Similarities in family histories?

In the family histories of Crystal and Pedro, I found the feelings about my own family history within theirs. What our families have passed on to us depicts a picture of hard work and immense strength to hold on. In Crytal’s story, her great great grandmother did not surrender to the Japanese invaders in World War I when they raided her home and killed her neighbors, Crystal says: “The soldier brought the end of the gun to her grandmother's back and began to hit her with it. He also slapped her a few times across the face, my great great grandmother was unable to defend herself. After a few blows, he brought the gun in front of her grandmother with a loud donk. At that moment, my grandmother saw that her grandmother was shaking with fear with a pale face and cold sweat was dripping off the sides of her face. “ The courage to endure is admiring and makes me reflect on my own life to follow these footsteps. This stimulated the memory of my great grandpa’s agony when he was punished by Mao’s men every night to an extent where his life had no more meaning to him, and he even wanted to commit suicide. But he didn’t, he endured the suffering- although it is unfair, by moving on, he showed me that you can make life better and more enjoyable even though horrible things are occurring.

In Pedro’s story, I sensed a realization and fascination that I too had toward my family’s history. Pedro says, “It made me feel like everyone is capable of doing anything. I am not trying to say my grandpa is weak and no one but he started something with a friend. He was just one ordinary person who wanted to have fun and go explore, next thing you know the place he loved to play in and spent good times with him and his friend came to become his home.”When one creates or did something great, I often idolize them and think of them as less of a human being. When my great grandpa and my Uncle, who lost his leg through an accident at age twenty, found their way back to life- it seems impossible if it were me, just as Pedro felt when he was told of his grandpa’s creation. However, while our stories differ in physical innovation and mental innovation, both places us in the point of recognizing that our ancestors were people just like us, so we can too succeed as they have.