If We Could Have More Than Two Children



If We Could Have More Than Two Children

The fact is that China is the most populous in the world, so the One-Child Policy may not have been such a surprise. The One-Child Policy was implemented by the Chinese government in 1979. The purpose of the policy is to control the fast growing of population. In addition, it restricts couples to have no more than one child, except for the rural couples or parents who are both only children in this family. In other words, if the mother and father have no siblings, they can have two children. At the same time, my grandfather had a tradition of son preference because he believed that sons in rural families were more helpful for farm work. However, my parents had two daughters, and the two kids were the maximum they could have at that time. Thus, my grandfather told my parents to move somewhere where people did not know them in order to have a son, and they listened. Consequently, the One-Child Policy had three profound effects on my family.

The first effect of the One-Child Policy was that my grandparents were fearful for a long time. After my parents moved, my grandparents were very busy every day. They had a lot of work to do. They not only needed to do the housework and work on the farm, but also they to take care of my sisters. In addition, the One-Child Policy made my grandparents very anxious and concerned about my parents. Meanwhile, people who worked in the government were chasing my parents because they were in violation of the policy. Therefore, my grandparents not only worried about my mother and her marriage to my father, but they also could be arrested by the government.

Consequently, my parents did not have a stable life. My parents could not live in the same place for a long time. When they had the third child, it meant they were in violation of the One-Child Policy, so the government officials were trying to arrest them. If the government had arrested them, they would force my mother to abort. Thus, my parents were very scared, and they had to move frequently before the government found them. In addition, they did not have stable income. Because my mother was pregnant, she could not have a job. Finding a job also was difficult for my father during this time since he lived in various strange places, and they moved frequently. Even though my father had a job, he did not earn much. Moreover, my father could not work in the companies that required identification because it was easy to be found by the government.

Furthermore, the One-Child Policy brought my third sister an unhappy childhood. My sister has been separated from my family since she was born. She was raised by my aunt, and she is still living in China. When my sister was born, my parents asked my aunt to take care of her because my family could not have another kid at home, especially a girl. As a result, she did not have real family love. Even worse, some kids in the same neighborhood always laughed at my sister. In her village, many people knew she was adopted by my aunt. They said that my sister did not have parents, and she was an orphan. My sister was very lonely and sad because no one was willing to play with her. Therefore, my sister still resents my parents because they sent her to my aunt, and this always makes my family upset.

It is obvious to see how the One-child policy has affected my family. If the One-Child Policy had never appeared, my grandparents would not have needed to have such a hard life. My parents would not have had to move frequently. My third sister would not have left my family, and she would not hate my parents today. Every time we talk about this, my parents feel so guilty for my sister, and now they are doing their best to make up the lost years. On the other hand, if we could have more than two children, children will not feel lonely in the process of growing up. The policy still exists because the Chinese population is still growing rapidly. It will continue to affect the Chinese economy and put pressure on environment.

Our Path as a Family

Flora Rodriguez

ESL 100

10/27/13

                                                Our Path as a Family

Hunger and terror are the words that my mother uses to describe the devastating days in The Civil War. I was born on a cold December night in Baku, Azerbaijan in 1989 from an Armenian mother and Cuban father. By that time, the Soviet Union collapsed and all fifteen republics were trying to become independent from Russia. Therefore, the conflict started between many of republics, and one of conflicts was between Armenia and Azerbaijan starting the Civil War. The war erupted because a small Republic called Nagorno Karabaj with an Armenian population decided to be independent from Azerbaijan and become part of Armenia. The economy was down, people were claiming their rights, and day by day friends and family members were disappearing. It was a time of fear, tears and suffering. The big chaos of the Civil War changed the path of my family forever.

