My family’s entire life struggle can be tied to one event.
The American Dream: We Had It and We Lost It
My father had achieved the American Dream. He was a success story. The type of story that you find in a business or self-help book.
It happened some 25 years ago. I don’t remember the pain that my parents felt, but there was probably a lot of pain. I was maybe 8 years old. It first began when my father started bringing home charred remains of the stock in his convenience store. Piles and piles of burnt merchandise sitting in our basement. He wanted to see what he could salvage. Maybe there was something he could sell on wholesale. Maybe there was something he could give back to the manufacturer. Maybe there was some stuff that he could keep in storage and then sell when he rebuilt his store.
Imagine coming to this country with just a dream and very little cash. You’re highly educated but your degree isn’t accepted in the good old United States. You have no money to go back to school, so you start working. You realize you’re really good at managing a business, so in a few short, but hard-working years you own one yourself. You grow it and slowly climb up the economic ladder until you can afford a nice home in a nice neighborhood. Your…
