Gray Days

How would the world be with out any religion or beliefs? Plutarco Elias Calles was the president of Mexico from 1924 to 1929; he included to our constitution a law called “Calles Law.”He sent his troops to close more than seventy convents and most of the churches in Jalisco and other states. In this law, he obligated priests to stop celebrating mass and preaching the word of god. This law tried to separate people from the Catholic Church, but this didn’t work the way Plutarco intended. Priests didn’t stop celebrating masses; they manage the situation making clandestine mass. This eventually provokes the death of twenty-nine priests in five states of Mexico. This conflict lasted four years from 1926-1929. After 80 years there are still some consequences of the incident; many Mexicans families including my own. And the effects of “Calles Law “are still felling.

My great-grandfather lost his land, which was the livelihood of the family. In fact, he didn’t lose his land. The troops from Calles took most of it. They settled in my great- grandfather’s house for three days. According to my grandfather, those days were humiliating, and the grayest days they ever had. The troops obligated my great-grandmother and her daughters to serve them. This wasn’t the hardest part; the hardest part was to hear them being disrespectful to my great-grandmother and her daughters, my grandfather said. The days were gone and as they were the land too. My great-grandfather was devastated. The land was the only livelihood people had back then and still these days. Once my mom and dad got married, they suffered from the struggle of “Calles Law.” There was no land that my great-grandfather could give to my dad, so he could build our house. For this reason, my dad didn’t have any other choice than go to the US to work and send some money to my mom. Land was the only way my family could survive.


Another problem that happened during La Guerra Cristera was when Calles’ troops took my great-grandfather’s cattle. In those days, cattle was an essential way of life and still is fundamental for people who live in farms like my family. Cattle and land were the only livelihood people could have back then. Calles’ troop had a mission, which was to scare people and make them feel fear, so they could stop following their religion. Most people didn’t refuse to follow the word of God. For this reason, the troops took their cattle. The government thought this was the only way they could get people scared. Most people didn’t stop following their beliefs, even though there were soldier killing people and priests who refuse to follow Calles’s law. If this conflict hadn’t happened my dad wouldn’t have had to travel to the US to send some money to my mother, so she could start building our house and buying some land and cattle. As a consequence of La Guerra Cristera, my mother, my siblings and I only have the opportunity to see my father once a year. My dad wanted to earn enough money to buy our livelihood which was land and cattle.

The last effect of the Calles Law in my family was that they line in fear. The assassination of priests was increasing. La Guerra Cristera stared for this reason just to kill priests who preached the word of God. The priests refused to follow Calles Law because they thought it was absurd to stop believing in God for political reasons. They started making clandestine masses in people’s houses or hiding in the mountains. On one occasion, my great-grandfather and family were in one clandestine mass, when the troops interrupted and took the priest and tortured him. They made him walk barefoot on sharp stones for hours. After there was no more blood to bleed and the troops made him climb a “mesquite,” a big tree. These trees are covered with sharp thorns that penetrated into his already cut hands and feet. This just makes his pain twofold intense. The troops obligated the people to watch the priest who was about to die. The priest was tide up his own rope and while he was doing this, the soldier never stopped blaspheming him. He died forgiving them. Those were his last words. After seventy years of his death he became a saint, my favorite saint. Year after year, I always go to visit him at to his church, which has incredibly grown year after year. It’s a personal satisfaction to see that his pain wasn’t in vain; faith was always there. He never lost it.


After almost a century of La Guerra Cristera involving the government and people’s beliefs, my family still has some problems of the conflict. Although the government tried to repair of the damage by removing the Calles Law from the constitution, People didn’t receive their land back, not even the cattle. Nowadays, my family and I are working in the US to buy the land that once was ours. After gray days, light comes again to illuminate our life. That is what faith is all about. Unfortunately, the Catholic Church is declining day after day because priests are not doing anything to maintain it. It’s ironic to have priests willingly to give their life for God in order to keep faith alive.

