I choose the four stages of the Hindu life cycle, Caturashrama, to apply to my paper because it closely relates to the life story of my interviewee. Mr. Daniel Garcia came to the United States from Cuba in 1965 at age 26. His migration to the United States cut his educational goal short when he was trying to complete the 1st stage of the life cycle, the student stage. "The most difficult period of my life was when I had to leave everything I knew and loved (Parents) to come to a foreign land to start all over again," explained Garcia. "I felt cheated and helpless. I thought that I would only be in the United States for a short time until things went back to normal in Cuba but I was wrong".

I asked Mr. Garcia to tell me what values have changed over the decades. He told me that basically his values have remained the same; " I am a staunch anti-communist and an advocate of human rights. I have never deviated from those values since I left my homeland". When he gave me this answer I thought to myself that he is not living for the future but remains dwelling on the past. I asked him if he had different phases in his life that caused him to feel

that city life is hard and that there were too many people in the city that do not appreciate what they have. He feels that moving out to an area that life is slower paced does good for him and his wife's health. I knew at this point that he was talking about the 3rd stage of the Hindu life cycle.

Mr. Garcia currently lives with his wife and moved to Victorville, California after he retired. He told me that he wanted to live in an area that was clean and peaceful away from the city. He explained to me

After we had concluded the interview, I reflected back on everything that Mr. Garcia had told me. I came to the conclusion that he was still missing something in his life that he did not want to talk about. Specifically, his life when he was a young adult in Cuba. Perhaps the memory of such events that unfolded during that stage in his life is too painful to overcome and has affected his view of the world thereafter. Perhaps Erickson's theory of the life cycle is correct when he mentioned that if there is a stage that is either skipped or incomplete, one needs to go back to that stage and resolve any issue that has affected the person's life. Perhaps that is what I believe Mr. Garcia is trying to do. He referred to going back to Cuba "a free Cuba" which probably meant that if Cuba were not free, he would not go back. Therefore, the question of how the mysterious issue that has affected his entire life will be resolved is a problem that only Mr. Garcia can resolve. I also felt that the last stage of the Hindu life cycle would come to Mr. Garcia very soon since I already knew that he was suffering fr

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Approximate Word count = 1099
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)