I hate my life sometimes. If it is not for the fact I am so unable to forget the fact I went to Iraq. I didn’t fight, I never saw a lot of action in the sense of shooting a gun, but there was so much pressure and no one was on my side, not family, not a lot of people I worked with, nobody, though I met a lot of great people serving and I am still in contact with them a year after I am out and hope to be in contact with them for a long time to come.

I was alone and I had to cope with a deployment all by myself. It was a lonely bitter feeling I have never gotten over and I continuously try to. Money’s tight but I’m doing better than a lot. Even with all of the problems I face, I have a very good friend who tells me that I have it good. And he’s absolutely right, I do. He lives in a part of the country that is hurting very badly economically.

Since I am a Veteran, I am able to get help, many kinds of help for all of the problems I face. But I do have help. There are so many people who do not and I feel for them. I hope at some point that everyone in this country will have opportunities to better themselves and we can establish a progressive nation that is accepting of everyone, regardless of class, race, etc.

I do not believe we are as divided as the media suggests we are. I have lived all over this country. I spent most of my life in small towns and now I live in one of the most densely populated neighborhoods in the nation, Koreatown, in Los Angeles. I am proud to have come from small towns and I am happy to be living here, where I can walk to get groceries and take a subway to go see a movie or go take dance classes. Both places are imperfect but for totally different reasons.

People in a lot of the small towns I come from think people in big cities are a hedonistic bunch of drug-using sex-addicted hippies out to destroy America. There are SO many churches in Los Angeles and they are full sometimes even in weekdays. In smaller cities, where I grew up, there are people that use drugs, that go to bars, or pick up a date for the night, and there are people in so-called middle America that do drugs. Hollywood is not made up of these bunch of crazy people. Are there people in LA that do act crazy and do stupid stuff that play into stereotypes? Yes. But you’re just as likely to find it in Arkansas or Louisiana as you are in LA.

The truth is, there is so much more that unites us than divided us. LA is filled with people just trying to make it, that are trying to cope with high gas prices and a horrible economic environment. So are smaller areas. We need to start focusing on what unites us instead of what divided us in my opinion. I was not particularly affected by the financial crisis. I was in South Korea, stationed there, in the Army when it hit. I watched the news wondering how bad it was going to get. My family all had generally stable jobs, so it didn’t hurt them. But everybody complained about gas when I talked to people at home. I have a small studio apartment. There are a lot of bugs but I swat them away. I eat well, sometimes too well. I live in LA, so I don’t run out of things to do.

Overall, I am hopeful about the future. I am seeing things in America, even in LA, I thought I would never see. I am seeing polite people, I am seeing more people getting along, I am seeing people fight back, I am seeing some leaders finally standing up for its citizens. I just hope we’re not too late to correct the path we’re on.

My fears are that I won’t get to accomplish my dreams. My dreams are that I want to be very successful as a filmmaker/actor. I don’t know how successful I can be. It is extremely extremely competitive but I am not letting that stop me. The solution to our problems, in my opinion, and this is just my opinion, is to have an all-out war on ignorance. I’m not saying vote Democrat or Republican but America needs to start accepting facts and start living facts.

Next, the wealthy in this country need to start paying higher taxes. The media need to be held accountable, yes i am talking about FOX news, but everyone. The police need to be held accountable for their rampant brutality, corporations should not be recognized as people, our citizenry needs to start getting engaged in the political process and we need to start being much, much more accepting of people and quit judging.

Sorry if this was too long, but this is my story. Love, peace and soouuuullll!!!!!

Please support Story of America with a tax deductible donation.