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Paper 4

Do experiences shape who you are, or do you shape your experiences?

This paper is going to be based on immigration stories, and social structure critiques.

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Starting with my father’s experience during the Nicaraguan Civil War and his exile to Costa Rica in 1988, and how his perspective was shaped into a nonconformist ideology, always thinking outside the box.

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Then, I will talk about my mom’s story of moving from a very poor city in the north of Nicaragua in which her father worked on sustaining her family of 10 with a farm, and how the Sandinistas took away people’s rights based on corruption. I will also share her ideology as she grows up without her parents as she has to move to Managua, the capital, without her parents in order to access education.

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The narrative will continue to events in which my parents get together and have kids. My older brother and I lived in Diriamba, a small city 30 minutes away from Managua. My parents worked in Managua, so they had to leave very early in the morning and come back very late at night. Therefore, our grandparents played a big role in our lives in our early years.

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I will narrate how he had to move from Diriamba to Managua in order to access better quality education. We went to a French school. Time passed by, political issues started arising once again. By 2017, the government made a decision to cut retirement funds, and the elderly peacefully protested yet there was an aggressive reaction from the government and the police.Therefore, the country united to protest against the government and their corrupt practices and a lot of people died (close ones.. family/friends).

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Emergency exile from Nicaragua due to unliving conditions and danger. My mother and my younger brother moved to Ecuador thanks to my mother’s job. We were able to access better quality education in an American International School.  We had to learn to communicate in english, we were able to take the International Baccalaureate, etc. Education made me open my eyes, think about the events in my life and my parents' life and ask WHY? Why did all of this happen? Who is making the decisions for all of my people to be struggling this much?

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Used my resources to push through, to not only complain but to ACT and serve as an agent for change. Shaped my perspective and seeked for ways to improve what I don’t like about the system, about society.

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Conceptualization of “Do experiences shape who you are, or do you shape your experiences?” Addressing the idea of life does not depend on what happens to you. Rather, you are the one who defines how what happens to you will impact your future actions. Whether it is something good or bad, you have the ability to push through, to serve as an agent of change, to think outside the box. Lastly, I will end the paper as an ongoing journey. For readers  to realize that life is about ups and downs, but it's your perspective and how you decide to see things what will shape your future.