September 22, 2024 15:32:11

They took blue-collar jobs. My father was a machinist at an oil supply company. My mother worked the assembly line at a food plant. And they raised five kids. We went to school. We learned English. We went to church. We became Christians. We worked hard. And they also worked hard. They achieved the American dream of home ownership. Six years after we came to America. That was in 1986. Now granted, we were in a small two-bedroom apartment. And getting a three-bedroom, two-bath house was a dream come true. So from there, one sibling after another graduated from high school. And for my parents, it was about going to college. They did not differentiate community college and associate degrees. There's a four-year college, an Ivy League school. All they said was, go to college. And they put all of us through college. Now I have to say, the dollar went a lot more in 1986 and in 1990 than it does in 2024. But on meager salaries, they were able to put five kids through college. We all graduated from college. We also have graduate degrees. We all have our careers and our families. And I actually have nieces and nephews now that are starting their own families. That is the American dream. And it was safe for us to ride our bikes. I rode my first bike after I was able to recite every book of the Old Testament and the New Testament as an eight-year-old girl learning English. And it was a bike with a banana seat and streamers. And I was so happy to take it out of the apartment right around the neighborhood. And my parents didn't know where I was for two hours, but I came home for dinner. I felt safe. They felt safe. Unfortunately, that is not what we're seeing today. But I have two children.