Is "Becoming American" Really Not Beneficial??? No Way Jose

I did not put becoming American in quotations because it is a saying, but also because there is a movie that will boggle your mind as it did mine. These following clips that I will present soon represents a "Latino Paradox" that shows research that proves immigrants' health in the United States steadily worsens the longer they stay in the states. The proceeding clips will reiterate that immigrants are healthier when they first arrive in America than most people already living in the states.

This clip states that Latinos have the lowest rates of death, heart problems, and all the major killers. They even found this to be true within the poorest of Latinos. The remarkable data they collected showed that these people's health was even better than the richest people in America. They also found out that Latinos have lower rates of psychological illnesses with their stressful living conditions than those of the higher classes. The solution to this great anomaly could most likely be due toward strong family ties and traditions. Close family and social networks help shield these families from all the American negatives. This shield can only hold up for so long though because in the next couple clips they will talk about the degrading health conditions Latinos go through the longer they live in America.

The next clip talks about the relationship between wealth and health and how it does not affect Latino immigrants when they first arrive in America. As years go by, the correlation between wealth and health tighten and tighten and becomes more of a factor in their lives. So basically they are saying that people come to this country with healthier ways of life and the longer they are here, the unhealthier they become.

I believe that the answer to this vast change in health and wealth with Latinos and most immigrants is the sense of independence and freedom that American values install within out minds. So future generations that grow up in America tend to be more independent and distance from their families which slowly lead toward social isolation. With social isolation come greater chances of diabetes, greater tress, and other health problems. Social isolation can also create greater psychological problems because they no longer have that social network to fall back on and receive the help that is needed.

So what is the ultimate answer to this problem? No one can really say...or if they do then they should really share and make the world a lot better for the majority of the world's population. The last video said some things that really caught my attention: more than 20% of Latino households are poor, they struggle with discrimination, lower paying jobs, bad schools, bad housing, environment giving cues that they are not valuable and have little prospect for a better future. All of these things could easily bring any one's morale to an all time low. Although before they were leading healthy lives and had high hopes and aspirations about living the dream lives in America. As time went on it seems that those dreams have been diminished and out of reach. Maybe it is that hope, that determination, that dream that was keeping the Latino so healthy. Maybe it was something else. Whatever it is hopefully we will figure it out someday and teach those ways to our future generations so they can go lead healthier and happier lives than most people are these days.