Sometimes forget to be grateful to be a US citizen, but got talking w @aa_fenton about how our parents immigrated to America, and it reminded me to hold on to the inspiration and courage our parents had:
THREAD (1/n)
RT with your story, if you have one!
My great grandfather had the monopoly of eggs in all of China and my grandmother was super rich living in a mansion when the cultural revolution happened and communism took everything away.
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Communist officials took over their home and left my grandmother homeless with three young children (my dad was the #2, and a toddler). She had to leave her baby behind in Shanghai, almost left my dad behind too, because she couldn’t carry him and he was sick w a fever
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Luckily, the day they had to flee, my dads fever broke and my grandmother decided to take him, too, along with her eldest (my aunt). They had nothing but the clothes on their back and had to walk many many miles (with two young kids)! All the way to Hong Kong.
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My grandmother arrived in Hong Kong w no money, no skills, and didn’t speak Cantonese (only mandarin). She went from super rich to very very poor and it was years she was separated from her other daughter.
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My dad grew up being told over and over again:
“Money, power, business, titles, property... all can be taken away from you in an instant. The only thing nobody can ever take away from you is your education.”
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So my mom and dad both crushed at school and earned scholarships to get educated in the US.
They met on the boat.
They both got PhDs, got married @MIT. #nopressure
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And while academia certainly isn’t perfect, they always loved their jobs, never once complained.
After all, having job security to study whatever they want and the psychological safety that nobody could take away their education was their
“American Dream”...
What’s yours?
Not saying I’m a fan of wealth inequality, having too much begets losing it...and my grandmother was the most generous woman I ever met.
The negative delta for life expectations was maximal, and the loss was a rebirthing experience that founded the core values of my family.
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