            The first big step that we made was to escape from Azerbaijan. Fidel Castro who was the president of Cuba back then, sent the plane to Baku to save Cuban civil students. As a result, my family and I had the opportunity to escape because of my Cuban father.  The airport was shut down, and it was practically a miracle when the plain arrived. My mother was holding me very close to her body while she was running to the airplane. My father who was holding my older brother in his right hand and a bag of clothes that he barely had time to grab in another hand was running after us. It was cold and rainy. It was like a life or death race to get to the airplane to be safe. My mother who made to the airplane, who forgot about my father and brother, the first thing she did was to unwrap me to see if I was alive. A soft pink cheek and a red pail mouth was the first fact that made my mother cry of happiness. Seconds after with tears in her eyes, my mother started calling my father’s and older bother’s names. When they saw each other that was the moment of satisfaction and greatness. The first flight was only three hours to Moscow.  After two weeks living there as refugees in the Cuban embassy, we received the all necessary documents to fly to Havana, Cuba.

            During my first seven years that I lived in Cuba, I grew up in a very harmonious atmosphere with my family, including my Cuban grandmother and grandfather.   Even though there was a lack with food, water and electricity, I was a happy child. Learning Spanish was easy for me because I arrived to Cuba when I was a few months old. My brother that was seven years old learned faster then my mother. She, instead, took her time to get comfortable with the language. I remember my childhood running barefoot in a hot summer night with my friends in the small neighborhood. Memories that I have from that time are after school was how my grandmother made my preferred Cuban coffee with the exact sweetness and powdered milk. I was a loved child. Spending time with my grandmother after school made it a wonderful experience. Even though my parents eventually separated that made me an independent and responsible girl. When my mother learned Spanish enough, she got an offer of diplomatic position in The UNESCO office for United Nation in Costa Rica as an interpreter.  Once my mother got her stability and independence, she brought my older brother and me there. She also married a wonderful man.

             My family and I arrived to the peaceful country with no armed forces named Costa Rica. It was a totally different experience always having food at home compared to Cuba. Regardless of the cultural shock that I had for couple of months, I felt in love with Costa Rica. My mother built our new home there. Having a diplomatic status, my mother was able to put me in a Japanese school. Living in Latino country, with multiracial multicultural and linguistic family and studying in Japanese school made my life full of unique of experience. I never felt the language barrier because it was the same Spanish language like in Cuba.  I enjoyed good time in the beach with my friends, since the trip were really common and cheap.  In addition, living in Costa Rica made me love the nature and care about animals.  The philosophy of Costa Ricans is being relaxing most of the time and living life day by day. On the other hand my older brother and I had our own philosophy that my mother transmitted to us such as, be grateful build your own independence and be successful in any task you made.  I finished my high school with good grades. I was in my new phase to start my adult life. Meanwhile my family was having a hard time in their company.  It was a very hard time for all of us. The anxiety for a better life pushed my stepfather perused the American dream. He came to U.S.A and lived by himself for almost four years, building the conditions to bring us from Costa Rica. Once he was able to do that, we came to Chicago with all wishes and desire of better life.

            For the better part of our lives my family and I had experienced a lot emotional and physical changes that made us stronger and united. In my opinion, having this all made us love and respect each other even more. My stepfather is still working in the same company but in a better position.  My mother is studying most of the time with my little brother because of the language barrier. My old brother stayed in Costa Rica with his girlfriend. Today, on a cold rainy day drinking my coffee at Starbucks before my early class starts, brings me memories of how my little brother, my mother, and I arrived on a cold December night to Chicago just like the same day as I was born. Through these difficulty choices that my mother had to make in the Civil War until my stepfather that bring us to Chicago, we have been building a better life. All changes can be difficult and challenging, but they can be overcome with love and patiently like my family did. This December is going to be three years that we have been living in The Windy City. Like I felt once in love with Costa Rica, now I feel like I already love this Windy City.

A Big Revolution in Life

Madiha Altaf

English 100

10-30-2013

                                         A Big Revolution in Life 

Many people often wonder how it is that one can invest and lose money. Some people think that if they can make more money, they will have a higher spot in their career. There are many things in life that can change the course of a person’s life, which can either have a positive or negative impact. Six years ago my father had a modern furniture showroom in Pakistan with his business companion, and it was a successful business. After some time, my father began to lose his business because his partner cheated him by manipulating the finances. My father’s business partner’s bad financial decisions had many negative effects on my family.

