Discovering the Identity behind History: Days of Awe Essay

Dealing with the past opens many opportunities in unveiling the mysteries that life is continuously giving us. By looking at the details where we can see the picture not only in a two dimensional perspective, but to all the sides that we can, a broader explanation and exploration can be made. This is an important part of humans’ experiences because it gives way for them to reveal the roots and explain the things that serve as a puzzle to them. Puzzle that gives question that many people think will never be answered. But, through the persistence of different forces, a new way of enlightening the path towards the truth will be open for them to be set free. As the story in Days of Awe written by Archy Obejas, dealing with the protagonist’s main conflict can be associated in our daily lives. We can see how she was able to find the real meanings behind her doubts and questions and how she was able to find the answers in her own queries. By putting into the consideration all the factors that she think might affect her perception in the things she know, she should be the one to first understand the things her own conflict with her own beliefs had made. This story teaches us a great lesson in life that can be applied in our daily interaction with different kind of people as we continue our own odyssey towards life’s great journey. This lesson is not new to us, but in fact, can be found even in the smallest things that we are doing but we are too distracted by our own personal attachments to certain things that forbid us to open up our selves in many opportunities that life is offering us. This lesson is in great value especially in dealing with the things that we know is too valuable for us to lose. By giving this importance, we will be successfully forge a deal that will benefit a greater part of humanity. This lesson is acceptance. Accepting the things that we know are real and existent although sometimes, it comes with a great deal of pain and suffering. Even though how much we suffer and realize that there are many hindrances in the world that make things more difficult and harder for us, we should not let it control our direction and lead us to another way, than listening to what our future discoveries can be. This is a challenge that had been made by various problems that hones our personality and our life’s point of view. By accepting that these things are part of the life of human society, we will be able to understand more the things that we don’t understand before. And in effect, will cost us a greater price that no one before had managed to do so. Brief Summary: Born in the New Year’s Day, year 1951, a girl named Alejandra San Jose was born in Havana where there are conflicts that had been arising due to the opposing powers and beliefs of the higher people in the place. And because of this, her parents decided to escape from the danger they foresee that will be brought by these opposing parties. Making this decision is not easy for her parents because they will not only leave their house but also their heritage that they treasured in many years. Their go to the shores of North America but later joined the group of Cuban Refugees in Chicago. This settlement gave them another opportunity for them to live their life as normal. Although she had knowledge in her home place in her childhood, she got distracted due to her youthful days but later on brought back her passion and curiosity in the said culture. In her teen age, where she learned different things through her father who was a linguist himself, she later on developed her skills in that field. As a translator, she had given an opportunity to go back to her homeland where she worked with her mage as an American and highly different from the natives living there. She had the notion that she does not belong there because of she think that she is really an American. Later on, she discovered that her ancestors were Jews and not as Catholics, as she always believed. Because of that, she learned different things in life. The essence of being a Catholic and Jews, the definition of difference between religion, the culture and beliefs and how it affects ones perspective in looking at life, these factors taught her the essence of life and its mysteries, as it gives people the chance to understand it, and the people have all the prerogative which lessons they want to pick. Historical Background: Jews, as defined by most scholars, are people who associate themselves as having a trace of their ancestry to the ancient Hebrews or people who converted themselves on the religion of Jews, which is Judaism. Talking about it, Judaism is one of the oldest religion in the world, and also, the mother religion of the world’s largest and most powerful religions, Islam and Christianity. It is a religion believed to be founded way back to history. Traditionally, one can be a Jew in two primary reasons. First, if her mother is a Jew and second, if he or she voluntarily converted him or herself to Judaism. If he or she satisfied any of the condition, he or she can freely call him or herself as a Jew. (Spector, 11-13) It is said that before, Jews are the people being said by the old scriptures and claims had been made that it is their contribution to the foundation of civilization. They are the first one who devised different rules that will govern not only their church but also their societies as well. In dealing with this, they had opened the opportunity to integrate the core values of their beliefs to the way of life of the people. By doing so, they had the utmost control to the flow of the society where people view them as sacred and too holy to be disregarded. In doing such, people had become connected with it at the same time, makes things possible for the religion to conquer their own beliefs and perceptions to their experiences. But, as the time passed by and many religions had made their way in being recognized by the people, and they become more and more established, Jews began to weaken its impact to the world. They became the minority group in almost all places where they fist began to explore and share their faith. And history had proven that some times, there are conflicts and bloody wars because of the Jews persistence to value their faith and their beliefs as their own heritage and the identity of their own cultural inclination. (Akiva & Gottlieb, 23-41) History marked the times when they are almost extinguished by people who want to eliminate their beliefs in the world. Some of these steps had ended the lives of millions of Jews all over the world. That is why, the number of Jews all over the world started to fall in number because of the many attempts to persecute them. Jews contribution to the human civilization is their rich culture and their beliefs in many aspects of life. They had developed certain guidelines that made them advanced compared to the other people living in the world. In having so, many people had misinterpreted their values in their beliefs making pre-judgment that affected their interactions with them. Many people had developed stereotypes and discriminated them in many ways that had affect their personal understanding to what is happening to his or her environment. This tragic interaction with the Jews and many other member of society became a social phenomenon, where the Jews are now living not only on their own standards but also, to the definition of the people watching their moves. Because of their drive to promote the teachings of their own beliefs and the way of life they want people to do so, they kept their traditional ways of life and adapt to their environment as the world is dynamically changing with regards to the modern things and elements that somehow interfere with their way of life. This is a condition where they had different outlook in life, as they give another meaning to the details of their actions and the people’s defined action to them. In looking this matter at a higher level of thinking, we can see that the social system which discriminated the people in their own personal environment spaces, had became a venue where they experience problems and conflicts, that should be a part of their pre-understanding of the world. (Barnavi, 18-21)