Op-Ed by Chanda Chhay
“The Land of Opportunity.” This phrase is synonymous with the United States of America. It conjures up an image of happiness and instills hope in the human spirits. When I was living in a refugee camp in Thailand in the 1980s, most of us refugees, regardless whether we had any knowledge of what America looked like, unanimously gave only one answer to the question: “Where would you want to be resettled?” “I want to go to America” was our answers then. Surprisingly, it appears that not only desperate refugees in need of new places to rebuild their shattered lives wanted to go to America, many other people, too, wanted to go to America. I must embarrassingly admit that I had not a clue what America was like or how I would be treated as a stranger coming from the other corner of the globe when I proclaimed that I wanted to go to America. But, my anxiety was put to rest the minute I set foot in America, for it was perfectly clear to me that America was and is the land of opportunity and redemption for the oppressed and desperate people yearning to breathe free from their misfortunes of being born in the wrong place at the wrong time.
Another phrase which was popularized after the ascendancy of the 16th US President, Abraham Lincoln (1861-1865), is that “Life could rise from a log cabin to the White House.” As a boy, Lincoln grew up in a log cabin, used a block of wood as blackboard, charcoal as chalk, and an axe as eraser to teach himself arithmetic and literature. Undoubtedly, it is this humble history of people like Abraham Lincoln that inspired Mr. Barack Obama, the 44th President of the United States, to pursue what appears to be an impossible dream.
Mr. Barack Obama was born in 1961 in the state of Hawaii. His parents were of different races. His father was a black African student from Kenya. His mother was a white woman from the state of Kansas. The couple met during their study at the East-West Center in the University of Hawaii. When Obama was 2 years old, his parents divorced, and, by the time he was 6, his mother remarried another fellow student from Indonesia. The new couple, along with young Obama, soon moved to live in Indonesia in 1967. Thus, Obama began his schooling in Indonesia, which was conducted in the Indonesian language. His mother tongue, English, had not been formally taught to him until he was 10 years old when he moved back to live with his grand parents and attended school in Hawaii.
From the very beginning, Mr. Obama’s life situation could probably be described as “disadvantageous”. But, thanks in part to the land of opportunity, to which he was connected, and the audacity of his will, Mr. Obama was able to overcome myriads of obstacles and challenges in his life to become the 44th President of the United States of America within a span of only 12 years, starting from the time when he entered politics and became an Illinois State senator in 1996.
As America prepares to present her 44th President to the rest of the world, the image of a black leader standing amid a predominantly white crowd of politicians and well wishers will once again reaffirm what it means to be a land of opportunity. There is no doubt about it; that only in America that we, the people, regardless of our social classes, could rise from the dustbin of societal garbage to become a leader of one of the greatest country on earth. As a US citizen and a former destitute refugee, I realize how fortunate I am to be able to come and live in this land of opportunity where human capability reigns supreme.
Chanda Chhay
Another phrase which was popularized after the ascendancy of the 16th US President, Abraham Lincoln (1861-1865), is that “Life could rise from a log cabin to the White House.” As a boy, Lincoln grew up in a log cabin, used a block of wood as blackboard, charcoal as chalk, and an axe as eraser to teach himself arithmetic and literature. Undoubtedly, it is this humble history of people like Abraham Lincoln that inspired Mr. Barack Obama, the 44th President of the United States, to pursue what appears to be an impossible dream.
Mr. Barack Obama was born in 1961 in the state of Hawaii. His parents were of different races. His father was a black African student from Kenya. His mother was a white woman from the state of Kansas. The couple met during their study at the East-West Center in the University of Hawaii. When Obama was 2 years old, his parents divorced, and, by the time he was 6, his mother remarried another fellow student from Indonesia. The new couple, along with young Obama, soon moved to live in Indonesia in 1967. Thus, Obama began his schooling in Indonesia, which was conducted in the Indonesian language. His mother tongue, English, had not been formally taught to him until he was 10 years old when he moved back to live with his grand parents and attended school in Hawaii.
From the very beginning, Mr. Obama’s life situation could probably be described as “disadvantageous”. But, thanks in part to the land of opportunity, to which he was connected, and the audacity of his will, Mr. Obama was able to overcome myriads of obstacles and challenges in his life to become the 44th President of the United States of America within a span of only 12 years, starting from the time when he entered politics and became an Illinois State senator in 1996.
As America prepares to present her 44th President to the rest of the world, the image of a black leader standing amid a predominantly white crowd of politicians and well wishers will once again reaffirm what it means to be a land of opportunity. There is no doubt about it; that only in America that we, the people, regardless of our social classes, could rise from the dustbin of societal garbage to become a leader of one of the greatest country on earth. As a US citizen and a former destitute refugee, I realize how fortunate I am to be able to come and live in this land of opportunity where human capability reigns supreme.
Chanda Chhay
