What is fear? Fear is that unpleasant emotion caused by the belief
that someone or something is dangerous, likely to cause pain or harm. There are
so many people in other countries where they have to live with fear every
moment of their lives. Fear of getting killed or hurt by someone who they don’t
even know. They have to be ready for anything because if they let their guard
down just for a second then they might get assaulted or hurt. Those people are
used to seeing violence everywhere they go, so what they see doesn’t even surprise
anymore, but the fact that it doesn’t surprise them anymore
it doesn’t mean that they are not afraid because they know that at any moment
it could be one of them being killed or being threaten that a member of their family will be killed if they don’t pay a certain amount of
money.
Where I come from is a very beautiful with some of the most
beautiful views and places to visit, but sadly violence and fear has taken over the
country. El Salvador is in fourth place for homicide rates. Just last
week while I was watching the news from El Salvador they said that they had
found 20 dead bodies from 7 am to 7 pm. In the last few weeks homicide rates
have raised in a significant number, usually the number of dead bodies that
police found in a day could be around 8 to 10, which is a very big number, but
people still have the courage to do everything they have to do throughout the
day. They overcome their fear of getting killed, kidnaped, or assaulted. They take
great risk by going out of their houses but that doesn’t stop them from doing
so, because they have to provide food for their family. Those people show a lot
of courage by going out of their homes and going to work, and they provide hope
to their family by getting back to their houses safe. Something they rely on
to never lose their hope is God because, in times of difficult situations God
is the only one that can get us through those times. God plays a major role in
society in El Salvador also family has a big impact, because they have to stick
together as a family when they are going through those moments, and also family
is something that encourages people to go out there to their jobs.
When I lived
there I didn’t leave the house because we were too afraid to go out because where we
used to live there were shootings probably twice every month. My parents
sometimes didn’t sleep at all because they were afraid that if they let their
guard down something bad could happen. My dad was the only one that worked
because my mom was afraid to leave us alone. When you live in a place like that
you can feel death following you and fear never leaves your side either. Whenever
me and my little brother walked to school we usually walked very fast because
the sooner we got to school the sooner fear disappeared. Me and my family
prayed every time we were going to leave the house. We prayed to God to protect us
and to never leave our side. God was the only thing that gave us courage to go
out there and gave us hope that we would return safe to our houses.
There are
some memories I wish I could forget like when I saw someone getting shot for
the first time and the sound that the gun made when they were shooting that guy
or when we had to bury my best friend because he was killed by bullet in the
middle of a gun fight. but things like that are the things that had made me the
person I am now. They give me courage to go on and never give up, and I hope
that someday I could return to my country and not be afraid. God blessed my
family by getting us out of that place to live somewhere where we can be safe,
and we can prosper and have the freedom to do anything we want and to go
everywhere we want.
-Alexis Ariza
No comments:
Post a Comment