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For my WeSearch product I decided to learn about my grandfather, William Florez . I learned a lot about him throughout all this. My grandpa has always inspired me because of the spirit he has. He is always a dedicated and hardworking individual. He exudes a certain strength and resolve to everyone in his life. I reasoned that knowing more about his life in the US and how it came to be would strengthen my bond with him.
My grandfather was born in 1956. He told me stories about the town he was raised in and its dangers, one of them being venomous snakes. “I would have to go find some with other kids in my town and kill them. We killed them by uhh, oh using shovels and slamming them down on their heads, you know to cut off their head” he said to me. I laughed out loud hearing this, especially considering how some of those snakes native to Colombia can easily kill you, like the Fer De Lance. According to https://ypte.org.uk/factsheets/fer-de-lance/overview “It is the most dangerous snake of Central and South America, and causes more human deaths than any other American reptile. On average, a fer-de-lance injects 105mg of venom in one bite, although a venom yield of up to 310mg has been recorded while milking them. The fatal dose for a human is 50mg.”
He came to America when he was in his late teens, having to escape the growing violence and chaos spreading throughout Colombia. This time period was known as the ‘Colombian conflict’, a time when according to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colombian_conflict#1970s “was a low-intensity asymmetric war between the government of Colombia, far-right paramilitary groups and crime syndicates, and far-left guerrilla groups, fighting each other to increase their influence in Colombian territory.”
When my grandpa was in his twenties through forties a lot of stuff happened to him. He had my two uncles and mom! He told me stories about how they would run around and torture him. “They’d run into my room and jump on my bed telling me to find them. One day I hid behind the shower curtain and waited for them to look around the house for me. As soon as your tio Omar came in I opened the curtain and yelled! He cried like a little baby”. He talked of stories of him taking them fishing too, and he still takes me and my siblings fishing with him on Jamaica Bay.
He even talked about going through a horrible blizzard in 1996. When I dug further into it, I realized he was talking about the North American Blizzard of 1996. According to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_American_blizzard_of_1996, “The North American blizzard of 1996 was a severe nor'easter that paralyzed the United States East Coast with up to 4 feet (1.2 m) of wind-driven snow from January 6 to January 8, 1996. The City University of New York reported that the storm "dropped 20 inches of snow, had wind gusts of 50 mph and snow drifts up to 8 feet high.”
HOW DOES YOUR FAMILY MEMBERS INDIVIDUAL STORY AFFECT HOW YOU SEE THE AMERICAN DREAM
I gain a deeper understanding of the American Dream by hearing my grandfather's narrative, which presents the perspective of someone who, in the eyes of others, has realized the American Dream. It made it easier for me to see that, despite appearances, he has entirely realized his own American Dream. It's fascinating to see both perspectives. To me it demonstrates how the American Dream is a concept that each person has their own interpretation of. Every person in this nation has a desire that they wish to realize, and there must be a million distinct dreams that each person describes as the "American Dream."
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