“Freed out of the Cave”

I used to enjoy discussing some Cuba’s history events with my grandmother at home’s portal, where Malecon’s salty breezes reach out. Before leaving a debate with my grandmother, a restless conclusion started to emerge from what she was telling me. My concern was that there was a missing link in the logical concordance that there should be between the historical facts and the moments of Cuba’s reality. Then, a sudden enlightenment came from my grandmother’s mention of a popular phrase of our apostle Jose Marti, “Doing is the best way to say.

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After reading the exceptional allegory of Plato’s Cave, I felt as one of the freed slaves. Where the fire and the sun’s light were glowing truths of Cuba’s history. The cave like dwelling was a simulation of Cuba’s situation after 1959. The slaves were the Cuban people shackled by the legs and neck inside the cave, representing freedom’s denial in our society. The shadows reflected on the wall and cave’s darkness are all promises and told lies, that for more than six decades slaves have hold as true statements. Finally, the corrupted and dictatorial government represented as the responsible to reflect all the images on the wall. Exactly, I was born in the cave like dwelling’s darkness as a slave, holding for true all lies of the Cuban Revolution. Since I was a kid, the indoctrination did not allow me to see the light out of the cave, and sometimes I wanted to believe that Fidel Castro did not betray Cuba’s people. But life and work of our apostle Jose Marti provided me the light to scape from the darkness of the cave.

One of Fidel Castro’s strategies, to keep his people slaves inside the cave, was his elaboration of long speeches filled of promises. Not only him, but a lot of politicians do not execute what it was expressed in their speeches. As naïve as I was in my childhood, believing in all of Castro’s lies in his speeches used to me make me proud of supposed achievements of the so-called “Revolution.” That it is why I could not interpret the reality that was walking in Cuba’s streets. “History Will Absolve Me” is the title of a four-hour speech made by Fidel Castro on 16 October 1953, where he promised a reformation of land rights.

But, after the Cuban Revolution, they took away the property of my great-grandfather in which he had worked all his life, and its today’s condition is an infertile land. On February 16th, 1959, Castro said, “I am sure that in the course of a few years we will raise the standard of living of the Cuban superior to that of the United States and that of Russia” But, Cuban people, including friends and family members, even struggle to find food. It is enough to compare the evaluative account of the economic, political and social situation in Cuba made by Fidel in that plea to verify that the current Cuba, after 60 years under that social program of “the Revolution”, is absolutely worse, more chaotic, more unequal and more impoverished ethically, economically, financially and socially. At the end of the day, the insufficiency of Fidel Castro’s speech was when doing was not the best way for his “Revolution.”

Thanks to our eternal national hero Jose Marti, during my childhood, I could understand the current situation of my country. Continuing Marti’s philosophy, “Doing is the best wat to say,” I will give my labor as a physicist for the development of a better Cuban society, that has been trapped for 60 years in a Plato's cave. Please briefly elaborate on one of your extracurricular activities or work experiences that was particularly meaningful to you. (About 150 words)

An old passion appeared to battle my little boring time. My competitive-self had awakened again from remote times. Once again, the game of chess has begun. Many years ago, I used to play street chess with my friends. All the mental energy and the challenge’s tension involve in this board game make me to feel passionate for every played game. In these times, trying to find something productive and entertaining, playing chess shows to be a good option. Chess helps you to maintain your brain in shape. Viewing the mind as muscle, chess is as a work out version for your mind. Moreover, since this game is determined by choices, playing chess helps to improve someone’s ability to make choices in life. A chess game allows me to refresh my mind, only when I have little time for me between studies, work, and housework.

Please tell us how you have spent the last two summers (or vacations between school years), including any jobs you have held. (About 150 words) Maybe earlier in life, my childish mind considered that jobs that required brute force did not have to apply intelligence. Working in a floor construction company last summer provided me many valuable reflections. The Kennedy Floor Inc. operated mostly in Newport’s buildings, near to Hudson River. At the beginning, I was very clumsy because of my lack of manual skills. Practically, my labor was a disaster because I did not know how to synchronize work’s cleaning with hard manual skills. Be able to synchronize pain, cleaning work, and perfect installation of wood tiles requires lot of your mental capacity. One of the first thing to improve is pain’s concentration. Despite having knee pads, kneeling on the floor caused me pain in my knees and in the column. Also, in each work done, I had to formulate a processing selection of actions to find which labor’s action would be first in order to make my work easier.

If so, please explain the timeline of your postsecondary career. We also welcome this in the format of a resume or CV if you have submitted this in the Documents section of the Common Application and if you feel this would more comprehensively cover this information. Please respond in 150 words or fewer

When I started at the University of Havana, I had climbed a step of my goal’s mountain. The University of Havana was the mountain and being a great physics graduate was the peak to reach. However, I could not finish my first year because my family and I decided to emigrate to this country on June 11th, 2016. But leaving my dream in being a physicist was not an option. That it is why improving my English language was the first objective in order to pursue a physics career in the United States. After learning and improving my English for one year and half, I started my major again at Hudson County Community College in fall 2017. That year and half gap had a crucial importance because it allowed me to embrace a new culture, to adapt myself, and to understand a new educational system.

One of our fundamental characteristics as humans is that we never stop learning. That it is why learning physics and math as much as possible is the principal plan during my higher education. Also, I would like to participate in any research or study related with my major as an extracurricular activity. Moreover, I will be very enthusiastic in participating in any physics or math competition. Then, after my higher education experience, I am going to be prepared to start my master’s degree and doctorate’s degree in Physics. However, it is a little annoying to not know which part of physics I am going to be more concentrated, because I have not explored all the physics’ world yet. But looking more into the future, I will like to be part of some research in theoretical physics. Trying to dismantle the wonders of our universe will be the perfect plan to employ my dream in being a great physicist.

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