My Parent's Journey
- Sarah Saad
- Glendale, California
- UNITED STATES, 3-12-1977
- 17
America is the land of opportunity. In the past, present, and future, people migrate to the United States. They migrate here searching for a better life to live. I didn’t make a journey to the United States, but both my parents did. My father came from Syria and my mother came from Iran. Here in the United States, people don’t realize how dangerous the trips immigrants go through are. For my parents, it wasn’t as dangerous, but it was still a challenging risk to take.
My father Emad, made his journey back in 1977, when he was twenty years old. He had twelve brothers and sisters and they all lived in Demoscos, Syria. He was a pilot back in his country, but after getting into a physical dispute with a higher level of authority he was fired. He couldn’t get another job after that incident, so his family encouraged him to make the journey to the United States. He decided to take the risk and travel to the United States alone. Before, reaching the United States, he took a plane to Remis, France where he got beat up and robbed several times by the same group of selfish teenagers. After two weeks, he traveled to North Hollywood, California to work for his uncle Gus at a gas station. A couple years later, he saved up his money and lived in a small apartment in Glendale, California where he met my mother.
My mother Mina made her journey in 1973 when she was fifteen years old. Her journey was somewhat similar to my fathers. She lived in Tehran, Iran with her three other sisters and her parents. After my grandfather got in an argument with the government there, just for speaking his mind, he decided the best thing for his family would be to come to the United States. They stayed in Berlin, Germany for three years, where they all worked to save up money to rent an apartment in the United States. After three years, they took a long plane ride to Glendale, California. The reason why they came to Glendale was because they already had family living here. All six of them were crammed into a one-bedroom apartment on Palmer and Boynton. About four years later, they were living the American Dream, by owning their own house and not struggling anymore.
All in all, my parent’s journey to the United States was not as dangerous as other immigrants face each day. Immigrants sacrifice so much including themselves to achieve their goal of reaching the United States. They come here to have the American dream most of us have. It’s sad to think some of us don’t appreciate them here and would kick them all out if we had the chance to. Though, without them we wouldn’t have most things we have today. By my mother and father explaining to me how scary their journey was, it taught me a valuable lesson that most of us in the United States don’t follow. To value all the things I have, and not take advantage of it. Not just tangible things, but things like education. Hearing stories immigrants tell affects me by respecting things I receive by my parents, because I know for them to earn the money they do didn’t come easy.