Immunization of Epidemic Tsunami

Immunization of Epidemic Tsunami
“Is she your eldest daughter? Where is she from?” My mom’s friend asked her when we met on the street in Chinatown, Chicago. “She is from Canada”, my mom answered without hesitation. In fact, I was from Hong Kong visiting my mom on vacation .This conversation happened on May 5, 2003. What happened? Why did my mom lie to her friend? It was because Hong Kong was one of the cities where the epidemic SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome) had an outbreak. No one wanted to contact someone who came from Hong Kong or mainland China in that moment for fear of infection. During the SARS outbreak, Hong Kong was like a deadly city. Every day I got news from the TV, which reported about the spread of SARS.-They talked about how many people were infected, who died in which hospitals, and they taught citizens how to protect themselves in their daily lives. My social life was limited because no one desired to hang out except go to work. I just discussed the current news with my friends over the phone. This SARS disaster devastated Hong Kong citizens for almost nine months. Similarly, it had great influences on my job, family and the socioeconomic conditions of the city.

During the SARS outbreak in Hong Kong, all the medical staff acted as a main role in this disaster. I was the one in this role too. I worked as a frontline nurse. At that moment, the overcrowding of patients occurred in every public hospital. As a result, there was a shortage of manpower in my hospital, and the hospital’s atmosphere was tense. My workload was heavier day by day, and I often worked overtime. After I finished a day’s work, I felt listless and didn’t desire to do any chores. Also, it was stressful to observe all the new instructions and guidelines for wearing masks, gowns and hand washing. Moreover, I sometimes lost my appetite and often suffered from insomnia. I lost weight quickly. Anyway, I was pretty serious about my job as all my colleagues were. No matter how hard it was, I was content with my job. In my unit, we often received numerous consolations and encouragements such as greeting cards, food and gifts donated by some citizens, celebrities and organizations

In addition, the prevention of the SARS was the dominant topic we talked about in my family. We made ourselves Chinese herb tea as well as did exercises to prevent SARS or prevent the disease. My mom called me frequently from the U S. “How many SARS patients have you contacted today?”, “You better quit your job now.” She said repeatedly every time we spoke over the phone. She was worried because she had heard some frontline medical staff were infected and died of the SARS .Nevertheless, my husband consoled me in different ways from my mother. He urged me to eat more healthy food and sleep more to increase my resistance. On days off, we went hiking or swimming in small islands to relax and breathe fresh air. He was proud of me being not a “fugitive soldier” and still continued to perform my work in this dangerous situation. However, I never talked to my family. I had even treated a patient who was suspected of having the SARS at an isolation room for a four-hour haemodialysis treatment. As a nurse, it was inevitable that I had to treat all kinds of patients.

Furthermore, on the socioeconomic level, it impacted the economy and also changed the behavior of most people. The economy went from good to worse. During the SARS period, some peoples’ lifestyles changed. They seldom dinned out or went shopping to eliminate the possibility of infection. Moreover most peoples’ expenditures were low due to a ripple effect of the poor economy, and a lot of people lost their jobs. On the other hand, people were alerted about the importance of environmental sanitation of the community. As a result, I could live a clean and hygienic neighborhood then. The new habit of using serving chopsticks has been extending from restaurants to almost every family since the SARS epidemic.

All in all, the SARS had profound influences on my job, family and the socioeconomic conditions of the country. In fact, all crises have the painful memories. Still, I experienced this epidemic tsunami as if I got some immunization from it. The stress, tension and social economic frustration were similar to a virus invading my body. However, the close relationships, mutual concern and the positive lessons in our society are as if I got a vaccination to protect me in future.

