The Change of Pace and Place
Since moving back home I’ve seen, felt and heard the difference in points of views from the Puerto Rican people and the (North) American people, here everyone thinks it’s a great thing that I’m doing something with my life, other than working on my writing and that I’m taking a step toward something bigger than myself, something a lot of other people would consider crazy or irresponsible, even “running away” here when I speak of the military, more specifically the Marines, I’m looked at with respect and honor just for having the thought. Just for having that fight in me and going with what I want to do, regardless if of the economic situation. To people here, it shows that it’s not surrending, not giving up, it’s more like fighting anyway I can, to move forward, to have a good life, to take on responsibilities a lot of people aren’t willing to take…and I like it.
From having conversations with people, when I was in NYC of course, of “you’re going to be a baby killer” and “why are you going to the Military if you’re so smart?” to having conversations here with “I think it’s great you chose to do this” to “can you tell me more about this branch?” and even “I considered going, but I’m scared of leaving my children behind for the time of traning, I admire you for doing this” and finally “it’s good that you don’t have children, that way you can go on to do what you need to do for yourself” it’s a drastic change from the nagative and the condecending questions I had in New York, it was very rare to find a person in New York City that supported me or encouraged me to do this, rare if the person wasn’t a really good friend of mine and I didn’t have to convince them that this was the right choice for me.
Here in Puerto Rico, they encourage me to go into the military once they hear I’m single and have no children. Once I got here, I spoke to two of my cousins who asked me how the test was to get into the Military, I asked them to do research on their branch of choice and broaden their options, to ensure their branch was the one they really wanted to enlist with, they did and now, along with me there’s two other members of my family that will be enlisting in the military, although they chose the Army, because it’s “less tough” than the Marines, they both told me they’re inspired by my decision to make a resposible and secure life for myself. I told them I was just living the dream of my inner warrior and striving to give my best lead me to join the best…
TEXT: La Shawn Pagán (LSP)
