What it means to be me

Ed. note: The following piece was posted on a message board by David Velasquez. A graduate of Oceanside High School, David is currently a first-year at UCLA and a member of IDEAS. Enjoy.

"Simplicity of character is no hindrance to the subtlety of intellect."

We often undermine the importance of being simple-in character. That is to be humble and abstain from the selfish egotism, that is Pomp. Some have said that humility belongs to the conformists that like to go along with the ebb and flow of our system and lack individual perception on realistic matters. Humility however, comes from an understanding that unnecessary ostentaneousness is trite, and not from deference to a system. Humility requires deep introspection and analysis of one's surroundigs, and requires an action, often times not a physical but an abstract action. Humble people choose to remain simple not because they do not understand or care about what is going on around them, but because they comprehend that egotism leads nowhere. Simplicity of character is therefore...priceless. And, to say that it hinders intellect is crass.

After writing this I began to examine what it means for me, an undocumented student, to live humbly. I realized that up until we get to college, we are a part of the concensus, we are no different than other kids in high school, elementary, kindergarden and so on... We get to college and are faced with the harsh reality that indeed we are different; however, we choose to push forward. Our fight reflects the hopes and investments of our familes, yet we humbly remain in the shadows. We continue to push, even when end fail to meet, there's always that miraculous entity we call "la familia" that helps us. I hope that anyone who reads this realizes that America is in need of serious immigration reform. One that would stop detrimenting the development of young developing minds through placing challenges in front of them. In the words of Diogenes Laertius, "The foundation of every state is the education of its youth," and our country is obviously ignoring these words of wisdom.