I have a bit of a lull while I wait on payment to go through to my dev. I thought I’d write something on the eve of the inaugaration of Joe Biden. This entire site is effectively a journal anyway so just my thoughts.

This is not intended to be political, divisive or make any assumptions, I’m just writing about why, in the context of my life, the United States is great.

My Dad came to the U.S. from Iran when he was 17. A revolution back home put everyones life in danger, particularly young students. He came to NYC with rudimentary english, some nominal amount of money in his pocket and the knowledge that he had a cousin that lived somewhere in the city. He somehow found the cousin, who I actually grew up referring to as my Uncle.

This guy goes to University of Michigan for school, can’t afford it, then transfers to Michigan Tech, which for those of you who arent familiar with the landscape of rural Michigan, is on a special area of hell called the “northern peninsula”. The weather as I write this in New Jersey is 28 degrees, it is 11 in Houghton Michigan, where Michigan Tech is.

He finishes somehow, gets a degree. Then can’t find a job because he has no citizenship, spends the next decade or so trying to literally make enough survive. Along the way gets a M.S. Then purely surviving shifts to carving out a living, which turns into trying to start a business. Few business ideas go bad, some go okay, works for a technology company where he does some cool R&D. He gets fired, takes unemployment checks and decides to start another business because why not, theres guaranteed money for food coming in for at least 6 months or however long unemployment was back then. This one blows up, surviving gives away to thriving, and thriving leads to starting a family.

Recap: random immigrant gets off plane in NYC, no money, shitty english, spends 15 years in raw survival mode, sticks to ethics, picks up degrees, more raw survival mode, ends up as successful entrepeneur.

My Mom’s story is more of the same. They’re Italian immigrants who left Italy during WW2 and end up in Chile. Chilean dictator named Pinochet comes to power and runs the dictator playbook of state sponsored torture, witholding education, etc.

My Mom is against this, is acting out against Pinochet and is politely told to leave. She flees to the US to seek political asylum, it is granted and she ends up in California. She studies at Berkeley while working some miserable jobs to pay for it and to live in SF. Driving newspaper routes at 2 AM to finish by 8 AM to get to class and then going to work right after to pay for said class and rent. Not knowing where the next weeks expenses will come from, literally hand to mouth living.

She survives, she then does okay, then she does well. My mom meets my Dad, works for him, gets pregnant with me and then they start a family.

Recap: South American dictator threatens to kill my Mom, she gets political asylum in the United States, alternates between living in car, going to school and working. Surviving gives away to meeting basic needs, which gives away to doing okay which gives away to starting a family.

Now to present day.

I went to Cornell for my undergrad, Johns Hopkins for my M.S., today I accepted a phenomenal job offer taht i could not be more excited about. I have a crypto-currency Fintech idea that i’m working with some freelancers to develop and get to market, and I have no doubt in my mind that it will be a hit.

My sister is going to graduate from the University of Chicago this year and afterwards hopefully pursue medical school.

My brother just got into Cornell and will probably study CS in Ithaca this fall.

If it seems like I’m bragging, it is because I am. 30 years ago my parents were immigrants bordering on destitution, today they live in sleepy North Jersey, work jobs, have 3 kids who are either in school or contributing in society. You tell me where else this journey is possible, I’ll wait. I’m not that unique either, there are millions of stories like this. Not necessarily of just immigrants, but naturalized Americans who made it from nothing.

There are problems, deep, societal, problems, and we should fight to rectify them every day. I do think though that it is relevant to recognize that this whole civilization thing is still in its infancy. No one really figured it out yet, the “perfect” society isn’t out there yet. The path to it is pitch black, unpaved and has no roadmap. We’ll stumble and more importantly, as we’re seeing tomorrow, pick ourselves up and reorienting after a failed attempt.

Maybe the American dream is shrinking, I dont know, but I do know that Americans find commonality in the struggle to make something better of our lives. Until this spirit fades and is replaced with complacency and resignation, America remains great.