During those years, my father’s partner ruined his successful business. In 2006, my father’s successful business was booming. My father was the CEO, and his partner was the financial manager. We were living a very royal existence, but a little mistake changed our lives because of my father’s trust in his business partner. His partner cheated my father by bringing financial disorder. Whenever they communicated about the profit and the financial expenses, he always showed the wrong amount of financial profits, and he said they weren’t incurring losses in their business. That is the reason my father could not get enough profit and could hardly pay taxes and other expenses. Day by day, his business was decreasing and my family was falling into a lower position. Facing that situation forced me to work a part time to help my father sell clothes in a boutique. The decreasing his business affected my father’s personality, and it gave him so much depression and anxiety.

During that time, my father’s personality changed and he lost his confidence. My father was a very ordinary and confident person. However, losing his business gave him a sense of grief and deep anxiety. He felt betrayed and cast aside. Eventually, too much depression made him sick, feeling like he lost his senses, and as if he could not think properly. My father did not pay attention to how he dressed for work; he would just go in with his casual clothes. Also, he stopped communicating with other people and met less with family and friends. He also did not pay attention to his health or eating habits. Moreover, he hardly spent time with family. After some time had gone by, he stopped trusting other people because of his business and other decisions. His changed personality had badly impacted the family.

The biggest turning point for my family was that we had to move to a new house. For many individuals, life is about living paycheck to paycheck, but once the paycheck no longer arrives, we couldn’t afford our expenses such as an enormous house. We had two houses, one was large and the other was small, but this condition forced us to sold out the big house and move into the smaller house. Also, my siblings and I switched to a new school nearby our new house. Switching to the other school was hard because we had to make new friends, which was so uncomfortable and also we had to walk a lot to take the bus for school. Furthermore, moving to the other house made us difficulties such as living in a new neighborhood, which was not a community area such as there were not enough grocery stores or shopping malls.

To conclude, there are many times when people at too much trust in others, which can lead to destructive impact on one’s personality. Consequently, my father now always wonders how he really lost his business and became unsuccessful, and why he never saw his partner for the dishonest person he was. As a result, he has learned how to judge and deal with others, that not everyone is faithful. I erudite from my father’s experience not to trust people and always try not to be taken in. I had learned from my father’s experience not to believe anyone and never have too many expectations from others, which can make a person hollow like a bare shell. 

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Garbage Man

An Yamazaki

Final Draft

Garbage Man

My father is lazy. However, some people might not agree with me. At his workplace, he works harder than others, so his co-workers praise him for his diligence. In contrast, at home he does not do anything, nor does he help my mother. She, therefore, scolds him for his laziness. Nevertheless, since the Korean government enforced a new law in 1995, the Volume-Rate Garbage Disposal System, my father changed. To put it simply, the new law says that every home must separate their trash and put the trash into standard plastic garbage bags. The bags were determined by the government. If people did not follow the law, they had to pay a fine. The idea was that by purchasing the bags, every house paid a garbage fee. The garbage fee was determined by how many bags every house used. This way, the government could reduce amount of trash. Consequently, the new law affected my lazy father.

 The Volume-Rate Garbage Disposal System made our house a garbage dump. The law was not as simple as we thought. Before the law was implemented, we just threw trash away into a bin outside, so we did not have to keep garbage inside our home. However, after the law was implemented, we had to keep garbage at home because of my lazy father. He postponed buying the standard plastic garbage bags. When he went to a grocery store to buy the bags, he was not able to purchase them because everybody bought them in bulk. I still do not know why, but people did, so the bags were sold out. That was why we had to hold on to the trash until we could get the bags, so my home became a dump in next to no time. During this time, when I got home and opened the door, an offensive smell greeted me before my puppy. My brother and I did not want to go home. We hung out at our friends’ houses as much as we could because they already had gotten the bags. Consequently, a lot of bugs who lived in our village hung out at my house as much as they could. My mother could not stand it, so she reluctantly threw the trash away without using the standard garbage bags. As a result, my parents had to pay a fine.

