Adriana Zagal English 114B/ 8:00am Prof.

Gifford 18 February 2014 The Difference One Can Make "The purpose of life is to contribute in some way to making things better" - Robert F. Kennedy. In our society there has been stories of all those people that have made a big difference in the world that have impacted others lives. All of us can say that one way or another those individuals who stood up for their believes and did the impossible to get their point out there has changed the world we live in. In the United States, there has been people that are well recognized for standing up for their believes. For example, like Martin Luther King, he stood up for the rights and equality of African American, also Rosa Parks, who stood up for her right to sit anywhere in a public bus has made a big difference in our society that is still recognized. They stood up for their beliefs even when the people around them thought it was wrong and unnecessary. With just one person no matter the age or gender, them speaking out and standing up against something others believe is wrong, they will be able to get some type of attention that could start a revolution. In the book, Finding Maana Mirta Ojito talks about a man Hector Sanyustiz who was just an ordinary citizen in Cuba who was sick of living there. Even though it seemed that he had a good style of living, Sanyustiz mentioned that, He felt like a lab rat trapped in an experiment: blindly running through a maze and bumping into walls (77). He was a regular man who drove

a bus for living and had a family that lived a daily routine in Cuba. Since he was a small kid he realized that he was the happiest with, his independence, not having anyone tell him what to do (81). After him having an issue with a prosecutor, he decided to quit his job and start living like a fugitive. That was when he came up with the idea to leave his country and find asylum in the Peruvian embassy. He was able to convince two of his other friends and another family to go along with them. Since there attempt to break into the embassy on a bus did not go as planned there was some complication that later led on to all of Cuba being involved. Once many of the citizens of Cuba found out what Sanyustiz had done and that there was also hope for them to leave they followed his lead. Sanyustiz had a plan and goal to be able to escape Cuba and live in the U.S. and he did all that was possible to be able to accomplish it. He might have risked his life and put his family in danger but in the end he was able to reach his goal. Sanyustiz was the reason why thousands of people were able to be reunited with his family and leave Cuba. Many would say that because of him a big chaos started in Cuba and the U.S, but he believed that he was doing the right thing and him taking action had a great impact. In an article published 12 years after the Peruvian embassy chaos, Sanyustiz was finally located in the U.S. since he was in hiding all those years to make sure that his family in Cuba was not harmed for his decisions. In the article, The Cuban who sparked the exodus breaks his silence by Fabiola Santiago, Sanyustiz mentioned to them that, [he] didn't want to tell anyone who I was or talk about what I did. I'm not someone who goes around proclaiming that I'm a hero. He knew that he had done something that had been a great deal to everyone, but to him it was a sense of join that he had to keep to himself because he did not know who were the people that liked what he did or were the ones that disliked his idea. Those that thought his idea to have been the best one that someone could ever come up with called him the father of Mariel. To all

the refugees in Cuba he was a man who had the guts to go against the countrys political ideology and follow his own beliefs. He was the first one to be noted to rebel and go against Cubas set of rule of how living there should be. To this day he still questions why Cuba let him free when he had committed a crime in Cubas eye to try and escape and supposedly kill an officer. After all this years he says, Of course it was worth it. I found peace. All I ever wanted was to live in peace, to work and earn a salary that would allow me to live decently. That wasn't possible in Cuba. When you least expected it, someone was knocking on your door and telling you it was your turn to watch over the neighborhood, or that it was time to do `volunteer work.' Sanyustiz is well recognized for all that he did even endangering his life for freedom. Hector Sanyustiz is a great example to show that no matter the age, gender, or socioeconomic status youre in you can make a difference in the world. Like he mentioned in the article, I was tired of the oppression, of being a nonperson. Everyone has the right to live as a human being. At that moment he would have not thought that his plan of breaking into the Peruvian embassy on a bus would be a big deal. Since others had done it, he thought it would be exactly the same way and things would go smoothly. All that he wanted was freedom for himself and those with him, he never thought that 10,000 Cubans would follow his lead and go on his side to try and find asylum also. This ordinary bus driver was able to accomplish his goal of reaching the U.S. and being able to get at least a decent job at first. He managed to be able to buy his own house in Miami and live in harmony. This proves that just about anyone is able to make a difference in our world. Even if its something small or something big its the thought and hard work that counts. Its better to stick with ones beliefs and opinions, than to just keep them bottled up in ones mind. One never knows if that idea can make a change and or even be helpful to others. Stick to ones own goals and

sooner or later they will be accomplished, it might take a bit of sacrifice but in the end like Sanyustiz said its worth it.