Growing up in the situation that I was in has shaped me into the person that I am today. Both my parent’s were born in South Korea and immigrated to America in their mid-twenties. Neither of my parents could speak English and while my mother had managed to earn a high school diploma, my father did not even graduate from his middle school. To be honest, they never seemed to value education as a priority and never stressed its importance to me as a child. Even with all of these odds stacked against them, they still had some early success living in a foreign country.
Fast forward a decade and I was living in a large and expensive white house in an affluent neighborhood in Portland, Oregon, where I spent most of my early childhood comfortably. …show more content…
They were so stressed about our financial situation that they did not give my brother the attention that he needed. My family's struggles were getting into my brother's head and I watched him slowly turn from an all A student, to an all C and D student. He was taking drugs and would come home late at night without any explanations. My parents had no idea what to do with him, further driving a gap in between them. I was honestly shocked they didn't file for divorce, but I learned later why that didn't happen. 'Till this day, I'm grateful for the reason. Watching my family fall apart in front of my eyes could have turned me into what my brother had became. I could have said "screw it" and stopped going to class and started to embrace drugs like a second family. I could have thrown away all my life aspirations and I almost did until I overheard a conversation between my parents. It was late at night and I had to go to the bathroom. When I stepped into the hallway, I heard my parents discussing something in the other room. I was used to hearing them scream at each other so I was surprised and curious of what they were talking about. I eavesdropped and learned that the only reason why they weren't filing for divorce was because of me. They were putting aside their differences in order for me to succeed. From that moment on, I wanted to mend the deep cracks in my family and I realized the only way I could do that was by doing the exact opposite my brother had
Fast forward a decade and I was living in a large and expensive white house in an affluent neighborhood in Portland, Oregon, where I spent most of my early childhood comfortably. …show more content…
They were so stressed about our financial situation that they did not give my brother the attention that he needed. My family's struggles were getting into my brother's head and I watched him slowly turn from an all A student, to an all C and D student. He was taking drugs and would come home late at night without any explanations. My parents had no idea what to do with him, further driving a gap in between them. I was honestly shocked they didn't file for divorce, but I learned later why that didn't happen. 'Till this day, I'm grateful for the reason. Watching my family fall apart in front of my eyes could have turned me into what my brother had became. I could have said "screw it" and stopped going to class and started to embrace drugs like a second family. I could have thrown away all my life aspirations and I almost did until I overheard a conversation between my parents. It was late at night and I had to go to the bathroom. When I stepped into the hallway, I heard my parents discussing something in the other room. I was used to hearing them scream at each other so I was surprised and curious of what they were talking about. I eavesdropped and learned that the only reason why they weren't filing for divorce was because of me. They were putting aside their differences in order for me to succeed. From that moment on, I wanted to mend the deep cracks in my family and I realized the only way I could do that was by doing the exact opposite my brother had