2011 – National 4th Grade 2nd Place Award Winner:

Austin B. Fragomen, New York.

Do the Ends Justify the Means ?

My mom and dad went to Cuba for a medical meeting two years ago. They met lots of doctors and told me all about Cuba. Cuba is communist country. Everyone gets paid the same, which is a bad thing for hardworking people. Doctors are paid $40 a month, and they work as hard as doctors in the US. Doctors are sent by Cuba to third world countries for missions to help poor people. Cuba does this to make alliances and to make money from these countries.

Some Cuban doctors try to get into US. There is a US law that lets Cuban doctors come to the US easier than other Cuban people. This act or law is called the Cuban Medical Professional Parole immigration program (CMPP). Cuban doctors can get good jobs in the USA as doctor’s assistants. They get paid well and can live a happier life.
I read an article about a doctor from Cuba. His name is Dr. Ramirez. He is a surgeon. Cuba sent him to Africa to help people there and to make money for Cuba. He contacted the US embassy so he could escape to the US. When he got to the US he was not allowed to be surgeon unless he went to medical school again. Instead he became a surgeon’s assistant. The surgeon Dr. Ramirez works for in the US looks up to him and respects him. Dr. Ramirez makes a lot more money being an assistant in the US than he made being a surgeon in Cub a. Sadly, he left his family in Cuba. Since he escaped from his mission in Africa the Cubans hated him. Then they fired his wife from her job and will not let her have any other job. After 5 years of living in Cuba with no money and no job she will be able to flee to the US.

I feel the ends justify the means. In the end Dr. Ramirez is happier than he was in Cuba where he was exported everywhere like a cardboard box! He left his family behind, but he had no choice. His wife and son will come to the US in the future, and they will live better than they did in Cuba. He left his country without permission, but I think he did this for the right purpose. He wanted a better life and Cuba was using him. Cuba did not really care about him and would have sent him on more missions to Africa for their own selfish reasons. He broke the Cuban law when he escaped from Africa, but the law was not a good law. The law took away his freedom. In the US he has freedom.

 

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