The unexpected issue made my father step into housework, and my father became in charge of garbage. After he paid the fine, he declared, “I will be in charge of the garbage, and I will throw it away.” My brother and I called him the Garbage Man, but not to his face. We were surprised because my father is a typical Korean man who does not cook, clean the house, or do the dishes. He was taught that men do not go into a kitchen, and that men never attend to housework. Nowadays, these kinds of ideologies are out of date, but some people of my father’s generation still think that way. If he did not pay the fine, my father would not do any housework no matter how dirty our house was. It was also clear that bugs seemed to love my father because he gave them a new place to play. I still remember my mother’s delighted face the first day when my father threw trash away. At first, it went well, and everybody was happy. However, as my father realized that our home had more trash than other homes and our happiness slowly went away.

This is what happened. Garbage and money got married. Before the law was implemented, they were divorced. Nevertheless, after the law was implemented, they were married because my father had to buy the garbage bags in order to throw trash away. He did not want to spend a lot of money for trash, so the garbage bags made my father stingy like Mr. Scrooge. In other words, after my father became the garbage man, he also became the Money Man. He made his own new law, which we named the Volume-Rate Tissue Disposal System. He ordered, “ From now on, we are going to use each tissue at least twice.” When we heard that, of course we thought he was joking, but he was serious. When we just threw the tissues away as usual, he nagged us. It was weird. How could we reuse used tissues? I was in a dilemma. I really did not want to reuse used tissues. However, I had no choice, and I had to follow my father’s law. Therefore, I had to keep used tissues in my pockets or purses. Then my brother and I changed his name to “Money Man”, but not to his face.  As time went by his passion for trash lessened, and after a few years he retired from the Garbage Man. This was because he was lazy. Also, even though he retired from the Garbage Man, we still had to use tissues over and over and over and over and over… again.

This is my lazy father. I am lazy as well. Some people might not agree with me. At my job I work harder than others, so my co-workers praise me for my diligence. In contrast, at home I do not throw tissues away, and my husband scolds me for my laziness. I do not want to admit it, but it has become my bad habit. I also like to reuse used tissues. I have to keep the tissues if they look reusable. When I just throw them away, I feel guilty. Thus, there are always used tissues on my table or nightstand. My husband only nags me when I keep used tissues. He constantly tells me, “ You are lazy!” Breaking old habits is not easy. No, it is extremely hard. Thanks, Daddy…

A Mini Truck

A Mini Truck

Nobody wants to live in a poor and backward country. In 1987, Deng XiaoPing approved the Reform and Opening-up Policy, and it was a very important and completely correct thing for China at that moment. Moreover, the people who lived in the country were very poor and worked hard in the old China. For example, when Mao Zedong was chairman, he said, “our country is vast, we can be self-sufficient, and the farming is the most important thing for us.” Thus, the people just had their job on their farmland, and they had no any chance to change their lives. However, Chairman Deng’s reform was approved. It changed the lives of everyday people living in China, and resulted in better employment, transportation, and education.

When my father was young, he did not need to do a lot of farm work, but made more money working as a employee. After the reforms were approved, there were more and more foreign companies and private businesses invested in the coastal area, so the companies needed a huge labor force to work for them. Shenzhen was one of the earliest reform cities located in the coastal area that made it easy to export, and it was also a window for China to see the world. If this new city wanted to have a good development at the beginning, it needed huge workforce, so a large number of people who lived in country flocked into Shenzhen and found a job; my dad was one of those people. Moreover, working for the companies was better than farming. My dad told me that when he worked in Shenzhen, he could open his vision and get more experience. Furthermore, his employment in this new economic zone has affected our family for a long time.

Another consequence of the Reform and Opening-up Policy was that the traffic system became integrated in my hometown-Taishan. A lot of factories moved to my hometown because it is closed to Shenzhen. Consequently, the city had to build a better traffic system for the demand of the economy. On the one hand, the spacious roads were good for transportation. Nevertheless, my dad decided to quit his day job, and he used his savings to buy a mini truck. He went to deliver the cargo for the factories in my hometown. It gave him more freedom and made more money. In addition, traveling on a flat road is more enjoyable for the people. When I was a child, my dad usually drove me to on short trips around my hometown with his mini truck, and he would tell me some stories of Taishan on the way. Those stories inspired me and made me want to pursue the moon.

