Today is a special day. I am graduating from Duke University, one of the finest institutions in the world, where I have fortunately had many opportunities to pursue my interests, explore the world, and discover myself in the past 4 years. But today is also special because my Dad is standing right next to me on Duke's beautiful campus. In order to be here, he went through, perhaps, the most challenging adventure of his life. For the past 50 years, his only journey was the one from our house to the farm and back. He did that every single day and tirelessly, in the sun or the rain. The only source of information for him to learn about the world outside was TV. Still, the images of lives he saw on TV were far-fetched. Every summer, I brought home a few foreign friends and besides my younger brother, he got excited every time. He cooked many dishes using ingredients he grew himself to treat our guests. He once said that, if he had all the opportunities that I had, he could also travel the world, make friends, and learn new languages. I never doubted that.
|
Older posts
April 2019
|