“How My Cultural Heritage Has Contributed to San Antonio”

by Ramiro O. Guerrero III

Health Careers High School, 12th Grade

I look at myself as a very poor person, not because I don't have money, but because I don't have history.  The question that this essay contest has raised has left me feeling confused.  I know that there are many people in San Antonio that can trace their roots a long way back and may even have replicas of family crests or emblems.  For me I was told that my family crest was blood, sweat, and tears, and my family heirlooms were the stories that were told from one generation to the next.

As I sat to talk to my grandmother about my family, I noticed something that I hadn't seen in a while, her mind reflecting as if looking through a stack of papers for just the right story that she could recount to her grandson realizing that it would be recorded in my mind.  She has always had a positive way about her and in the way she looks at things.  She mentioned how she could remember as a little girl racing to the door after hearing her father's car pull in, and how the love she had for him overcame the oil and tar smell on his clothes as she hugged him.  You see her father worked for the city paving the streets of San Antonio one day at a time.  She then told me of the love her parents had for her that made her feel special, which wasn't easy in a family of twelve.

I then spoke to my father and asked him about our heritage and he told me that we had a very interesting family.  He remembers when he was about seven his father pulled into their driveway, and his love for his father overcame the smell of paint and paint thinner as he hugged him.  On one particular day his father had some exciting news, a book company (Harcourt Brace and Jovanovich) had approached him and selected him and his family to be photographed doing everyday things and would be the Mexican American Family of their education publications.  My father still comes across pictures of his family in different books.  My grandfather has always been in the music business and has been very successful here recently with his conjunto music band "Los Pioneers" in and around the San Antonio Area.  His drive has been the love for music, family and culture.

As I look at my immediate family, I see teachers, medical professionals, and lovers of family values. This is how my Heritage has helped San Antonio, Texas.  My heritage has paved the way for me to receive a good education and has inspired me to be a productive individual.

As I record these accounts in my mind of my heritage, I realized that my great grandfather's work is all around the streets San Antonio. And my grandfather's artistic expressions are recorded on the houses of San Antonio and the joy he brings to people though his music will live on as long as I can recount the stories to my future seekers of heritage. I would like to express my thanks to the San Antonio Founders Day committee for asking the question that opened my life to my past and encouraging my future.

Sources:

Grandmother: Carolina V. Guerrero

Father: Ramiro Guerrero Jr.

Copyright San Antonio Founders Day Alliance 2005

www.SanAntonioFoundersDay.org