Rebecca Mallory
Remember that familiar song from Sesame Street? I was humming that little tune as I walked into my local nail shop a couple of weeks ago. I’ve always been intrigued with these shops. Most of the employees are Vietnamese yet they almost all have American names. They speak pretty good English but speak fast and fluent Vietnamese to each other. Paranoid Americans like me often think they’re talking about us! Even though I’m sure they’re not.
I’ve been going to “Tina” for over ten years and finally asked her how she got her name and how she came to America. What she told me was nothing less than remarkable and touching. The stories of her and her husband’s emigration left me speechless. I asked her if she thought her husband, “John” would allow me to ask him some questions and write a blog post for UFI. She agreed and I sent him some interview questions about life in Vietnam, how and why he came to America and how his life has changed since then. It took him over a month to get back to me because he owns his own HVAC business and is super busy. I actually received his answers by email yesterday. My plan was to tidy up the grammar and make it all English-y (is that a word?) and perfect. After I read his response I decided against it. I love his every heart-felt word. You need to hear it from him the exact way he says it.
Why am I doing this? For one simple reason. I am beyond tired of hearing about what a horrible and awful country America is. It sickens me to hear about the great virtues of communism and socialism and how we all need to be forced into equality. If you love communism so much, there are hundreds of countries you can happily live in and bask in communistic culture. I will even pay your one-way ticket there. Just don’t come back unless you’ve come to your senses and can see that America is a choice land and the last bastion of peace and prosperity.
Is it perfect? Not even close. But anyone who is willing to work and put forth the effort has way more of a chance to succeed here than in almost any other country in the world. We need to wake up and protect the freedoms we have left. We need to stop getting our news and entertainment from low-life and embarrassing mediums that teach our children and grandchildren to be disrespectful, degrading and dehumanizing to themselves and others. Let’s live to a higher standard and stand a little taller – like John.
In my opinion, he should be the poster child for correct immigration policy. If I owned a business, I would hire people like John over many spoiled and lazy Americans that complain about everything they “don’t” have. Let’s actually listen to examples of those who have experienced both ways of life. I wish I could include his story in this post but it would be way too long!
So please watch for my next blog entry on February 12, 2015 and you will hear an incredible story of virtual life and death. One man’s struggle to provide a better life for himself and his future family. One man who’s rugged individualism and belief in his God-given talents and abilities allowed him to achieve the “American Dream”.