Dear Mother,
As we thoroughly discussed prior to my departure to America,
I only planned on living and working there until I earned enough to take care
of you, and my own wife and children.
After all there were mile upon mile of railroad track that promised to
not only make the trip their painless, but which also offered me the
opportunity to easily return upon my whim.
In fact the railroads have continued to expand since, the time I arrived
here in America, and now have more trains and miles of track than ever before. However, despite the apparent easy of
transportation I have found it very difficult to even realistically consider
returning home to my family as I had always planned.
Wages here are certainly much better than those afford to us
back home, however I have found the allure of America as a place where anyone
can become wealthy to be most deceiving.
It did not take me more than a week’s time to find work once I arrived
in the Los Anglos area, but the various jobs I have held have all proven to be
incredibly strenuous. Moreover, my daily
wages typically fall between $.25 and $.75 which is but an incredibly small
fraction of the amount that many Americans make. Sadly, there seems to be little chance of
wages ever rising – I have spoken to many other Mexican immigrants whom I work
alongside, many of whom have been in America for several years, and each tells
me these sort of agricultural jobs are the best we can hope for – there is no
chance of gaining promotion or finding work which pays the type of money we all
dream of.
I deeply miss you, my wife and children dearly however I
very much doubt my ability to support all of you should I return home now. I hope to find additional work, so that I can
make enough to send back to you, and save some up in the hopes of returning one
day. It is with much regret that I have
to inform of these circumstances, but despite America not meeting my highest
expectations it is still much better than the alternative so I have resigned
myself to stay here for as long as I must.
Love,
Juan
No comments:
Post a Comment