Time really goes fast, and one week from today I'll have been living the City of San Francisco for exactly nine years. For past nine years, I've experienced many highs and lows of my life, downstream and upstream, on the other hand I experienced a lot of grievances and pressure, and I often hear so many gossips from those idlers, sometimes even rumor. Every time when I sit down, I frequently think of the same question: Victor, what do you want to do in the US? Why did you come the US even you'd probably known that you would bear a lot of pressure? The one key question I always ask myself is "What is the price to be an immigrant?" That's why I want share a true story about "Simon" and his family, who was also immigrated to the US from Macau almost 11 years ago. It could be a huge difference for 11 years, but to "Simon" and his family, nothing is more painful than that 11 years, they couldn't even achieve American dream, the only things they have are tragedy and sadness.
Let me talk a little bit about "Simon". He was actually my best friend and classmate when I was in grade school in Macau. His both parents were senior civil servants of the Macau Government. “Simon”, his younger sister and their parents were living happily in Macau as middle class, the family had no worries. In October 1999, in order to provide “Simon” and his sister “better education”, (and that is a very common reason for parents sending their children to other countries) their parents decided to move the whole family to the country they had never been before – United States.
"Simon's" tragic American dream began October 1999. At that time, the entire "Simon's" family arrived to the U.S. soil, they first lived in San Francisco for no more than two weeks, and then they settled in Sacramento. The "Simon" family had never thought their lives in this dream country were so tough, first, the whole family had to rent an old apartment unit near downtown Sacramento, $680 per month, and the living environment was extremely bad, absolutely not suitable for a family of four. Second, "Simon's" parents did not find any job for almost 6 months; the whole family was relied on the money that they brought from Macau. Few months after coming to the U.S., “Simon’s” father got a job as a handyman, however, his wage was extremely low, and that made the lives of the family more difficult.
But the more tragic lives were yet to come. In early 2002, “Simon’s” mother started her own business in Downtown Sacramento, the store sales were pretty good for the first few months, but it was just flash in the pan. The sales started to decline in late 2002, with fewer and fewer people came to her store; but “Simon’s” mother thought that was not big deal, she decided to expand her business. The most fatal blow to “Simon’s” family happened in March 2005, a swindler posed as a businessman and purchased a large quantity of clothes, and “Simon’s” mother was pleasantly surprised and thought that was the opportunity to turn around. What a pity, the god of luck had never been kind to this family. One month after the “businessman’s” purchase, it turned out that person was using fake credit cards, (probably stolen) as a result, all credit card transactions involved with the purchase were denied by the bank. However, a large quantity of clothes had been already shipped to the fraudster, which caused “Simon’s” mother owed a huge amount of debts, and eventually caused her bankruptcy in late 2005. In order to help his mother to repay debts, “Simon’s” father decided to sell all his properties in Macau. The “Simon’s” family became nothing. NOTHING!!!
The whole story has not ended yet. Few months after “Simon’s” mother declared bankruptcy, for some unknown reasons, or may be the sudden change of family; “Simon” had a great change in his temperament. He became manic, unmotivated and low self-esteem, he later was infected with drug addiction, and he couldn’t extricate himself. One day in 2006, “Simon” was searched by police in the street, and found several tablets of ecstasy inside his pockets. He was arrested immediately and later convicted on possession of dangerous drugs, “Simon” served two years of imprisonment, and the future of a promising young man was destroyed.
Last year I met him and he told me that he finished his prison term in late 2008. He also told me that he couldn't find a job because no one would like to hire him, on the other hand, he doesn't possess a college degree, that makes him more difficult to find a job. "Simon", now 24, is still struggling for his life.
The story of “Simon’s” family is that depressing, very depressing. Sometimes I think if they were still living in Macau, they might have stable lives over there… And now, everything in the country is a nightmare to the family, nothing more.
See? That's "Simon's" story about his life in US. For many people, US is a place where they pursuit and achieve American dream, but for "Simon" and his family, American dream is just a horrible nightmare. That's America! Many good stories and bad stories of new immigrants were happening everyday. As an immigrant, there're a lot of challenges that those native born people have never experienced and understood. If you have never been an immigrant, you'll never know how difficult to be an immigrant.
The question pops out in my head again: What is the price as an immigrant?
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