This is for all the parents out there that have sacrificed the world for their kids. This is for you, Mom. The words, “thank you” are not enough. In fact, I doubt there will ever be anything that is enough to show my gratitude towards you. But, nonetheless, I will try my best with this messy letter to express a few thoughts.
Immigrant parents, this one is for you:
When you left everything behind to give us a better future. To provide us with the opportunities you were never given.
You left your family, friends and the life you knew to give us a new chance. And you knew, at least you hoped, this was the right decision.
You traded exciting family events for Skype and late-night phone calls; warm, sunny days year-round for cold, dark skies; weddings for English classes. Oh, those damn English classes. Day and night, you would ask us how to write or pronounce something. We would try, with every ounce of our being, our best to explain it. To explain the spelling, concordance and conjugations of this new language. We would try to help train your tongue to move in a way it has never moved. Even when you were frustrated, you kept going. Without noticing, you taught us the value of education.
When you would finally come home after those long hours spent at work, you were tired: you had a stressed look on your face and an aching back, yet you still asked us, “how was school?” Without even intending to do so, you taught us the value of hard work.
To this day, I am so extremely thankful for all you have done; for all that you have left behind. This includes your old job, a much more comfortable job that paid the bills. You gave that away, and in exchange, you were given various trials and tribulations that you decided to go through for us.
Your accent, along with the color of your skin, are symbols of generations upon generations of immigrants before us; before you. After everything we have been through, you have not once told us you regret it, so thank you.
Thank you for teaching us to never turn away from our culture – rather to embrace it; to show it to the world.
This is for you: all the parents, teens and families from around the world. This is for all of us, filled with different religions and ideas. For some reason, we are all here. We must embrace our background and cheer on each other. Together, we are stronger than him.
