Self portrait from Liberty Island, with New York City in the background. Even though I’ve visited New York before, that was actually the first time I went to Liberty Island, and reflected on the good fortune of my own life that gave me the opportunity to immigrate to the U.S. Little did I know the values that brought my family to this country would be called into question a decade later.
Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, The wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me, I lift my lamp beside the golden door!
With China’s rise in economical and political power, some might say it would have been just as well that I stayed there. I might have been even more successful and well off financially. Perhaps that might be true for my parents, but for me, I doubt that would have been true. Even if I could have overcome all the barriers that would have allowed me to succeed in life, it’s the freedom to choose the unknown path that would have not been an option. It’s the opportunity to see the world, and from these discoveries define the person I was and the person I want to be, and not let societal expectations define it for me.
My parents had their struggles when we first arrived, but we were lucky enough to not have too many misfortunes, and except for the one time when my sister was born, never needed any governmental assistance. Just for those brief few months, when Medicaid helped pay part of our hospital bills, I feel eternally indebted to the idea of welfare programs, and genuinely believe they can help people get through those rough patches in life.
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