New Freedom

     In “My Papa’s Waltz” by Theodore Roethke, “Cincinnati” by Mitsuye Yamada, and “The Cask of Amontillado” by Edgar Allan Poe, there are many different visions of freedom that are felt by the reader. I experienced each of these visions while reading about them and also when I was performing service for the first time at John Ruhrah Elementary School.

     In the short story of "The Cask of Amontillado" confinement is one of the main topics discussed in the work. When Montressor gets revenge on Fortunado, he tricks him by burying him alive in the catacombs. Montressor seeks freedom from Fortunado in his plot of revenge but in reality he is not free because he has to deal with guilt that will haunt him for the rest of his life. At service this week, I experienced a different type of freedom. A freedom in which brings happiness to everyone that participates. These young children that I coach are free in the after school program Soccer Without Borders, which offers a social, productive, skill-building, and learning enhancive. These children are refugees that spend a long day in school and then come to this program in order to learn and progress in the fundamentals of soccer. In this after school program the children are free, doing something they enjoy and have fun doing. Unlike Fortunado, these children do not feel trapped even tho conditions may seem like it. Like Fortunado the gym where we play is very hot and damp due to humidity but the kids make the best of it and have a great time. 

     In the poem "My Papa's Waltz" we learn of a boy who is receiving abuse but love while waltzing with his father.  At service I learned that most of the children I am coaching are refugees. They are receiving freedom by coming to the U.S.. They are overcoming their hardships just as the young boy is in " My Papa's Waltz". With all that is going on in the home countries of the children they are still having fun and making the best of what they have. They are still coming to practice with a smile on their face and laughing and joking and having fun. The boy in the poem still dances with his father even though there is pain. The boy overcomes the pain and still dances.

     In the poem "Cincinnati" the speaker is just released form a concentration camp. The speaker is experiencing freedom for the first time. The children I coach at service are experiencing freedom for the first time also. They are learning to be independent and learning the ways of American culture. While watching these children run around the gym with no cares in the world I realized the struggle that the children face each day coming somewhere new just as the speaker faced in the poem. One little girl asked me today as I was leaving if I was coming back because she had slot of fun with me today. In that moment I realized I am just as important in this little girls life as she is in mine. It is a part of me to help her adjust to the culture her and make her feel more comfortable in the freedom she is given.

     Overall, the experiences I had at service today showed me a new sense of freedom, just like the stories did.