Sorry

My story isn’t exciting. It’s actually pretty basic. My story is one that has been told thousands of times and will continue to be told even after I pass. My story is one of fear, of strength, and of joy. My story is of an American child born to non-American parents, and in this country, that is something very, very familiar.

My mother came here from her home country about 15 years ago. She did not come because she wanted to or for a better future, My mother was sent here as a teenager to provide for her family back home and for the past 15 years that’s what she’s done. In this country she has made a life, she has made something of herself and though it has been difficult she has continued to work hard, but not for the same reasons. Me and my mother are tight. She is my hero. Throughout my life, I have seen how difficult it has been for her to prosper in this country. It’s funny how a birth certificate can have such an effect on one’s life.

My name is Jasmine Shul and I was born in the state of Massachusetts to a mother, a father, and an older sibling. My life has not been easy, but if you are born to non-American parents that’s usually a given. Throughout my short life I have moved multiple times, still in my neighborhood, and have suffered a great deal of sickness. I was once a lone and chubby coffee colored girl sleeping in a room with strangers- laughing, running, and attending a not so good elementary school down the street. Now that is not the case. Better people and influences surround me, and I’m not so chubby anymore, but I do still laugh.

This country is my home, not because I was born here or because I speak the language, but because it is here that I have experienced my successes. I don’t have much of a story yet, not because of my age or my lack of experiences, but because one’s difficulties does not make a story. Luckily, day-by-day, things get brighter for me. This is not the best country, especially for anyone who is an immigrant, but if it is in this country that I am to write my story, then…