A+Filipino+boy,+age+16

Name:Jamel Jaguar

Age: 16

Gender: Male

Occupation: Stealing from rich people, leader of the "Piranha" gang.

Appearance: Scarred in the face and very short. Very very dark skin.

Location: Manila, Philippines

Personality/Quirks/Unique Personality Traits:Highly violent and fickle. Jamel has no sympathy for anyone and has to have everything go in his direction.

Family:No family members alive

Education: None currently, attended 3 years of elementary school

Languages you speak:Filipino

Your main concerns at this time and in life: Living day by day getting food for himself and the other members of the "Piranha"

Portrait (an image that you and we can live with):

Diary 1 1937 5/24

All I had to do not just three years ago was pull out a knife and push it against the back of a white person and flicker my flicker my finger at him. He would silently take out his wallet and hand it to me. But I was not satisfied and he knew it too; I would nudge the knife and he would start to take off his watch and sweat like he was in a sauna. Then after I gather all of his belongings in my pocket, dash to my gang where they would hide me and block off the foreigner. They would scream something in their language which would probably be English but they cannot get for we out numbered them. The police knew better than to mess with us. Sometimes we would get watches and all sorts of jewelry but we would always lose them plus we do not have a source to sell it for hard cash. But all through this month and no exception today we are getting nothing and I believe with all of my brothers that it is because of the stupid Japanese planning an attack on some other country. I am pretty sure it is China, they had problems all the time and never leave anything to peace. This affects me and my gang the most because nowadays no rich foreigner comes to our neighborhood anymore. This is unacceptable. Two of my gang members died yesterday from a fight with the police because they robbed a bakery two blocks down. We have nothing to eat. We have spent all of our money. We have no place to go. We have no one to reach out to. I just wish something would begin this war so I can get a gun and shoot up some of the Japs that made our lives a living nightmare. Just earlier today, one of my brothers was ran over by an American truck entering the base with the general Macarthur. More and more army men and police roam the streets and it also looks like millions of trucks and tanks are entering our country. All these tall buff white men are coming in. They are not like the old rich people that we used to mug and threat with our little knives. Sometimes they throw away cans that are filled with liquid that smell horrible. We cannot live any longer in this environment. I hope something breaks out.

Diary 2 1941 6/08 Damn those bombs are freaking loud. My town was bombed today by the crazy Japanese! All of my gang members who were in our hide outs died because the buildings toppled over trapping everyone inside and killing them. Three other members and I were in front of the American troops begging for the canned goods that they brought over. That surprisingly saved all of our lives. The bombs dropped like rain, black rain that were tiny specs in the air then after a few seconds they exploded destroying anything in the path. I had a bird’s eye view from the American base, the disaster. The bombing lasted forever it seemed to me. Hearing the screams from so far away was so painful. Imagining now that it was all people I knew. A few hours after the bombing ended the Americans troops rallied up their trucks and went down the village. I yelled “TAKE ME THAT ‘S WHERE I CAME FROM!” then an arm reached down from the back of the truck and pulled me up. I thought the soldier understood me but it turns out he understood my body language. When we got down there the whole town was village. If there was not any ash, anyone could have seen from one end of the town to the other end. The American troops began to stops and pick up the survivors of the bombing, there were body parts everywhere, legs, arms, hands, and tons of blood. People without legs screamed for help. As they were dragged on the gurneys, blood poured out. Everyone was dead or injured to die within the next hour. Bodies were lying backside up with fire still burning on the clothes. Burnt skin was the worst because it looks normal until you grab it and it rips right off the bone. There is nothing beneath the skin. Just brilliantly white bone. Our gang or what remained of it ran to our hide out building just to realize it was burning under massive flames without any survivors. One of the member screaming in fury pick pocketed a soldier’s pistol and with tears dripping out of his eyes put a bullet through his left ear. Turns out he was Munghwa who had a twin brother in that building during this catastrophe. After hours of search, when the sun went down we only had three survivors, the general orders the troops to return to the base. We were allowed entrance and permission to stay.

Diary 3 1941 12/20 I could not write since the last time I wrote which was almost a hundred days ago and Japan has been fighting better than ever. Now I finally realized that my country is very important. Last night I asked myself ‘It doesn’t matter whether I have money or food to live on another day because what will I be without a country?’ I have been doing my best in shooting at the Japanese. Somehow I was not sent off to a Filipino platoon like I was said to be and instead I was adopted by the American platoon back in my hometown. We fight everyday and there is not even a minute to sleep. Bomb shells are cracking up everywhere! The Japanese have definitely won this war but I will not give up without a fight. More and more American troops have been landing on the coast of my country but our platoon only lives a day to see that troop come back decimated with half of the survivors missing a limb or bleeding severely from some part of their body. A long time ago I believe it was about a month ago, we rampaged a village with Japanese soldiers that were fast asleep. We shot all of them except three because our general in command decided it will be of great entertainment to take prisoners back to our camp. We tied them up and burned them until the Japanese soldiers said something in English that they I could not understand. We burned them continuously until they said what the American told them to, and then shot them in their feet. The next day we all thought they were dead but they were not. And the general had to take their lives by stabbing them each of them multiple times. Anyways the Japanese are getting stronger day by day and approaching our base nearly at the other end of the Philippines. Bombs that never even came close are now getting closer too. Soon my day will come to leave this earth. To be honest I am scared. I am very scared. I do not want to come back without a limb like the other soldiers and die within the next day or so. For the first time I want to see my parents. I also met my long lost friend from first grade Bato. We talked for a while and he told me that the British were also involved in the war now. And the war was going to end with our victory because the Americans have a “Secret Weapon.” However I cannot believe him because of what I have experienced so far. Anyways, during the night when I closed my eyes to take a nap he was gone.

Diary 4 1943 06/08

The war did end and I was told by a translator that the Americans used their “Secret Weapon” which was called the atomic bomb. At the discretion of President Franklin Roosevelt. I am just happy that the war is over now. The name of that war was World War II. I have no brothers left. They all ran away and betrayed me because I refused to leave the American troops that were the savior of my life in the first place. I hope them well and their future bright because they were once my family. And the other day I was offered a job in reconstruction of destroyed buildings in villages all over the Philippines. I hope the Japanese are taking responsibility for what they have done to my country. Personally, I still would not mind getting a shot at a Japanese soldier or their leader. I still miss my mother and father. This is something I have never thought about for 10 years and now that I am lonely and have no one to reach out to I envy the children with parents. Oh and again I met Bato my long lost friend from grade school. He was really smart and even smart now. After I lost my parents our routes parted as I became part of the piranhas and Bato stuck with studying. He tells me he is going to America to study about the atomic bombs that were dropped on Japan Hiroshima and Nagasaki. I wish him well too. He also introduced me to a private contractor of buildings so I did not have to follow around the workers that hired me a long time ago. I was barely eating a meal a day. Bato wanted to take me to America but I refused. I am in love with my country and now willing to die for it when time calls. The beastly Americans are slowly leaving our country but I personally want them to stay. My saviors. I try to ignore this fact but there are bodies everywhere just lying on the ground. Blood is all dried up, now harder than stone itself. Nonetheless, now I have to go to sleep because I have a full day ahead of me. I also decided to live a just life and quit all of the wrong behaviors. Good Night