You Never Know How Far You Can Go

I read a short story by Jhumpa Lahiri called, “The Third and Final Continent” and I have to say, it was fascinating. He traveled all the way from India and lived in three different continents and survived without even knowing what to expect. His norms were different than the typical American way and he had to adjust how things are done here. This makes me think about the idea of America, where there is always a standard to do or say something and we do not think about other norms. For instance, my boyfriend is Chinese and sometimes I question why his family acts a certain way or eats a certain way and he always tells me that, that is the Chinese culture. It opens up my eyes because America is suppose to be proud and represent free expression; but, at the same time, people are judged for doing just that. This short story also made me realize how far I came in my life. For example, I moved twice when I was younger to different towns in New Jersey, then I lived in Edison most of my life. After high school, my family and I moved to a town called Iselin and two years later, I currently live in Avenel with my twin sister, Crystal. This man in the story, experienced his first death in America and I experienced many. He has a son and even though I do not have any children or am not married, he wants to remind his son that he has a brave father, who conquered so much and if he can accomplish that, his son can accomplish anything and that is the kind of message I want to pass down to my children one day. It also made him realized how much he experienced, by traveling here, sleeping in many different places in a short amount of time, and seeing the world from its past til now, makes me realize how far I’ve came. I have experienced many tragedies with family, friends, heartbreaks, school and so much more; however, it only makes you stronger and I love that his son has someone like that as a role model.