Fast Foods Have Become Bigger, Stronger, and Smarter.

McDonald’s was my favorite place. As a child, I considered it to be a fun land because of the grand playhouse that was visible through its glass walls. Those red cardboard happy meal boxes never gave a slight disappointment because I always found a free collectible toy in every container. For a child, going to McDonald’s was a treat. My father would only reward me a trip there if I had received good marks on my report card. However, the salty French fries were my favorite to scoff down my throat, and the hamburger will usually be left untouched and my coca cola drink will be left half-empty. Fast food was not an issue in the past since I was only in it for the collectible toys and French fries. My grandmother had always served homemade meals daily, so eating healthy was not much of a concern.

As we grow older, we become prone to laziness so we no longer choose to make our own healthy choices. Instead, we will rather make a quick drive through any fast food restaurant and eat a meal that will suffice. After entering college, I have relied myself more to fast food. It is quite embarrassing enough to say that I almost eat it everyday. A perfect warm glazed donut with a tall hot white chocolate macchiato to get through the morning, some sweet mandarin chicken entrée to get though the afternoon, and a juicy carne asada burrito to finish the night. Nevertheless, I have come to my senses to change these habits. After giving myself a few hours each day to make my own meals, I rarely feel the urge to eat out. By taking the time to make small snacks during the day is helpful too. Not only does it feel fulfilling for a short time, it also helps save a few dollars everyday. Exercising is another helpful way to balance a better routine. Rather than taking the time to go to a gym and spend an amount full of money, a quick jog around the neighborhood is simpler to do every morning.

It is hard to ignore these fast food restaurants when they are seen daily in advertisements. Outdoors, they are seen on almost every block and in shopping areas like the mall. Not only do they attack the minds of kids with their fun houses and toys, they also appeal late night viewers. They offer promotions like the dollar menu, five-dollar meals, and limited time games like monopoly. Furthermore, most of them are open for twenty-four hours, which is very tempting to late night workers. They even attract those who watch their health and weight with their ‘nutrition menus.’ In this new era, fast foods have become bigger, stronger, and smarter. 

Aspiration Becoming a Reality

We live in a world that is full of obstacles--obstacles that we can only overcome due to hard work and sacrifices. Life was not meant to be easy. I have walked this earth for only nineteen years, yet to cover each and every aspect about my life and my experiences would take thousands of pages to fill.

The day I first felt the warm California sun beat against my skin was the day I was reunited with my mother and my younger sister. Since then, my mother single-handedly began her new American life, struggling to balance her minimum wage income in order to keep food in our stomachs and a roof above our heads. It was nothing compared to her life back in the Philippines, where she once had a degree in dentistry and had family and friends to work alongside with. Now that we’re in California, her dentistry degree is worthless--the closest she gets to her former job is making false teeth in a small industrial setting.

And if that wasn’t enough, my family has grown since we began our lives in California. Between my sister and my brother, I am the oldest. My brother came along after my mother met a new man--a man who stands respectfully beside my mother.

I still stand undecided on what to do with my remaining time, so for now I have been considering my mother’s dream of pursuing a career in the medical field. Sometimes the paths we choose are just too difficult to follow, difficult to the point at which we let others decide what is best for us, for we believe it to be wisdom coming from a form full of experience. It is thus that I now walk on this familiar path over and over, believing it to be what I personally desire, fooling myself time and time again. I had even promised my father in our last connection of eleven memorable years that I would pursue this career just for him before I was left wondering whether or not he had taken his foot off this world.

So why did I advance to college and continue school? It's quite simple really: mainly to earn a degree to receive a higher paying job--maybe to even educate myself and learn a skill. But it may also be this: to find the reason worth living for--to find ourselves and learn what we are truly capable of and to discover where our passion resides. Having a successful education is the only pathway to a successful future. In order to reach my full potential and gain this obscure knowledge, I know that I will have to work hard, just like my mother does everyday to keep us on our feet with smiles plastered on our faces. I plan to be the first in my family to earn a college degree, not only to gain pride, but also to truly become a good role model for my younger siblings and for my mother not to regret my being. So as a nurse, it may not be that bad. I may even find the fulfillment I am looking for there, maybe not just for my own wishes, but to also give back to my community and to my family for their sacrifices towards my advance to a better future. Therefore, fulfilling this accomplishment can help my other aspirations become a reality.