“Therefore, O Sariputra, in emptiness there is no form nor feeling, nor perception, nor impulse, nor consciousness; No eye, ear, nose, tongue, body, mind ; No forms, sounds, smells, tastes, touchables or objects of mind ; No sight-organ element, and so forth, until we come to.” Here in New York I live with my parents and feel like we are trapped in this one place. Until we travel to DR where we can finally feel free is what it feels like. Over there we go out so much and visit our family members. Meanwhile here in New York I barely see my family because we are all busy doing something. Either working, going to sleep, or just getting home tired wanting to fall asleep. We have to go away in order to even enjoy each others presence even more or “until we come to” like it says in the Heart of Sutra.

“For every atom belonging to me as good belongs to you” by Whitman. Once I step onto the soil of Dominican Republic I look around and notice a big difference from New York City. Then I say to myself we are still all the same in many ways. We are all humans who breathe and talk but are just from different parts of the world. “Born here of parents born here from parents the same, and their parents the same”, even though I wasn’t born in DR my parents were and as well as their parents. We all come from our parents and our parents from their own. In a way we are all the same and come from someone who was born from the Dominican Republic.

“The atmosphere is not a perfume, it has not taste of the distillation, it is odorless, it is my mouth forever, I am in love with it” by Whitman. I love this quote because it is something I always say. Here in New York people, especially kids now a days don’t enjoy the fresh outside air or even activities that can be done outside. Many kids are just busy at home playing video games or if they are outside in the park I’m pretty sure they have a cell phone in their hands. In DR you don’t see this everyone is outside, walking, talking and just enjoying what God has created. It’s so nice to just sit in front of our house and relax, have a little talk and just laugh. I just love the vibe and everything about this country.