Hope in Times Like These...

Exactly 45 years ago, my family fled their home country in the only direction that promised the slightest possibility of hope: the ocean. Drifting out in small fishing boats in the middle of the great blue Pacific Ocean under amateur boat captains navigating while under gunfire from communist attacks based ashore, thousands perished from hunger after being on fishing boats with no destination and no supplies, many others became victims of piracy, rape, and suicide and many more drowned in efforts to get on a fishing boat or to help increase the survival of the others on board after days turned into weeks of endless floating. 

I will never understand the fear, despair, or loss that my family suffered and experienced. But I do know the grit, hustle, and hope that their lives imparted on me and am thankful to have served this great country that welcomed our family and gave us the opportunity to re-carve our identities and re-chart our life courses.

Everyday, and especially on this day, we honor our grandparents, parents, aunts, and uncles who have dreamed for so long of a better life for maybe the next generation or the one after that. It was never about just you. It was always about us. I am thankful to just be alive…to serve the community with you, to become more than what we were given, to dream of leaving this world even better than when we entered it.

In times like these, we are stronger together.