Freedom is to Live
Freedom is different for everyone, and for me the definition of freedom changed throughout my life. I always thought freedom was my parents coming to the US and being on this side of the border. Then in middle school I thought freedom was graduating high school, being in college, and being on my own. Once in high school, Cancer got a face and feeling and it happened to be my dads. It completely changed the way I saw and defined freedom. Freedom isn't a feeling of a moment from an event. Freedom is to live, and to love the life you're living.
My father, Mario Aguilar, worked in potato warehouses since he was twenty years old and my mother, Catalina Aguilar, worked in potato harvesting since she was twenty five. Neither of them received any education after third grade, before they migrated to the US with my sisters. Their bodies eventually gave out and wanted to rest after so many years of wanting to provide a better life for my three other siblings and myself. My father was diagnosed with stage 3 lung cancer, and my mothers shoulder tendons were torn making it unable for both of them to work.
My father never got to experience freedom. He worked long tiring hours in agriculture, getting his hands dirty. Then, he had to face the greatest monster of all, Cancer. His fight never ended, he fought for his freedom until the last breath he took. He worked so many hours in the fields that he never had the freedom to live this life. My father never got the chance to just rest, and live the life he had created for himself but instead constantly fought for a better and healthy life.
So to me, freedom is living. Freedom is loving the life you create for yourself. Freedom is being able to be in Washington D.C. and having all your dreams come true. This is the freedom that my dad was seeking when he came to the US. I will live life for him, and I will have the freedom he never got to experience for himself.