Thanksgiving Discourse

I was eating dinner with my family and a close family friends. It's really simple this year, we just smoked a turkey on the grill had some instant stuffing and potatoes with cranberry sauce and called it a day. It was nice just to be home (even with the incessant nagging to set the table) and with family. Eventually we reached the "after dinner discussion" portion of the meal. My parents asked me what I thought about my new major. I told them something about how I'd want to go into social justice work with my religion major, or work at a theology or ministry department in a high school similar to the one I went to.

Then the conversation lept into a different category.

As some background, I'm going to say that both of my parents are republicans (but I still love them :D) and if you could tell from my tea party editorial, I am not. We jumped into a conversation about America. I talked a lot about my usual opinions about how there isn't equal access to opportunities. I don't remember the details closely. But I remember two points.

One was when I told my mother that our family was extremely privileged, simply by being able to eat a thanksgiving meal and for me to be able to go to college. She seemed really shocked. She mentioned how hard she works, and in a way I thought "Hey, that's kind of a privilege." because she works hard doing something she loves. Many people also have to work hard, but simply to scrape by a living something they detest doing. She also had the same privileges I do (such as colleges), while many do not.

Also our family friend who stopped by is from the Philippines. She moved here after getting some basic education done back home and became a nurse. She's extremely successful now. She said something that struck me: "I think the American dream is still real.".  Now it is true, she moved up, and it reminded me that there are still success stories here and that fundamentally the values exist. Even if I don't, people still do believe in the American dream. But at the same time, how much did her previous education and family status in Asia effect her success story here? Maybe that's something I'll explore more elsewhere.