My experience has taught me something that nobody had told me about freedom. In 2016-2017, some of my freedom was taken away from me when I crossed the border between Mexico and the United States of America in order to meet my mother, whom I had not seen for almost 7 years. I was held back because, unfortunately, I was not American. During the time that I was held back, I and many others had a schedule for when to eat, play, learn, sleep. This was repeated throughout the days, weeks, and months that I spent in that place. And that’s when I really experienced the meaning of being and not being free, because no longer than a year ago, back in Guatemala, I had been able to decide for myself when to do these things.  And so I realized that we don’t realize or appreciate freedom until it has been taken away from us or when it is finally given back to us.

This illustration shows a man walking through a hallway this symbolizes people and how most of the time they are told what to do, what direction to take. In my illustration, the man later encounters a door. This symbolizes people being given the opportunity to be free and make their own decisions or keep doing what others want them to. The man walking outside  shows one of those two decisions.