BLOG ENTRY #3

The worse situation of the two was, Héctor Seeman, the music teacher from Mexico, who although bypassed by his own country, stayed and died alone. His situation is worse because he spent most of his life dedicated to teaching and composing music that was never appreciated or recognized. He wrote two operas and many orchestral compositions, most of which isn't even known.
This situation is worse because Seeman was bitter at his country, his people, and those who never recognized him for his dedication to music and musical works he created. He was also angry with those who he thought stood in his way. He let the bitterness of being bypassed ruin his life and spoil any chance of him ever being able to enjoy life (and probably anything related to music). He quit giving lessons and only had one former student that visited him. All he seemed to do was yell at those walking on his yard. What a sad way to end up. He eventually died alone and was not found for 4 days.

The Atolinga families that moved to Chicago created a much better life for themselves and in the process changed their ways of thinking, which will trickle down through generations. They made a change and worked tremendously hard to achieve it, together as a team and community, and it has changed the way of life in their communities around Chicago, Nebraska, Indianapolis, and the other places they've populated. However it also changed their community back home. Families would build lavish houses back home and visit twice a year, always saying they'd return, but really knowing they probably never would for good. This changed the economy in their town to running on US dollars, which meant the cost of living rose. The townspeople of Atolinga really saw the families that had done so well in the US as "wealthy and arrogant". So the immigrant families' success drove a wall in between their old way of life and their new one. In a way, their old home town eventually didn't seem as "home" to them as Chicago, so they ended up not returning. This situation was bad because of the effects it had on their relationship with people in Atolinga and its economy, but it was good because of the success of so many Mexican immigrants, a different view of life for them, and the promotion of teamwork instead of envidia.
However, Héctor Seemann's life was worse because of the lonely, bitter end he willingly endured.
I see Héctor as someone who dealth with rejection, but chose to be angry at the world and become a hermit, forfieting his chance at leaving an impact or influencing people. I see the Atolingas as a group of people who overcame huge obstacles in life, and their consistant hard work, dedication, and teamwork paid off in a major way. This payoff not only gave them a much better quality of life, but it will change the course of life for generations to follow. Like Salinas said, "There's no point to living if you're not going to leave something behind."