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Dear Lucky Miller,

I think everyone has that same view of the world when they are little, we all think that everything is perfect, and that we live in some sort of paradise. I arrived to this country at the age of seven coming from a small pueblo in Mexico where it was ok to go out at night and walk around, were my parents would send me to the stored at 9:00 pm to buy milk with out a care in the world, where in the morning the neighbors where out watering the plants and just talking about their days and about the current gossip. Once we moved to Chicago things changes we no longer greeted the neighbors unless they were family, we were not allowed outside unless our parents were out with us. There was so much fear and worry, something that I did not fully understand, all I knew was that we were to stay in the house if our parents were not home. Slowly but surely my eyes opened to this city to the wonders and that horrors of it.

One of the buildings that we lived in had a small grocery store that we frequented a lot.
The owner was a very nice old man who was always kind to us, he even gave my older brother Jesus a part time job after school, so he could make a few bucks, but tragedy struck our little neighborhood, one night close two closing time two individual entered the stored and held it at gun point, my brother Jesus was in the back putting away boxes, when they came in. The individuals took the money and in the process shot the store owner, my brother was a witness to all of this. The owner died that night, something that traumatized my brother and the whole family for a long time. That night I saw Chicago in a different light, I was no longer a carefree kid. I was scared to think that at any time one could get shot or just be a victim of violence.
Such horrible events as the one that I have told you about shape the view of people and contribute to less conversation. People are always skeptical of others, It is human nature to wonder about others and their intentions, we have been led to believe that everyone has an alterative motive, that hello is no longer hello.

The news media are always telling us about new scams that people come up with and how the try to get information from you to rob you, that many times small talk is actually a reconnaissance mission to find out when your not home. We live in a time were everything is rush rush, It is a shame that we can no longer stop and say hello but to be honest it is hard to say hello to a perfect stranger, I would like to live in a perfect world were we could go to out and leave our door unlocked and be able to talk to anyone and that it would just be taken as a friendly gesture, but due to the times its no longer possible.

I would like to let you know, that you are no alone in your views. I too would like to be able to talk to someone and just be that, I would like to live in simpler time, but in a city as big as Chicago this is not possible, I believe that in order to be a modern metropolis things are sacrificed and one of those has been the old time America, whether this is a good thing or bad only time will tell.
Well good luck with your semester and the current job. And with what the future may hold for you.

Sincerely David Gallegos