I can’t quite remember how it all started, but I guess it’s true that you always carry a part of the past with you no matter how painful it is. Blurred flashbacks bring back places and voices that I manage to link together every once and awhile: confounded lost eyes of mommy and daddy lied, “Don’t you worry. It’s OK.” Sleeping that night on the floor of my parents’ bedroom was fun, yet quite suspicious.
In the early morning, when darkness hadn't completely faded away, my siblings and I were shaken from our mattresses to leave. Dressed randomly and shoved into the car, we watched dad fighting the gas pedal while yelling frantically to get down, but we had to steal looks to what’s happening up there. Carefully peering to the windshield, funny looking “Christmas lights” soared sloughing the peaceful silence off the vague smoggy sky. Still hypnotized, I watched them as they dropped bottles that boomed raucously when they hit the city. Blooming flames devoured everything in the territory. Dad drove faster.
After twenty minutes, we managed somehow to reach Grandma’s where it was safe enough to stay. We unpacked and sat frozen in front of the TV. Even when there was a power outage, shadows, so fierce, formed by candles all over the room spoke the news instead. At that point, I was still unaware of the fact that war was on and danger wasn't that of a Harry Potter confrontation with Lord Voldemort! At least I didn't until I started volunteering helping homeless refugees.
After a couple of days of fear and thorough confusion, lying down on my mat all day long was agonizing enough for me to decide to start escorting my uncles to the public school where they said they were helping others. I was kind of nervous at first for school meant more homework to me, and it was my summer break! Walking down a couple of blocks, people started to show up near the school. The sad crowd was all over the playground. Some gloomy faces were crowded around a board game, while others were trying to watch the news on a vague screen of an old TV. Lit broken cigarettes were the lovely companions of many. The kids, on the other hand, played together as if nothing was going on.
Somehow I sensed a weird connection with them. I never knew the true state of being of a refugee, although I was one, until I saw them. I was able to reflect my inner thoughts and feelings by mingling with them. In a way I find hard to explain, they have helped me see myself and the world from a different perspective.
Small volunteer work I did over a month made such a drastic difference. Little food I was able to give and little medicine as well made everything a little better. Standing next to giant hot pots, I used to wait for my uncles to pour the soup into bowls with a side of rice. Carefully, I would walk around and hand out what was in my hands. Most of the days, we had to wait until we returned home to have our lunch, or as others call it: dinner.
There’s even this one time where we were forced to go back home to get a few necessities we left behind. Strangely, unlike the first time we ventured on the road, I was totally aware of how critical and dangerous the situations was. In a way, fighting jets were more vicious and destructive than I remember. Images of the screaming victims were louder and remarkably vivid!
Fake laughs of an innocent childhood were forced to be washed away. Ever since, I've sought to discover the world that only few has seen before. Actually, I've tried to create the model of a better world as I see it. Sometimes when we fall down, we don’t pay attention to how the universe looks like from the ground. That incident paved the way to achievements I later went after regardless of how relatively limited they might seem compared to other achievements done by role models who got the chance to see the world from my angle. I’ll never stop evolving and giving to others the best of me for that’s the core of humanity. I shall roam the world, to infinity and beyond, for I’m inspired.
In the early morning, when darkness hadn't completely faded away, my siblings and I were shaken from our mattresses to leave. Dressed randomly and shoved into the car, we watched dad fighting the gas pedal while yelling frantically to get down, but we had to steal looks to what’s happening up there. Carefully peering to the windshield, funny looking “Christmas lights” soared sloughing the peaceful silence off the vague smoggy sky. Still hypnotized, I watched them as they dropped bottles that boomed raucously when they hit the city. Blooming flames devoured everything in the territory. Dad drove faster.
After twenty minutes, we managed somehow to reach Grandma’s where it was safe enough to stay. We unpacked and sat frozen in front of the TV. Even when there was a power outage, shadows, so fierce, formed by candles all over the room spoke the news instead. At that point, I was still unaware of the fact that war was on and danger wasn't that of a Harry Potter confrontation with Lord Voldemort! At least I didn't until I started volunteering helping homeless refugees.
After a couple of days of fear and thorough confusion, lying down on my mat all day long was agonizing enough for me to decide to start escorting my uncles to the public school where they said they were helping others. I was kind of nervous at first for school meant more homework to me, and it was my summer break! Walking down a couple of blocks, people started to show up near the school. The sad crowd was all over the playground. Some gloomy faces were crowded around a board game, while others were trying to watch the news on a vague screen of an old TV. Lit broken cigarettes were the lovely companions of many. The kids, on the other hand, played together as if nothing was going on.
Somehow I sensed a weird connection with them. I never knew the true state of being of a refugee, although I was one, until I saw them. I was able to reflect my inner thoughts and feelings by mingling with them. In a way I find hard to explain, they have helped me see myself and the world from a different perspective.
Small volunteer work I did over a month made such a drastic difference. Little food I was able to give and little medicine as well made everything a little better. Standing next to giant hot pots, I used to wait for my uncles to pour the soup into bowls with a side of rice. Carefully, I would walk around and hand out what was in my hands. Most of the days, we had to wait until we returned home to have our lunch, or as others call it: dinner.
There’s even this one time where we were forced to go back home to get a few necessities we left behind. Strangely, unlike the first time we ventured on the road, I was totally aware of how critical and dangerous the situations was. In a way, fighting jets were more vicious and destructive than I remember. Images of the screaming victims were louder and remarkably vivid!
Fake laughs of an innocent childhood were forced to be washed away. Ever since, I've sought to discover the world that only few has seen before. Actually, I've tried to create the model of a better world as I see it. Sometimes when we fall down, we don’t pay attention to how the universe looks like from the ground. That incident paved the way to achievements I later went after regardless of how relatively limited they might seem compared to other achievements done by role models who got the chance to see the world from my angle. I’ll never stop evolving and giving to others the best of me for that’s the core of humanity. I shall roam the world, to infinity and beyond, for I’m inspired.
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