What Really Happens In Mexico | The Odyssey Online
Start writing a post
Student Life

What Really Happens In Mexico

We do not speak Mexican.

68
What Really Happens In Mexico
Pixabay

Mexico, a country first formed because of the colonization from the Spanish Empire thanks to a conquistador with the name of Hernán Cortés, is a country rich with culture and wealth and oppurtunities for its young people. However, many see it as a country riddled with poverty and violence, while in reality Mexico is more than the one-dimensional side portrayed in TV and movie. However, I am not saying that it doesn't have poverty-stricken people and unfathomable corruption in the government, but what I am saying is that Mexico is more.

As a girl that was born and raised in Mexico for more than a decade, I can testify that I never knew poverty or crime for I was cozied in the layers of the urban high-middle class, never straying too far from a comfort zone that consisted of my school, my city (Santiago de Querétaro), one of the safest cities in Mexico, and the beaches. My life, when I moved to America, didn't change much. I already spoke English as I studied in one of Mexico's elite schools and often traveled overseas to the United States and Europe, learning and submerging in their culture for as long as I could. I lived in a nice house in a great neighborhood, something that was replicated in Georgia. My mom, a college-graduate, handled/handles her company with grace and audacity. My dad, also a college-graduate, works a job as an IT guy for a German company that requires him to move a lot, hence my family's switch from Mexico to America in a legal way that consisted of Visas and embassies. Safe to say, adaptation wasn't a struggle. However, what I was shocked to discover, is that people in America saw my beloved country as a place where only drug lords and poor people existed to the point where I had been asked stupid questions like:

"Does Mexico have electricity?" YES.

"Does Mexico have internet?" Yes, it does. And the best service among spanish-speaking countries as mentioned by Forbes.

"Isn't the economy in Mexico, like, really bad?" Mexico is the 15th largest in the world in nominal terms and the 11th largest by purchasing power parity, according to the International Monetary Fund

"Isn't everybody in Mexico dirt poor?" NO. However, 45.5% of mexicans live in poverty according to Mexico's National Council for the Evaluation of Social Development Policy (CONEVAL), but Mexico's middle class increased 11.4 percent during between 2000 and 2010, as highlighted in Forbes.

"Aren't all Mexicans illegal?" I can't begin to emphasize the lack of culture, or even general respect for a human being, for someone to ask this question. BUT, the country with the greatest number of "green card" recipients is Mexico, as mentioned in CNN. However, the majority of Mexicans are still illegal.

I, a Mexican, come from a country of great wealth, but this has been diminished by the repeated assaults and abuses by the colonnial powers like Spain, France, and America. And so, our global narrative, is one of hunger and strife, when Mexico could have been an international power and is slowly on that path, trying to regain is traction from what colonialism did to Mexico's history- it rewrote it. So, what Mexico could have been was hindered by colonialism when it could have been more than what it is now. And that, is the truth in Mexico.

Report this Content
This article has not been reviewed by Odyssey HQ and solely reflects the ideas and opinions of the creator.
ross geller
YouTube

As college students, we are all familiar with the horror show that is course registration week. Whether you are an incoming freshman or selecting classes for your last semester, I am certain that you can relate to how traumatic this can be.

1. When course schedules are released and you have a conflict between two required classes.

Bonus points if it is more than two.

Keep Reading...Show less
Student Life

12 Things I Learned my Freshmen Year of College

When your capability of "adulting" is put to the test

4537
friends

Whether you're commuting or dorming, your first year of college is a huge adjustment. The transition from living with parents to being on my own was an experience I couldn't have even imagined- both a good and a bad thing. Here's a personal archive of a few of the things I learned after going away for the first time.

Keep Reading...Show less
Featured

Economic Benefits of Higher Wages

Nobody deserves to be living in poverty.

303215
Illistrated image of people crowded with banners to support a cause
StableDiffusion

Raising the minimum wage to a livable wage would not only benefit workers and their families, it would also have positive impacts on the economy and society. Studies have shown that by increasing the minimum wage, poverty and inequality can be reduced by enabling workers to meet their basic needs and reducing income disparities.

I come from a low-income family. A family, like many others in the United States, which has lived paycheck to paycheck. My family and other families in my community have been trying to make ends meet by living on the minimum wage. We are proof that it doesn't work.

Keep Reading...Show less
blank paper
Allena Tapia

As an English Major in college, I have a lot of writing and especially creative writing pieces that I work on throughout the semester and sometimes, I'll find it hard to get the motivation to type a few pages and the thought process that goes behind it. These are eleven thoughts that I have as a writer while writing my stories.

Keep Reading...Show less
April Ludgate

Every college student knows and understands the struggle of forcing themselves to continue to care about school. Between the piles of homework, the hours of studying and the painfully long lectures, the desire to dropout is something that is constantly weighing on each and every one of us, but the glimmer of hope at the end of the tunnel helps to keep us motivated. While we are somehow managing to stay enrolled and (semi) alert, that does not mean that our inner-demons aren't telling us otherwise, and who is better to explain inner-demons than the beloved April Ludgate herself? Because of her dark-spirit and lack of filter, April has successfully been able to describe the emotional roller-coaster that is college on at least 13 different occasions and here they are.

Keep Reading...Show less

Subscribe to Our Newsletter

Facebook Comments