Writing Feedback / Talking about myself - environment, culture, or family history helped to shape my identity [5]

I hate talking about myself. I am someone who initiates the conversation, asks questions with curiosity because everyone loves talking about themselves but me. My peers always ask, "Catherine, I feel like this is a one-sided conversation. How come you never talk about your hobbies or accomplishments?". As a child, I was taught to show humility and to be empathic to the needs of others.

Bombs slammed the ground, and debrief flew all over. The sounds of the booming explosion rang, as my mother stayed in the church fearful for her life and questioned whether she would live one day longer. My parents grew up during the Vietnam War, an era where they did not know when their last day on earth would be. Neither my father or my mother was wealthy, but their family scrabbled any piece of gold in order to have the chance to escape their homeland.

Lost at sea, wander endlessly in a small boat full of twenty people, is how I imagine my mother. The fear of the unknown, when all you can do is have faith that everything will be okay. Through days without food, encounters with pirates, endless days in concentration camps, and residing in a foreign land, my mother would eventually make home to the city of Seattle. To endure all of that pain and fear, it would be easy to give up. However, she fought through obstacles and strived to achieve the American Dream through the endless opportunities that are offered in America. At age seventeen, she would attend high school and arrive home in tears because she could not understand english. She would work at McDonalds with a wage of $1.80 per hour to fund for her little sister's piano lessons. Despite the odds against her, she would work even harder to attain the education she desperately desired. She never gave up.

While my mother had so little, she never failed to give back to her community. Her weekend was spent at the local soup kitchen, as she did every little task to help those in need. She always managed to consider others before herself.

I am a first generation American. I am Vietnamese. I am American. My parents' history has shaped me into the person I am today. I am blessed to be able to embrace two different cultures, yet learn to reach my full potential with my parents' influence.

Understanding where my parents' come from, and the adversities they faced throughout their life helps me understand the importance of being compassionate, to find ways to assist the needs of others. It has taught me that I can achieve any goal through hard work. They showed me the importance of gaining an education, solely for myself and my enrichment. There is nothing out there that could ever make me less Vietnamese or less American. It is a part of who I am, it is my friends, my family, my background. Everything I do, references back to my heritage and culture I was raised with, and while my views and opinions may change through the years, I can never be far from where I came from.

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Please give all feedback! Please let me know if my reflection connects the entire essay all together, and whether I clearly answered the essay prompt.