bed feeling hungry? This makes me feel bad and sad for his family because most of us never go to work in the fields or go to bed feeling hungry. Poor Mexican Citizens that live in rural areas like Mayo don’t have the same opportunities we have as American Citizens: “The poor social class is the most common class to immigrate to the USA because there are no opportunities in Mexico for the poor; that why we come to the US to get an opportunity and win them dollars.” I believe that the poor people living in rural areas feel hopeless living in Mexico that why they migrate to different countries like the US. The poor people that live in rural areas are not educated: “I feel lucky to have gone to school until the 8th grade. To be honest, I really loved going to school and learning new things but my parents didn’t have enough money to let me continue my education. Most people where I lived didn’t get a good education nor are required to go to school. Instead of being in school they are out working in the fields.” Imagine a community or country that is not educated; this will have a huge affect on the community and country. Would you rather be school or be working in the fields? I don’t know about you, but I would rather be at school. I'm beginning to think that living in Mexico as a poor person is like walking barefoot on sharp thorns. I found very interesting and surprising to hear that: “The country of Mexico is industrialized and is also a very rich country. The reason why Mexico has a high percentage of poverty is because their government is corrupt. The government heads are a tyrant. Their only goal is to fill up their pockets with a lot money. Don't think they steal a little bit, they steal millions and millions of dollars and pesos. Most of the government officials in Mexico sell out for a couple pesos.” I couldn’t believe that the government official of Mexico would be doing that. No wonder they have a huge percentage of poverty. Mexico’s government is not a very good role model for the Mexican people; maybe that's the reason that there's so much violence, drugs, mafias, and cartels. Thank God, the United States’ government is not as corrupt as Mexico’s government. Government officials are always lying to the people since there’s many people that are well educated; “The government officials are always saying, “its a democracy” but I don’t believe that because its a lie.” This is not cool that even government officials are lying to their people. The educated people of the towns and cities must feel humiliated or angered at their government. Before this interview I didn’t seem to realize how beneficial immigrants were in the US: Mayo says, “I just want the US government and people to realize how important immigrants are in this country and its economy. Since immigrants don't have papers or social securities they are not allowed to legally work, so they work in the fields picking fruits and vegetables. The boss usually pays them very little or the minimum wage that means that immigrants serve as cheap labor. This is a good thing for the US government because immigrants have a social security; the government doesn’t need to pay them their retirement money. This benefits the people of the US because if immigrants are used for cheap labor that means we buy the food for less money.

Finally lets talk about the American dream. Guess what Mayo told me when I asked him about the American dream: “I didn’t know what was the American dream until later in life, but to be honest, I didn’t believe in the American dream.” I couldn’t believe that he didn’t have or believed in the American dream, so I asked him, “Why did you come to the US?” He responded, “When I was a teenager I would hear many people talk about the US and how great it was, so I decided to come because I love and enjoy adventures. I have always liked to explore and travelling to new places. I have always dreamed of travelling the world so I guess you can say adventures and travelling where part of my American dream.” It sounds like coming to the US was a big adventure for people but adventures are not always fun or easy. I have heard many stories from my family and friends about the struggles and difficulties of coming to the US. Immigrants would always tell you about the adventures of coming the US: “I walked crossed a desert all by myself for three days, I would erase the footmarks that I would leave in the sand with a stick as I would walk. I remember that I didn’t eat one whole day. I also crossed a river while already in the US. I got caught the first 3 times, don’t think it was easy. Coming to the US was one of my scariest and more daring adventures in my life, but thank God i’m still here and alive.” I can already imagine how hot the temperature must of been. Mayo’s feet must have must be burning from walking in the hot sand. He didn’t mention this, but I think he must have been sweating the whole way. I couldn’t believe he was caught by border patrol three times in a row and he still didn’t give up. He must of been running and hiding from the border patrol, If I were him at that time my heart would have been beating so fast and loud that it could of exploded like a bomb. Many people were living in Mexico came to the US to “try it out” and determine whether there’s better opportunities in the US or in Mexico; then they decide if they want to stay or they go back to Mexico: “I wasn’t planning to stay in the US for a long time because I had other goals and dreams in mind. Something I wanted to do was, make a lot of dollars to accomplish my dreams. I guess my American dream was to return to Mexico to build a house, own property, land, and own a few animals. I had a beautiful girlfriend that I have left in Mexico, but she got tired of waiting for me and we both went our separate ways. My dream was to get married with her and have a family together, but I screwed up. I think that was one of my biggest mistakes I made and regret because the girl really liked me and was waiting for me for quite some years and now i’m all alone. I mean I was young and inexperienced so it happens. I have always been a helpful hand to my parents, till this day i’m still sending half of my check to my father only because my mom passed away.” As you can see, my friend did have an American dream, but his perspective was different. His dream was to have a house, property, land, animals, and a family. Actually his American dream wasn’t too different from mine. At the end of the interview Mayo was telling me had other dreams for the future, “My American dream is to work as much long as I can until I can’t work anymore, so that when I retire the government will give more money than usual. I want to start drawing and painting on on frames to put for display and for sale, but first I need an artStudio to work on my artwork. I think I'm going to use my retirement money to create an art studio and maybe in the future, I will open up a store and have my own personal business. Thats my American dream.” I suggest he start start drawing and painting as soon as possible because he has a talent for drawing and painting. Sometimes when I need to draw something for a class I would always go to him for help; I really appreciate the fact he would help me with my homework. In conclusion, the interview with Mariano Puga Medellin helped me understand the different perspectives of the American dream.

I really enjoyed interviewing and writing this essay because it was very surprising and interesting to learn about the life in Mexico, government, politics, and the American dream. My american dream is to have a house, car, fun job, family, and have a lot of money to live a good life with my family. Thats my perspective of the American dream but everyone has their view of the american dream.