Waiting for 2009...

I found this over at DREAM Act -Texas. The author of this piece has eloquently said the very many things all us DREAMers feel in regards to the DREAM Act and fully living our lives.

I am just waiting for 2009 to come, if the DREAM doesn't happen by then i will be out of here!


I hear this more and more from fellow DREAMers, just waiting on 2009 to come by; we are kind of waiting for something better to come along. Students with one or two degrees are getting burnt out already. They/We are itching to learn, experience, practice... to really live! Many of us feel betrayed by the sentence: "hard work pays off" I don't know how many times I have said this to others and how many times I've heard somebody saying this to me, but it's definitely a sentence that everytime i hear it, i can't help but to grin. As positive as i really am though, i have been telling myself more that if by 2009 nothing happens nothing will ever happen... or was anything ever going to happen?

I mean, by 2009 i should be finally done with school, other things should be settled, and most importantly: new horizons are surely waiting somewhere else, no? It is very hard to describe the feelings going through me right now when i am almost reaching 24 years of age- I mean, it is like this itch to go and see the world, to learn, to hope that there are better things out there waiting to be devoured by our passion and hunger. Many DREAMers are now adults, we are in our mid-20's, we are thinking of other things like: really living our lives! (whatever that fully entails)

Will Obama or McCain bring some sort of resolution in 2009? Not just for DREAMers, what about our parents? Will they also be ‘forgiven’?

I don't know- all i know is that I am not angry anymore. I am done with the questioning of why things are the way they are. I finally understood that there are people in the world in far worse situations than I am. Sure, it takes a big toll in my life and the life of other DREAMers to be in this state of limbo. Some of us have had to drive and struggle to other states just to get an ID, or have a bachelor's and master degree but continue to work in the restaurant kitchen, we have two jobs to make rent on top of classes. Some of us are still writing papers at three in the morning and can't help but to stop and say out loud: "hold on, why am i doing this again?"

What i believe at this point is that CHOICE rests in the power of our hands. We can choose to continue fighting here, for us, our families. On the other hand, we can now look for other alternatives; this is not giving up but understanding that the world does not end in this land of the 'freedom.'