Notebook 5
Throughout the research that I conducted on my country of my ancestors I noticed that there are more things that I have overlooked. Especially with the sides of the war and what their views were. I didn't know how much about the Vietnam War except for what they talked about in school which was there was a draft for men to go to fight in the war. After the U.S. helping the South Vietnam people they pulled out because of protests and later the Fall of Saigon happened. That there is more to the history that we were taught and that in our life span we can’t learn about all of them. The only thing that we can be certain about is the major events that happened and what has resulted from it. The tiny details were not important, just the main story line of what historians had written. This relates to our lecture about the master narrative. The countries that are in power today create master narratives for the world to believe in and teach in schools. What I learned in this Ethnic studies class is that there are multiple counter-narratives in this world. That there are many different stories to an event depending on the person. If the event hit home, then the story would be extremely biased. If the event was towards a certain country that has a relationship with another then the country would side with whoever they have a relationship with. This ensures that with master narratives created the countries are also intersecting with each other to make this happen. Even with the counter-narratives, there are different stories with them analyzed by experts. Without people in this field, I would never really know about the differences and instances in history where there are counter narratives.
I think this is because resistance is fairly a new approach to looking at history; therefore, I think to educate the people around me with what forms resistance are and what they can do. One thing I am really set on doing is making a change in how people are treated. There are many people who are still getting treated like they don’t belong and that they are inferior to another race. There are also people who do not have enough for health care, citizenship, and to live. Most importantly I want to inform my parents that there is more to politics than just listening and going with whatever is happening because it is the law. Since my parents came here as refugees they are very keen on what they should do to keep their position where they are. It’s like they are scared that one day everything can be taken away from them. I don’t blame them because this did happen to them many years ago when the Vietnam War started. Their home becomes something they did not recognize. This is why I want to inform them that they can resist the politics that they don’t agree with in their own way. In the lecture, there was also a talk about how Asians don't really have radical politics and are the model minority. I totally understand that because of what my parents do. They watch the presidential elections but when I ask them if they voted they always shrugged it off and said no. I first want to change my community by informing them of their voting rights and their rights to protest. Lastly, I always had a dream of helping the people who did not have health care. I wanted to travel around the world and in the states to help people. Recently, the dream has become even stronger as I have family members who don’t have health insurance that covers everything. With their piles of bills from the hospital when they have to go to the emergency room, it only makes me want to fulfill this dream as soon as I can.
This leads me to a song that I would like to share to anyone that is feeling like they are being held tight in their life and not being able to go anywhere. This song is meaningful to me because when this song came out I was in sixth grade not really knowing what to do, how to fit in with the people at school, and felt like there was nothing I could do to fix my loneliness when I watched this song being performed by Kris Allen on American Idol. The song was called No boundaries. After listening to this song I believed that nothing would be in my way if I tried and keep trying to break free of the restrictions I made in my mind.
I think this relates to my reflection of being restricted to what the government wants and forces people to be. Instead of looking at the restrictions like the mountains in the song or the hurricanes that make you run away I think it’s best to move forward and resist what you can until your dream is achieved. To the people who are fighting their restrictions, I know that you will be able to do so because there are no boundaries to where you can go.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Au78ra4HsUo
Here are the lyrics to the song:
Seconds, hours, so many days You know what you want but how long can you wait? Every moment lasts forever When you feel you lost your way
And what if my chances were already gone? Started believing that I could be wrong But you give me one good reason To fight and never walk away
So here I am still holding on
With every step you climb another mountain Every breath it's harder to believe You make it through the pain, weather the hurricanes To get to that one thing
Just when you think the road is going nowhere Just when you almost gave up on your dreams They take you by the hand and show you that you can There are no boundaries! There are no boundaries!
I fought to the limit to stand on the edge What if today is as good it gets? Don't know where the future's headed But nothing's gonna bring me down
I've jumped every bridge and I've run every line I've risked being saved but I always knew why I always knew why!
So here I am still holding on
With every step you climb another mountain Every breath it's harder to believe You make it through the pain, weather the hurricanes To get to that one thing
Just when you think the road is going nowhere Just when you almost gave up on your dreams They take you by the hand and show you that you can
You can go higher, you can go deeper There are no boundaries above and beneath you Break every rule 'cause there's nothing between you and your dreams
With every step you climb another mountain Every breath it's harder to believe
Yeah! There are no boundaries There are no boundaries!