People’s Revolutionary Act. 2006

“The revolution is not an apple that falls when it is ripe. You have to make it fall.” This quote was written by Che Guevara a famous communist and it holds very true for those uneducated people in my country that started the revolution in 2006. The death of the Royal family in 2001 was the starting point for the Maoist rebels. The Maoist rebels became active which caused the civil war in Nepal. The newly appointed king was unlucky, so despite trying to maintain peace in the country, he was unsuccessful. On the other hand, Maoists took advantage of that and fooled the uneducated people for the sake of peace to start the revolution along with other political parties. Relationships are easy to break, and hard to make no matter what. I have let down my family members a lot, but the revolutionary period gave me a time to re-construct a bonding which was drowning. There is always more profit for a seller than the buyer, and this holds true for countries around the world. The revolution had a profound effect on every person living in the country, and my family cannot be separated from them.
After the revolution started, the king declared a curfew for all parts of the nation, so people were not allowed to go out from their residences. My parents were also scared and they always kept an eye on me. Whenever I had a chance I used to go to my cousin’s place, but many times they caught me at the door and I had to go back to my room. The relationship between my family and I was like flesh and bone, without one, the other part didn’t exist. My parents had to go to work because the government and the non-government organizations were not closed. They used to lecture me before going to work and many times I was so scared that I asked them not to leave the house. It was always in vain for them because there is a famous quote which people say “work comes first”.
The mental pressure always horrified the people including my family, and me. The tear gas, the gun shots, and the scary news about the people dying always horrified me. Though I was mentally scared, I was also equally frustrated staying at home and listening to the news. Since there was no other job to perform my sister and I used do the gardening, cleaning, and the household chores because we knew that our mother would be dead tired after coming back from work. There used to be discussion everyday with my parents when they got back from work. My parents used to tell me that they were the bees running after sweets. Pollution from the burning tires, thrown stones, and smell from garbage cans which was not picked for many days made people sick. Hospitals were full of sick patients and injured people. There were fewer water supplies and the electricity went off frequently. Many unusual events occurred during the period of revolution, but family bonding became solid as a rock.
Finally, the revolution made everyone unsatisfied especially to the people who ran businesses because the economy of the country was collapsing. It went down as the gravity of the earth pulls down the objects when thrown up in the sky. Though my parents have a good income, they were also shocked because the price of all the goods sky rocketed. There were no fresh vegetables, and the stocks of other goods were almost finished as broadcasted by the news. People were legally allowed to shop twice a day, and people used to utilize that time going to work, and returning to their destination. It is true that, revolutions always had an effect from the rich to the poor and the difference is that some people suffer more whereas some people suffer less. In the revolution my family and I suffered less, but the love between us grew stronger.

At last, the day came when the king gave all the power to the political leaders.

The apple was forced to fall but under what circumstances? Is the question unsolved? The king was removed from the Royal Address, and there was joy for those uneducated people who had no idea about the meaning of democracy. On the contrary, educated people were sad because they knew the difference. They knew that during the cold session everyone wants to sit near the heat, but during warm session no one cares. The revolutionary period was really painful, humiliating, and sad for all the educated people but the relationship between my family and me has grown and developed up to heights that I could never have imagined.

Collapse 1991

I grew up in the biggest country in the world – Russia, but seventeen years ago it was much bigger and it was called Union of Soviet Socialists Republics. It was strong and powerful, but too big and too multinational to keep everything under control. In the year of 1991 the Soviet Union collapsed. It sank as a roller-coaster car very fast and all the way to the bottom. The collapse was caused by numerous reasons like the decline of the economy, the desire of numerous republics to be independent and an inefficient government. This collapse was a significant event which affected in different ways the whole country and people who lived there.

The most significant affect of the split up was the general crisis in the country. The economy was affected the most. The prices were liberalized and went out of the government control. Basically they were in hands of individuals in power who managed the prices the way they wanted. In addition, the country faced a demographic crisis. The number of birth declined immediately because people were scared about their and children’s future. On top of that there were constant conflicts between republics that wanted to exit the Soviet Union. Of course, the USSR government did not want to let them separate because there were investments and projects made in the territories of those republics. That is how Russia lost its major navy base after separating with Ukraine. That was also one of the reasons of the ten-year conflict in Chechnya where a lot people were killed and injured.

The collapse inevitably affected my family as well. A lot of companies and factories could not handle the crisis and they had two choices. They could either close down or save money by reducing manufacturing and firing employees. That happened with my mother too. The factory where she had worked for years had hard times, and they had to lay her off as well as a lot of other employees. It was a big shock for her and for the whole family. I will never forget that day when she came home after work, sat on a chair and started crying. She could not believe that it had happened to her. My father was able to keep his job. But the construction company he worked for was municipal and was getting almost no financial support from the city. Consequently, the workers were not paid either. He was one of the supervisors in his company and he had to deal with the pressure and whining from the co-workers. As a result, those negative emotions were brought to the family and caused even more conflicts.

All those crucial changes in the county put a lot of stress on my family. As a six year old child I did not feel it much, but I remember the constant tension and conflicts between my parents. I recently found out that my father was depressed because he could not support the family as he had done it for years. In addition, my mother had to sacrifice a lot when she decided to start her own small business. That seemed the only way to make some money though it completely contradicted my father’s ideology of a wife’s duties. Losing a job, not getting paid, inside family conflicts, a new political system and price liberalization brought more stress to our family and a feeling of insecurity.

