Undergraduate / Security condition; Common App: Discuss a local issue and your importance to you. [6]

Hi,
I'm currently applying to study in the US, but I'm not sure of the direction my essay is taking.
I'd love you to take a look at it, and tell me what do you think about it. I've only written the two first paragraphs, because I didn't wanted to go on without being quite sure of what I'm doing.

There it is:

Tropics are great. Plenty of oil to give away, warm weather all year long, white sand beaches and gentle people, snowing peaks and giant falls. It seems like we have found Paradise. But sadly, as you start knowing Caracas, the capital of Venezuela and my hometown, you realize things are not like they sound in this so-called Eden. In fact, as you plunge into its valley, choking noises and anguishing images pop up, and what used to be an undisturbed oasis has turned into an infernal scene. Amongst all this, an issue that would not be much of a problem elsewhere, but that symbolizes the curse of every Caracas' citizen, and my own little nightmare: insecurity.

Many statistics show how unsafe the city and the entire country are, but numbers are meaningless. It is true that newspapers and broadcasts show you every day how awful the situation is. But death in pictures and letters does not strike half as hard as the behavior of people around me. The feeling of paranoia we have (because it is a feeling shared by all the common people) determines our lives. Without a doubt, this feeling is justified; I have witnessed many robberies, and I have even been robbed once, because it is something you cannot avoid while being in Caracas. For this, I practically live in curfew; people who goes out after 9 o'clock in the night are very aware of the risk they are facing. Not even prevention can help, because even the regular pedestrian you fret can randomly kill you; he just happened to carry a gun. I just try to deal with it by wearing bad clothes when I walk in the street, by not looking at people's eyes, because looking barely wealthy can get you spotted and most certainly robbed or kidnapped.

Undergraduate / College of Arts and Sciences; Cornell Supp/ intellectual interests, evolution [4]

Hi,
In addition to the Common App, I had to write an essay in the Cornell supplement, for the College of Arts and Sciences
I'd like you to take a peek at it, and here it is (thanks in advance!):

Prompt: Describe your intellectual interests, their evolution, and what makes them exciting to you, and how you will utilize the academic programs in the college of arts and sciences to further explore your interests/intended major/field of study

Looking back, it seems like it was always meant to be this way. My early childhood appears to be now, in the light of recent events, the beginning of an unusual passion for Economics. One of the first things I remember is that my favorite toys were old, expired credit cards that my uncle once left over the kitchen counter, and which I kept as my own private treasure. As every four year old, it must have been all about those shiny colors of American Express cards, which seemingly captivated me. Then, I moved on to fake bank notes my mom gave me for my seventh birthday, which I carried in a koala bag I never let go. I truly loved the feeling of holding these cards and bills in my hands, always sorting them by color or value. Later on I would plunge in numismatics, looking for bills and coins from around the world in order to own the most colorful and beautiful collection ever seen.

But it was not until high school that I begun enjoying the pleasure of getting familiar with the mecanisms of knowledge. Literature being an essential part of French education, for instance, lectures about Les Misérables or L'Étranger stirred in me an incredible love for books. Alongside, an indeniable chemistry with numbers appeared, for this, math has always been my favorite subject throughout high school. I felt truly comfortable, being able to express myself in sciences and in literature through several ways, for instance writing contests or math olympics, where there was no school frame to control what I put in words or how I reasoned to get an answer. Then, as time went by and I kept on discovering different sides of knowledge, I started looking with new eyes what was around me. I became extremely concerned by what was happening in my sinking country, and so politics and economics turned into my primary discussion themes, and are so still today.

Later comes a time in tenth grade when you must pick a major to follow for the last two years of high school, being Sciences, Literature and Economics the three options available. Feeling a great appeal by the three of them, Economics seemed the perfect choice for me, not only because it represented a middle point between the other two, but because, for some time already, it felt like a vocation to me. And I was perfectly right, because I have never been happier in school. Lectures on Keynes or on international trade just seem to fly by: I start to understand the world, the gears that make it turn. Being a discipline that combines the colourfulness of human behavior and the precision of mathematics, it is the perfect crossing between arts and sciences, constituting the perfect match for a person of open interests such as myself. Moreover, the knowledge I've gained on this matter through these two last years help me saying that Economics is the right major for me to pursue.

Likewise, Cornell University seems to be the perfect platform to start. Not only does the College of Arts and Sciences offer one of the best Economics program in the world, but also because students are encouraged to study abroad, which would probably let me regain some contact with the French side of my education. Also, the excellent faculty of this department, such as the Ernest S. Liu Professor of Economics and International Studies Yongmiao Hong, could be a valuable aspect in my journey to become a fine economist.