As I was reading the stories on the “My Immigration Story Website” I was taken back by a few of the stories. The part of the immigration crisis happening globally has always been covered globally and having these real stories from real people really opened my eyes to what their lives are like. By the second story in, I was really taken back by it since my mom and her family are from the middle east and struggled with loss and war. All the middle eastern stories really hit me in different ways since I have family that each have similar experiences. It really made me reconsider what my mom and her family had to go through to get to the US and their hardships. Some of the other stories also pulled at my heartstrings, especially the ones where there were little kids involved, and having to go through so much just to live happily, reading those stories caused me to take smaller breaks to just refocus and not get too emotional. Also hearing about what the parents of those children had to go through was equally hard for myself to read as I’ve heard the stories from my mom of what happened to some of her friends from Iraq, and even see a similar thing happen with my aunt, who struggled for years after my mom, her parents, and younger sister came to the US and the oldest was left behind due to document issues. Overall, this collection of stories hit hard for me and made me rethink of stories that I’ve heard over the years and try so hard to forget about due to how painful they can be. It truly makes you rethink your life.
- Allan Bush