By Jayden Phan V
All Class V students in Mr. Pojman’s English class deliver a “speech of personal experience” to their classmates as a winter assignment. Jayden Phan’s was particularly compelling. It is reprinted here slightly abbreviated for publication.
Would you ever want to leave your country and live somewhere else? Imagine.
For thousands of people around the world every year, emigrating from their native country is not a choice. War, jobs, and critical health conditions are some of the many urgent reasons why someone might emigrate from their new country to a safer, freer country such as the US. My dad is a refugee who escaped communism in Laos and slowly but eventually moved to America to find a better life. Although escaping the extreme authoritarian regime that was going to establish in Laos was the hardest and most perilous decision he has made, he said, it is the best and most important decision he has made in his life.
It all started when his life started to get harder and harder every day. There was little or no food to eat, no jobs to make money, and the government offered its citizens no personal liberty. So with a few friends and a dream for a better life, my dad decided he would swim the Mekong River to Thailand and seek protection in a refugee camp.
As they are swimming, one friend is going against the current and it’s too strong. He can’t swim across, so he goes back. Another friend gets shot and drowns.
Although this may sound like a simple task, it was the exact opposite. His father walked him to the river bank. There was nothing but silence until he said his goodbyes to his son. It was not until decades later that my dad would see his father again. My dad was with two of his friends, and he did not have a choice. His brother, my now uncle, had already swum the river at the age of 12, and my father was now doing it at the age of 18. Everything is dark, very dark, he said. You can’t see anything, not even the water, and your mental state is in shambles. The only light is on the other side, Thailand. He and his friends hid behind a bush from the communist soldiers, only about ten feet away, and my father remembers the soldiers saying, “Do you see anyone?” Had the soldiers looked behind them, that could have been the end of my father’s life.
When my father starts to swim, he is going as fast as he can. Not a second to lose; too slow and he will get shot. “Many, many shooters,” my dad said. “It was almost like I was in a movie; the bullets came down on me like rain. But you can’t think about it. That was not a time for thinking.” As they are swimming, one friend is going against the current and it’s too strong. He can’t swim across, so he goes back. Another friend gets shot and drowns.
After swimming for his life and dodging bullets – physically and literally – my dad is the only one of the three who makes it to Thailand. My dad said that God had put a shield on him that day, and that is one of the many reasons why he still keeps his faith even now.
In the refugee camp, it was very crowded. When you were in the camp, there was no way out; barbed wire surrounded my dad. There was no breakfast, and when it was lunch and dinnertime, he would eat a fist of rice and bone soup. Everyone got a bucket of water every day. It didn’t matter if you cooked with it, drank it, or showered with it. Everyone got a single bucket. No more and no less. When it was time to sleep, two people shared a 6×4 foot panel of concrete. After two years in a refugee camp, my dad emigrated to America without a word of English. He first worked at a restaurant in Texas, then he went back to Albany, New York, to go to college and ended with a master’s degree in education. After nine years of living in basements and attics, paycheck to paycheck in America, my dad moved to Boston finally to settle down and teach.
Now, with that in mind, do you think that my dad, much less anyone, would want to go through that process in order to find a new life in America? It would be much easier for anyone to stay in their country for their whole life, but my dad wanted to find a better life. Through faith, hard work, and patience, my dad created the life he dreamt of in America from when he was just an eighteen-year-old Laotian boy standing on one side of the Mekong River.
From my dad’s experiences and stories throughout the years, I can say for certain that there are many valuable lessons that I can take from this. First, I should never take anything for granted. Just living in America is a great privilege. Here, I have great education, safety, food to eat, housing, and family and friends. Being a part of a family with a good income is also something I am very grateful for. And going to the best school in the best country in the world is something that very few people get to experience. Here, we get infinite opportunities to learn and grow into better men. I am also put into an environment with other virtuous and hardworking boys, and I am always influenced by my teachers and peers to do my best in everything that I do. For that, I am forever grateful for my life in America and to be a part of RL.
Second, I’ve learned that I should always look from other peoples’ points of view. Before judging others or taking action against them, I’ve learned to be empathetic towards them. I am against strict immigration laws. Nobody really wants to leave their country. It’s truly a pain to do so. But they’re doing it for a purpose: to find a better life, whether it’d be for themselves, for their children, or for their family. Immigration saves lives and gives opportunities for a better life to countless people in life-threatening situations. By putting ourselves in other immigrants’ and refugees’ shoes, we can learn and grow into a better, accepting society and be role models for other countries to follow suit. Immigration is something that America is and was built on, and it is truly what makes America a great place to be. Not only should we apply our empathy to immigration, we should also strive to be accepting and not judgmental towards others in any situation before knowing how they might feel.
Lastly, I’ve learned that I should always stay positive and work hard at what I do. In order to achieve results, you have to work hard and keep your head up. Always give it your all; the worst thing is to look back and say “Oh, maybe I could have done this better or that in a different way.” Sheer intelligence is nothing without hard work. My dad and many other refugees and immigrants would probably have nothing today if they didn’t work hard. Also, staying positive is crucial to achieving the results you want. You are the product of your habits and your environment, so putting trash and negative energy in your mind every day won’t do you any good. Keep your head up and keep working hard every day.
So, work hard for that grade in school, pursue your passion, be kind to others. And be grateful for the freedom you have.