 Additionally, there were more and more children that could go to school because of the better economy. After the reforms, not only the economy picked up fast, but also the education. Economy is the pillar of country, and the education is base of society. Thus, education is very important for sustainable development in China. When I was six, I began to school. The first time I got into the classroom, I saw everything was new, and I was so interested in that good environment to study. on the other hand, the government and some philanthropists built some learning foundations; that were also helping the students. As a result, reforms was very important and influential for the education part of China.

The mini truck is only one example of how the Reforms and Opening-up Policy affected my family. I love the mini truck because it gave me a lot of fun and helped my family move into the middle class. Moreover, the reforms also affected Chinese in many aspects. Including the economy, transportation, and education. Actually, the reforms were not only influential in China, but also in the world. It made China to be giving the country a more prominent place in the world. It also helped Chinese people gain more respect.

The Wind of Transition

Yesun-Erdene.B

Michal Eskayo

Second Draft

The Wind of Transition

          Before the 1990’s Mongolia was a communist country, but at the beginning of the 1990's a group of people made a revolution. Then everything changed, and our nation became democratic. This economic change had influenced many people’s lives negatively and positively. Same as, it effected my family both ways, but one of the most significant changes is that I was able to go everywhere in the world. Although the communism change to a democracy initially harmed the economy of Mongolia, it proved for the better because it introduced religious freedom and free speech. 

          First of the economic changes had negatively influenced the condition of my family. After the collapse of communism, everybody’s life became difficult and completely changed the wrong way because the economy had no strength to carry the nation. For example, there was nothing to be sold in the grocery stores except for salt and sugar. People were given one cart to get a food once every week and each family was given five pieces of bread and one cup of sugar to per family. That is why people started to quit their jobs because the salary was not enough to survive on. People began to go abroad and create their own businesses. Like them, my father quit his job as a policeman and began his own import and export business to improve his life. However, he was not successful at all. His failure gave my parents hard time and it made them separate from each other. Their separation made me depressed and confused because growing up to a broken family was not easy. I am still jealous whenever I see a completely happy family. 

          However, there were also good things that happened. In 1990, democracy set in with a policy to reaffirm traditional culture and revived Buddhism, because as it was in the 1930’s, Mongolian religious traditions suffered much from the communist regime. They had started leading to an almost complete wipe out of the Buddhist clergy. All monasteries were destroyed and thousands of monks were killed or deported. That is why many rituals and festivals were subject to attempt or tried secularized throughout all of Mongolia. At that time people had no right to adore any religion, and my great-grandfather was one of Mongolian biggest disciple of the religious master of a Buddhist temple. He tried to escape from the repression, but he failed. They caught him with thousands of other monks, were herded into trucks by the security forces, and were shot in the head. As a result, his death has affected our family to be labeled a rebellious family. So when communism fell, our family was very glad to get back our family reputation and clear my great-grandfather’s name after the revival of Buddhism.

          The most important thing that happened is that I was now able to go everywhere in the world. For Mongolians, this economic change was the key to open the gate to the world for country. Being under the role of communism, we had no rights to give a free speech and no freedom. For example; everybody should be under the policy of the leader and have equal rights. If someone says something against their leaders’ policy, they would be arrested, and people could not express their opinions. Besides, the people’s minds were blind at that time because of the closed nation. Therefore, democracy brought us freedom and opens our eyes. 

          To conclude, the communism change to a democracy initially harmed the economy of Mongolia, it proved for the better because it introduced religious freedom and free speech. The wind of transition has made me who I am. In the beginning, the wind was freezing cold for me, but then it blew the little spark of life within me and set a big fire. This flame always going to be warm and it will be the light for my future. I would not be the person I am today if it was not for this wind I call Democracy.

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