In fact, the collapse of the USSR significantly affected almost every citizen. A lot of them lost their jobs or businesses, fell into despair or depression or even lost someone they knew in armed conflicts between some republics. It was a truly hard time for my family too, but we made it through the crisis and overcame those challenges. The roller-coaster car eventually went up. The rough times are left behind, and they have never been discussed between me and my parents. We do not like to bring up old bad memories; however, they will never be erased from our minds.

The Deadliest Earthquake

Tangshan earthquake which was the Deadliest Earthquake in China changed many families’ lives. How did it change? In 1976, a magnitude 7.8 earthquake happened in the city of Tangshan, in northeastern China. It happened without any omens, and broken residents’ dreams. At that time, my grandparents and my father lived in the city of Tangshan. According to their memories, there are more than 240 thousand people were killed in that terrible event and about 100 million were injured. My families are survivors during the earthquake. Some old houses in their region were flattened, though nobody were killed or injured. However, the disaster has a big influence on my family in three significant areas: economy, education, and the health.
First, the Tangshan earthquake affected the economy of my family. Most of the houses collapsed. All the people dared not to go to stay in their houses. So many tents were built outside. My grandparents and my father had to live in the tents for many days. They also had to deal with not enough water, food, or electricity. It was very painful. My grandma said," thirty years has passed but it was like happened yesterday." Because most of residential buildings and industrial buildings were completely destroyed, so my grandparents moved to another city where I had lived for eighteen years before I moved to the U.S. I always said that I’m lucky. If my grandparents didn’t move to another city, my father and my mother would have never gotten married.
Next, the Tangshan earthquake a the education of my father. My father was only thirteen years old at that time. With so much damage, my father couldn’t go to school for study. While education is important, my father couldn’t receive the education because of the earthquake. It almost damaged my father’s dream. He wanted to be a teacher when he was young. He liked teaching and wanted to help students with their studies. The earthquake changed my father’s lives. Now, he is a doctor. He said that he wanted to save more people’s life because he saw many people lost their life in the earthquake. He hopes that people cherish their lives because many people wanted to be alive but couldn’t.
Then the Tangshan earthquake affected the health of my family. The members of my family had psychological trauma from then on. They were afraid of the disaster. They were survivors and they didn't want to undergo that kind of disaster one more time. They don’t want to see the separate with the relatives. After the earthquake, they also thought the buildings would collapse for a long period. They couldn’t sleep well and dare not stay at home. Now, my grandparents are calm when they talk about the earthquake. However, the memory won't disappear even with the passing of time.
Now, the city of Tangshan is beautiful. It was been rebuilt and everything isdifferent. Although this kind of big earthquake hasn't happened for the past few years, aftershocks happen frequently. That is always the case. Nevertheless, no matter what influence the earthquake brought, the slump of the economy, the sadness, or the psychological panic; in the face of a natural disaster, The Chinese people never feel despaired. We are still filled with courage. We are full of hopes and dreams.

The Corner

There’s a saying in poor Chinese families that when a man gets to the top, all his relatives rise to high positions. I do believe it, and I have been practicing it for many years. Maybe some of the adolescents who were born after the 1980s might not think that there would be differences between the city and country. However, people living in the country do hope that someone in their family can get out for their dreams. In the meanwhile, those working in the cities have responsibilities to the whole family. The Economic Opening of China has changed the lives of most of the Chinese in cities. Nevertheless, the village children still open their eyes widely to the skyscrapers for their curious feelings. It happened to me when I was sixteen years old. My father traveled to America and stayed here. His working in the US changed the route that my family was supposed to walk along.

As a boy at that time, I felt like I was a released prisoner when my father told me that there would be no farming anymore. Each year, when the harvest time came, I couldn’t help remembering the times I worked in the field. It was true that poor children had to work with their family when they reached the age of five. As for me, I first held up a farming tool when I was seven, and I wouldn’t forget that I cut my finger a few minutes after I walked into the field. After the first attempt, a lot of work came and pushed me down. Thus, it’s so easy to think how happy I was when my father left for America. The standard of living in my family had changed. I didn’t need to bend in the rain, I wouldn’t blame the evil sunshine, and I wouldn’t cry over the work in a mountain of sugarcane.

