LIFE QUESTIONS

Me, Actor & Q-Ball are always talking about something whether it's music, movies, life, finance, so on & so on...

We got on the subject of how much race has an impact on your upbringing. Besides the obvious discrimination and/or treatment from society, we were talking about how growing up a certain race completely makes who you are in your adult life financially. For instance, they said that growing up in a lower/middle class home where their parents made due but still struggled really affected how they are now. How they were never taught to handle finances correctly; to budget, save, or not live check to check so they had to learn it themselves growing up. That they're older & more responsible, but if someone had told them about the importance of credit & etc. they would be way better off now than having to go back & repair the damage that's already done.

We talked about how most white people are higher class & they lead completely different lives, even from birth. They were born into money, never have to worry about college tuition, cars, bills or anything. They get to travel the world even as a tot, don't have to work if they don't want to because as long as they keep their grades up their expenses are paid for & they make more money from the abundant amount that they already have because they were taught to invest & run businesses, etc.

Don't get me wrong we know there are always exceptions & whatnot. I'm sure there are struggling whites & wealthy blacks but the majority is the latter from what we've seen & experienced.

As for me, I guess I grew up in a middle class family. We came to America in '93 & my parents started from the ground up. I was only 7 so can't recall specifics but I think we were on food stamps for a minute. We lived in a rural part of Vietnam so I've never experienced the whole inside marketplace. In our town all of the shops were outside booths or a small store that the owners lived at upstairs. Like how some of the shops are in Chinatown in any city over here.

I remember the 1st time that I went into a grocery store over here I was ecstatic. I've never seen so much food in my life! That had to be the happiest day of my food life. lol. I even have a picture of our whole family posed in a grocery store for the 1st time I kid you not. It was a BIG deal. That's why I love food so much now. We didn't have much in Vietnam. I remember my dad used to come home with an apple probably like once every 2 weeks or a month & he'd slice it & we'd all share one apple. I used to eat it soooo slowly because I didn't want it to go away. Yea... It's like that. It was a luxury.

But we came over here & my parents found jobs in factories & they built us a nice little life. It's a good & bad thing at the same time because that was the only job that they could get because they didn't have any degrees or know how to speak English. But to this day my mom still works in a factory. My dad just got a new job fixing ambulances or something, I'm not sure what he does exactly... I guess I just want so much more for them. But since they were way older in years than I was & I went to school, I picked up on English more than they did. My dad can speak & converse with you in broken English & my mom even less. Ergo, they still don't have any degrees or anything so they stick to what they know: hard labor working in factories. You know my mom hasn't gotten a raise in like 5+ years? It's crazy but it's all they know so that's how they make their money, you know?

All in all, they came over here making minimum wage in factories & built up a nice life for us. I have 3 brothers & sisters & they all own their own businesses. They do nails; typical I know, but hey, people stick to what they know & what their friends tell them have profited. Why do you think Indians own Dairy Queens & gas stations & Hispanics work in construction? I'm getting sidetracked here, but the point is we literally came over here, built from ground up & are living comfortably.

So my question is: How is it that my family can come over here & flourish & thrive better than most people that are born & raised here? Is it society or the economy? How is is that I never lacked anything living on minimum wage & families with parents making double or triple my parents' income lack so much more? I'm not saying we're better than anybody at all. I'm just trying to get an answer. How is it that Hispanics can come over here, crunch together in one house (and car) & stack their bread & build up nicely?

Is it because Americans spend or indulge in more things than we do? Is it that immigrants come over here & were told a set of rules & abide by them, whereas Americans know more (like loopholes & tricks) & try to beat the system & fail? Credit & debt wise any way. Is it because they don't appreciate the value of money or was never taught to budget? Is it the drive or determination from the experience of not having anything & never wanting to lack again? If different races were given the same amount of money & the same opportunities will they all end up the same? Probably not. I guess it all comes to survival of the fittest. Natural selection if you will. There always has to be someone at the top & at the bottom. That's the way of the world. Can we change it? Possibly. Will we? We'll see...