Students Write - Prof. Martin's Class: Juan

Helping Others: A Product of Aldine
by Juan Herrera

As a community, we suffer from a bystander syndrome when it comes to the problems that actively damage those around us in Aldine. Driving down Little York or Aldine Mail Route, I consistently see homeless people asking for money at stoplights. I can’t remember how many times I’ve driven past these people, wondering why my parents wouldn’t just roll down the window and hand them a dollar or two, only to be told that my parents worked hard for their cash, why should they hand it out?

We’ve become so accustomed to seeing accidents, shootings, fires, and more in Aldine that we’ve numbed ourselves to it.  Every year, a MacArthur student dies because there are no proper sidewalks for them to walk on, and every year someone is shot over something as minor as a verbal disagreement. Why do we continue to allow these sorts of things to keep happening, wouldn’t you think that we’d be more open to talk about this, to raise our voices and say, “That’s enough?”

I’d love to work with the community to find out why we continue to look the other way when tragedy strikes, why we look the other way when there are people that are in obvious need. I understand the need for survival because I grew up in the same area as the rest of Aldine but wouldn’t we better our community if we decided to help each other out? Wouldn’t it be better if we were less complicit in the ailments of our community and attempted to help our neighbors more?

My father came from a Mexican working-class family that owned a farm and only grew what they needed to survive so he’s always put himself and his family as priority number one. My mother grew up in a wealthier family in Mexico but with the lack of a paternal figure in her life she always had to look out for her sisters. My parents raised me to always think of myself first and then helping others and growing up being raised by my parents in Aldine only accentuated this feeling.

Being more aware of Aldine has made more concerned with helping my neighbors. I wanted to help people like those girls’ families. I plan on going into the criminal justice field by majoring in Criminology and pursuing a career as a criminal psychologist after completing my four years. There, I can support Aldine to focus on their issues and on their survival.

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Juan is a current student in Professor Bruce Martin's writing course.