I should be thankful for my continuing studies after middle school since my father came to America. It was uneasy for a poor family to afford to educate their children. Many children in the village had to stop their studies after middle school, and then they left their homes and worked in strange cities. I didn’t have to drop out because my father traveled to America when I was in middle school. My family could afford the tuition and living expenses of my studies from the time he left. Although I still complain about the incident that happened years ago when my parents broke my hope the moment I got into a better school, I felt lucky that I got into high school and university after that. In my career as a student, I learned a lot that my childhood friends lost the chance to learn. It was all about fate and chance, I thought as a boy who was born in the country.

The most important turning point for me was the immigration of my family after my father’s arrival in the U.S. It totally changed my life, from a country youth to a man living in a big city. For most of the people in my hometown, living in a foreign country is better than everything. However, for us, we are behind the start line and beginning to walk across it. If my father hadn’t taken the opportunity of travelling here, I would still be walking on the road beside the hills or working hard in a factory, but now I’m faced with the avenues filled with cars. The smells that come out from the cars do not depress me, nor does the noise of the running trains make me upset. What I am supposed to do is appreciating and enjoying my new life.

There are many times when people walk to the corner. Most of them may change everything because they step on new roads. I still believe that life is easier when someone is the pathfinder before you and keeps on going in front of you. If someone asked me why people desire to immigrate to foreign countries, I would tell him a story about a crying boy in the field, a depressed student holding a certificate, and a whole family looking forward to reunion. Also, people in the cities should take a glance at the corner of the world. There are so many begging voices that they have never heard before. I dare to say my father’s coming to the US has played an important part in my life. At least, thanks to my father, I can breathe in the crowd that is full of new faces.

Expensive Deadwood

Have you ever heard of “Mottainai”? This is the Japanese word when people throw out things that can be usable. This common sense idea has developed in the country where the natural resources are limited. In 1997, the international convention was held in Kyoto, Japan which warned the world of an environmental crisis, and made us aware that we needed to prevent dangerous effect to our planet. After that, the Japanese government established recycling regulation countywide in accordance with this protocol. The regulation targeted to absorb Greenhouse Gas, like CO2. It made Japanese people much more conscious about daily waste. Our family realized that we had to change our way of life because we could no longer conceal garbage in our country or around the globe.

At the beginning, we started separating garbage for recycling which reduced burnable or concealable garbage. Every single household had to buy several designated garbage bags for separate categories. To sort them according to materials confused our family much more than we had expected. For example, there were both reusable and non-reusable materials in plastic. In addition, we had to crush cans and plastic bottles, and rinse every container in order to deduct recycle process and cost. In my home town, we placed the garbage bags in front of every house at night on the scheduled day. If we made mistake sorting or did not crush cans inside of the see-through bag, we found the bag left on the street the next morning.

Second, there was big change of domestic products in Japan. Besides the development of an incinerator, most Japanese manufacturers started to develop green conscious products. Most of them were designed to minimize using energy. For example, Japanese automobile manufacturers developed the first hybrid car that minimized using gasoline with its electrical engine system. Also, these cars can reduce exhaust gas which is a main factor of global warming. In addition, an electrical manufacturer developed a new washing machine that needed 20% water compared to earlier models. I did not want to use the water for washing my clothes due to feeling dirty. However, most the water conservation washing machine cleans the water in its system. Soon I realized how manufacturers made an effort so that consumer could economize on water by using it, and how much water we had wasted every day taking baths.

Finally, the new regulation affected our fashion and scene on the streets in Japan. All the public garbage bins were changed to categorized types everywhere. The bin was long, like a bench on the streets because there are five or six categories in one set. Fashion also changed, especially in business occasions because the government focused on electric consumption to cool offices by air conditioners. Most congressmen including the Prime Minister stopped wearing ties and jackets; then, they replaced their long sleeves with short sleeves in the summer. They named this new style “COOL BIZ”. Many retail shops started selling business casual clothes. On the streets in the summer, I began to find more white than the black and gray of the past. My father wore a black suite in the summer only for funerals.

Japanese people are still struggling to separate the three materials - the plastic cap, a bottle and its paper label of a bottle after drinking water. However, this bothersome law has forced us to buy our own canteens for drinks for good. In addition, it has changed our culture, not only our way of live. Japanese people always say every small action makes a difference, and these will help to save our planet. The new regulation soon became our family’s habit. When I came to the US, I felt uncomfortable throwing out garbage all together. In fact, recycling and reuse cost a lot of money. Sometimes, it is more expensive than manufacturing new products. However, we should manage the limited resource of the globe where we are living because our waste does not disappear even when we incinerate it.