Description
This course has explored United States history from Reconstruction to modern day. Since you have been alive during a portion of what has been studied, you have experienced history firsthand. You also live in a time when history is questioned, rewritten, and facts even changed. It makes for an exciting time to be alive. In your opinion, and with your knowledge as it pertains to American history, what is the most important event, person, or situation of US history that directly impacted your life? Please explain the event and also draw a very clear line between the event and your life. ( 500 WORDS)PLEASE NOTE: This must be an event that directly impacted you.For example, I cannot write that the Vietnam War directly impacted me because my dad was in the Army. That does not explain the link clearly. Instead, I can write the following (as a beginning):The Vietnam War directly impacted me. My father was Army Infantry and graduated from college in 1966. After his graduation, he and my mom married, but my dad still had to serve his year in the military. Instead of going to Vietnam in 1966, my dad was posted to the DMZ in Korea. He spent the next year guarding the border between North Korea and South Korea. When he returned to the US, my dad could have reenlisted in the US Army as an active soldier and as an officer; instead, he chose to serve as a trainer for new recruits and was stationed in California. My mom and my dad relocated with my brother and sister to California, and then my dad transitioned to the Army Reserves and started his career in the private sector. Although I talk about my dad in this post, I am directly affected by these decisions. If my dad would have continued as an active Army soldier, he would have be redeployed to Vietnam as the Tet Offensive kicked off. Since he was infantry, my dad had very slim chances of making it back alive. So, because he chose to not continue his Army career, I had the opportunity to be born. If he returned, I may never have been born. Also, my parents realized that a college degree kept my dad from the draft. He realized the value of a college education, as it may have saved his life. Because of this turn of fate, my mom and dad were adamant that every one of their children would attend college. Because I am a woman, this was not a given at the time I graduated from high school. If they had not benefitted from college, I. may not have had the chance to go to college because it would not have been important in my family. So, my dad’s experience and decisions impacted me because I was able to go to college and become a teacher.My mom’s college experience also impacted my ability to go to college. She was able to attend a public university, but had to drop out her junior year of college because she was pregnant with my brother. My mom proceeded to raise her children (there are four of us), and never returned to college. She was always intent on returning but died before she could complete her college degree in political science. Because she did not get the chance to finish, my mom wanted her daughters to go to college and finish their studies. We were never told college would not be an option.
