Alien Commuters

Hard work every day. No rest and crossing the state border back and forward just to get to the place of labor and get back home. Thousands of Mexican people do this procedure daily just to survive, spending hours in the fields in USA just to earn some coins, to make at least some money for existence.


Why? What makes the people come to the United States and still live in Mexico, getting the annual income which is lower than the poverty line, measuring by the US standards? A lot of workers say that this is the only way for their families to survive - getting some kind of money in the USA, all in all, doing some dirty work, and at the same time living in Mexico which is cheaper and gives some benefits to them. This life does not sound like fun, but people have to exist that way to keep living. With no good education, no certain level of any occupation - these are those factors which make the life turn out to be like that. Filthy tunnels on the way from one country to another, low level of life, and sometimes - no respect. Unfortunately, this does take place in the world, and there are still a lot of people who decide to live in one country, and sell their labor un the other for nothing. This is the real world.


So, the immigrants come to work to the US in the great amounts daily. And nothing can effectively stop this process. USA has the image of the country of opportunities for the foreigners. The country of American Dream. And as long as the United States keep this status, it should be ready to meet new and new "guests" from abroad who are up to work and may stay in the shade of the economic system with no taxing or anything.

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Street life. The kids who hang out in the yards in the big cities without business, skip school, do not care much about their education just because do not think that it is necessary. How do such kind of the stories usually end up? Drug dealership, gang participation, getting into some trouble and going to the jail. Some of the readers may say that this is the stereotyping, however, the statistics can prove it, which is unfortunately. But is not there an alternative to such a way of living?


Today there is another way to fix your life up even staying out off the school, spending time in the streets. There is a way to get over your negative emotions and aggression and this way is called the sport. An example for such a variant of the way to stay out of the trouble can be the story of the "Barcelona Fight Club." They started as the usual place for the street fighting kind of for fun. However, there turned out to be a lot of the teenagers who were eager to take part in this. So, the organizators decided to start a boxing club for all those who wanted to participate in it. Sport - it became something that could take away the kids' negativity, they became calmer, started to control their emotions better and got to know how to protect themselves in the troubles in the streets. Sport became a rescuer for those who came out of mostly poor families and had had all chances to spend half of their lives in prison at last. May this experience stay with them forever, even when they are 30 years old and cannot fight any more? I think so, because the skills to control yourself and never lose the temper in the dangerous or problematic situations may stay with them forever. This is something that becomes a part of your character and stays there. It is a part of the sportsman's discipline.


All in all, I think that the sport does give you some very important skills and traits of character. Being confident, cool-minded, persistent, responsible and able to analyze the situation - these are those benefits a person gets from being involved in the sport. Even such a kind of sport like boxing. Those benefits stay with you forever, and I believe that the kids from the streets who are the characters of our story may fix their lives forever.

People like us

We are all divided into different classes within a society. Our lifestyle, clothes, the way we behave, our possessions and what not influences our belonging to this or that social class. And even though I think that the existing of the different classes in a society is not so actual in the modern life, still they do have place in American social structure. So, how do the social classes influence one's life and status?


Tammy, Appalachia and poverty
Poverty. The story of Tammy is the great example to talk about when it comes to the question of social classes. She, had been growing up in the family with 21 other siblings, came into the adults' world. At the documentary she is shown as the mother of 2 kids, working at the fast-food restaurant which is placed 10,5 miles away from her home. And she has to get to her working place on foot as far as she doesn't have a driving license or even a car to drive! Her life is full of despair, and she doesn't see any chance to change something. However, her older son tries to fit in into the social class which is higher then his own. How? By wearing better clothes, through the behavior and the network of communication. He also tries to come to his goals by achieving some kind of success at studying and sports. Will he get upper on the steps of the social structure? To my mind, he can. I have a perspective that any person does have a chance to change his or her social statues. And, I think, that the way through education is one of the best ones. And there are a lot of proofs to it in the history, people who came from the lower classes did went to the higher ones. I think, everything depends only on your own desire and hard work.


High School and Social Class
Your social class usually plays a rather great role at high-schools. Depending on what class you belong to, the students hang out together, get split into the groups of interest. High school prepares you greatly to living in certain social class. You exchange your experiences and through the process of communication, you get involved and interested in something particular. The groups you belong to,  form and shape your future class belonging in a lot of cases. Moving up or down the class may be a tough change, and I am pretty sure that going higher may be a very tough way. Because going higher - means becoming better. And changing your class may create, first of all, the change in your circle of communication, which means, your friends, people you hang out with, even family - may be replaced, and not everyone can handle this. A person sometimes becomes much more isolated on their way to success. And, as far as one's belonging to the upper class is nowadays considered to be a part of success, this may require some isolation, too. Personally, I would call myself a part of the in-group at school, at least in the most of the cases.


Social class and your possessions
Everything you posses shapes your social class. According to the judgment of a society, the house you live in, your clothes, all the things you have - creates the picture of your status and class. Your prestige is something that is influenced by the stuff you have. Moreover, it depends on the quality of the products you buy and consume. For example, as the movie showed, even the bread we eat means something. The more white sliced bread you eat, the lower is your social class to be thought of. However, I do not really agree with this because this is the question of the personal tastes and preferences. However, for example, your car can tell way more about "who you are in a society". The more expensive it is, the higher your class "is supposed to be". My family back to Ukraine has a rather good car,  and even the fact that we do have one means that we belong to the middle class at least. So, comparing to American society and culture it differs. Here a family can have 3-4 cars, a car per every member, and they still may belong to the middle class. So, the social classes and judgment about them may differ from country to country, depending on the average level of life within it. And this way, something that may only make you a person of the lower-middle class in one society, may make you the person of the highest positions in some other society.


All things considered, social classes do exist in American society. They often influence the others' attitude to you and create certain image. To me personally, social classes do not really matter and do not change my communication with the people. You should know that it is actually possible to go higher or lower in the class. However, do not concentrate on your position in society. Just chase your dreams, and it will bring you higher in life anyways.