Yesterday, my husband made this post on his facebook page.
Today, he followed up with this:
Friends, I was asked why I made the post yesterday. The reason is simple. I am so tired of people blaming everything and everyone, instead of themselves, for their problems. Yes, the world is unfair. Yes, there are tons of problems. Yes, there are racists and jerks everywhere. Yes, sometimes we are faced with unfortunate circumstances. Yes, there are many but this but that….
We, as humans, have two options. Find solutions and do something to fix the problems, or do nothing and keep on blaming the world for our problems. I faced everything in my life, from unfortunate circumstances, inherent unfairness, to racism, etc. So what? I have been living in the U.S. for 35 years and there was no easy day. There was no easy day in Saigon, South Vietnam either. There is no red carpet in my life.
My father and I, along with several hundred other people were stranded on a deserted beach in Indonesia for 6+ months. Even though there was no food, no running water, no electricity, no toilet, no anything, we survived. We hunted, we fished, we ate anything we could find on the island or in the water. We could have said why us? It is unfair. But instead we were thankful that we did not end up in the bottom of the sea or in the bellies of the sharks like hundreds of thousands of other Vietnamese who were not as lucky.
We came to the US with $10 as political refugees. We did not qualify for government financial assistance. We again had to do everything possible to survive. For the first many months, we were living in the basement of a relative (starting on December 1, 1979) in New Jersey with no heat. Coming from a tropical country, it was not easy to get used to the cold weather. We were wearing donated clothes and shoes from a local church. I also got an old donated bike with no brakes. But it was more than good enough for me for school and work.
My first job at 14-15 was to clean up the toilets and mopped the floors at a local supermarket for $3.35 an hour (before tax) while going to high school full time with no English. I did my school work with an English – Vietnamese dictionary. But working a couple hours a day was not enough to survive and to send money back to Vietnam. So I found 6 other odd jobs to supplement my income to help out my family.
On free weekends, I played in various chess tournaments locally and got back to master level within about a year. I was not old enough to even drive to get to chess events. I am thankful that the local chess players were very supportive. They gave me rides on so many occasions to various tournaments so I can compete.
For 3.5 years, I worked my behind off to save money for college while supporting myself and my family in Vietnam. I repeated this process for 4 years in college, and throughout my professional career. Since coming to America, I am used to putting in 16-18 hour day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year. Even by giving my absolute best, and then some, I still failed from time to time. But I lived my life through this motto: It is not important how many times I fall down. It only matters that I pick myself up and try harder. I will try and try until I succeed because failure is simply not an option.
I am tired of athletes and celebrities making millions while whining that things are tough. How about the Moms who work everyday, then come home to take care of their children and families? How about the Dads who work 2 jobs to pay the bills? I am also tired of people sitting on their butts and complain everyday about life. Everyone, rich or poor, has problems, some big, some small. The question is what are you going to do about it?
My friends and family know that I am a no nonsense guy and I speak my mind. As a chess player, I learned to find solutions on the chess board. I took this skill and implemented it in my personal and professional life. Think before you move. Make the right plans. Work hard to execute these plans. This is why I am so passionate about having kids learning life skills through chess from an early age. Life is hard so work harder to make positive things happen. Stop blaming everything and everyone. Take control of your own destiny. I know it is not easy, but you can do it.
(This is me as a baby with my parents in Saigon.)
Too many whiners in the world.