“Cesar Chavez Saved My Life”

In the writing, “Cesar Chavez Saved My Life”, by Daniel Alejandrez, the story is told of Daniel’s childhood. He describes how he experienced discrimination toward him and his family because they were immigrants. He describes the hate that was built up in him and the actions that sprang from this hate. Although this man ended up using his experience to help others, there are people who, when they go through hard situations, spend the rest of their life living in the pain, anger and hatred that they experienced.

Sometimes we come across people in life who are always mad at everyone, always sad about everything, or who have a burning hatred toward people in general. Why do people act that way? After reading this writing and listening to the experience of Daniel Alejandrez, I realized that a lot of the time this hatred and anger comes from past experiences. Daniel was being pushed around and treated like nothing by people who thought that they were better than him and as a result hatred formed in him. This hatred caused him to stab, shoot and almost kill people by the age of 17. I see teens at school sometimes who act as if they hate the world. Could it be that they have a pretty bad home life and feel like they have to treat everyone else the same way that they are treated at home? It is so easy to pass judgment and just assume they “woke up on the wrong side of the bed.” Although I do believe that it is ones choice as to whether or not he/she hates the world or not, some people need help identifying the hatred and getting rid of it.

Daniel ended up breaking free from his hatred because of something he heard Cesar Chavez say. What if he would have never heard the words that inspired him to stand up for himself without violence and help others do the same? Maybe he would have ended up actually killing someone and spending the rest if his miserable life in prison. When we pass by people at school who hate us or are angry at us we need to try to reach out to them. Instead of smarting back to them when they say something rude we should try to love them. I know it might sound hard and a little cliché but if all they get in their whole life hate, anger, and slander, they will never see what it means to love someone. When we see people who look like they really do not want to hear what we have to say, we should speak up anyway. They could be just like Daniel Alejandrez, needing that one word of inspiration to change their life forever.