This is my first diary on Kos and I never actually intended to write anything on here. I refrain from social media and try to stay out of most arguments on the internet. But the farther into the Primary we get, the more I feel like I should share my story.
All through school I learned about how people have immigrated to America for decades upon decades in order to “have a better life,” and to “live the American dream!” When I was hearing this, I wondered to myself if the “American dream” was running around the house, desperately looking for any coins and, if we were lucky, the infamous dollar bill just to have some sort of food to eat that night. Was the “better life” they were looking for a life where they had to go two weeks without food, usually at the end of the month, because your parents had to choose between paying the bills or buying food?
I never thought to ask these questions; I was afraid that people would judge me for being poor. When I would sit in the cafeteria in Elementary school and have nothing to eat in front of me even though I was starving and people would ask, “why don’t you have food?” and I would just say I wasn’t hungry. Maybe that was the dream they were talking about.
At 13 years old, I started working. Most kids work to buy a new toy or some candy. Perhaps to go to the movies or the mall with their friends. For me, I worked to make sure me, my two sisters and my parents had food to eat. To make sure we had water to shower and wash clothes in, lights to do our homework in. I had gotten so tired of showering by candle light, and the next month having lights to see but no water to shower. That must be the better life they were looking for, right?
I was always so confused and never understood why people wanted to live like that. All of these things caused a lot of stress and anxiety for me. No 13 year old should say to their mom, “You can eat tonight, I’m not hungry,” simply because there wasn’t enough food to go around.
Eventually, this turned into my parents buying food for everyone else except for me. Eventually this led to all kinds of abuse. Maybe it was because I made myself seem weak. Maybe it was because everyone was under so much stress that my dad just had to punch someone and it was me. Maybe it was because I let it happen. I don't know the reason.
This will be my first time voting, not because I’m lazy, but because of my age. I was too young to vote for Obama, Gore or Kerry. I remember these races though. And everyone around me, in the small little town I’m from, always talked so badly about these people. They said the word “Democrat” like it was a bad word. They were all Republicans, so I was like “Heck yeah! Obama sucks, right!?” I’ve always had the same beliefs though. So once I got older and realized what each party supported and represented, it dawned on me that I was the complete opposite of a Republican. Pretty much everyone I knew always had a hard time making ends meet. Everyone borrowed money from each other and no one got paid back. Our house was foreclosed on. Land that had been in my family for three generations had been repoed by the bank. People that I don’t know now live where my grandmother, father and myself grew up. How can my parents, who were the ones in so much debt and had a hard time finding jobs, and when they did make hardly any money, be Republican? How can people that go through so much just to pay the bills think it’s okay to give all of these tax cuts to the rich and corporations? “We shouldn’t punish the people that create jobs,” I’ve heard so many Republicans say. But these “job creators” don’t even pay people enough to live! And that’s why I voted for Bernie. Because when I hear what he has to say and I see all of those people at his rallies screaming and cheering with the same passion I feel, it makes me cry. These people probably went through something like I did. Something that makes the income inequality more real and intense than anyone could ever make it out to be. As someone that nearly joined the military solely to be able to go through college and get a degree, tuition-free college is something I really feel needs to become reality for us. We all pay taxes so why can’t we receive services like free health care and college?
I support Bernie because every time he talks, every time he brings up these issues and provides solutions, he’s telling my story. I never want anyone to have to go through what I had to go through. I don’t want anyone to ever feel this way again. Bernie grew up in poverty. Just like me. Hillary Clinton is worth $31.3 million. MILLION. Combined, her and Bill are worth a whopping $111 million. I will never understand how she can claim to “fight for the middle class” when she’s part of the 1% that helped cause the pain and suffering so many Americans have gone through. She has so much and gives so little. I make just enough money to pay my bills, but I donate to Bernie at least 3 times a month. Because you can’t put a price on the future of America. Bernie Sanders is the only light I see for America. The only hope for the future. For all of the generations to come after us. If everything just keeps going the way it’s been going, America will fall apart. It’s time to stop electing puppets and start electing real people that stand up for us. We may have small voices, but we are many. Our unity gives us the loudest voice in the world. And together, we can have the real American dream. The dream they taught us about in school. The better life that people migrate to America to get.
I hope that this has inspired someone. Even just one person. This is the make it or break it point. I love my country. It has a lot of problems. It has been dysfunctional for a long time. Let’s make America for the people, by the people once more. We are the 99%.