Bigger and Better, but Not for All

By Vivian Bui / Winter 2021

The United States is known for having everything bigger and better, but does that apply to the promises it advertises?  One of the biggest promises associated with the United States is opportunity. Opportunity for health and wealth. Opportunity for mobility—to climb up the social ladder. Following opportunity, liberty, equality, and justice also lie in this big bucket of promises. The United States holds the key to a better life and a brighter future for its population. Most importantly, it promises the means for success. Those who work hard are rewarded.

It was a sin to have left-over grains of rice in our bowls. My grandparents and mother would always remind me that my great grandmother died of starvation in Vietnam. My mom grew up with little to eat as she had to share her food with her seven siblings. My dad wasn’t any better off as he used to forage for some of his food. Although their situation did get a little better, their food still lacked the quality and quantity the U.S. had to offer. Already, the United States has fulfilled its promise of health and wealth opportunities to my parents and their family through easy access to nutrition with the wealth of food in this country. They made sure that their children would not grow up with food shortages like they did. My parents didn’t have to skip meals as their parents did in order to feed their kids. They raised healthy children with the vast selection of food they could afford here in America.

After immigrating to the United States in 1994, my parents stayed with a relative and worked in a sweatshop to make some money. They spent three years in a sewing shop and were paid under the table, below minimum wage. The three years spent there were still not enough for them to afford a place away from their relatives. Eventually, my parents were able to find a better job through a friend and left the sweatshop. They were paid minimum wage to inspect piston rings at their second job here in the U.S. They were once again introduced to a better workplace in 2001, at Medtronic, where they worked as technicians sewing heart valves. This job provided them with insurance and benefits which supported them in their ascent to a better life. From sewing in a sweatshop to sewing medical devices, my parents have made a drastic climb.

Not only did they climb up in their careers, but they also leveled up to an apartment away from their relatives. Eventually. they were able to rent an entire house in the nice city of Tustin with their combined pay from working at the company for five years. In 2007, my parents leased a different house in Irvine. One of my parents' proudest achievements was accomplished in 2009. My parents put everything on the line to purchase their own home in Garden Grove, California. With the opportunities the United States promised, they built a better life for themselves and those that come after them.

As my parents’ eldest child, I became the key to their success and possibly of a brighter future. I was the fuel that powered them to work as hard as they did since they wanted to raise and support me in the best environment possible. Through my kindergarten to twelfth-grade education, the U.S. provided me with the means for success. The great teachers and programs I had in school allowed me to get a better education than my parents and thrive. Furthermore, I had the opportunity of free education for the two years I was at community college. My parents’ brighter future was invested in me—a first-generation college student. In order to grow my parents’ investment, school became my priority as I took classes all year round. As promised, I was rewarded for my hard work with my transfer to UCSD; however, this investment still has a lot more to grow. 

The United States may have big promises, but they are not any better if they are unfulfilled. Though the U.S. promised opportunities and social mobility, some people born into poverty were never able to climb out of it. They do not get all the opportunities for a good education as their home life influenced their schooling. They may go to school hungry and cannot focus in class. They may be distracted by all the problems presented to them by their poverty level. They may be working to support their families instead of focusing on school. In this way, the United States’ promise of equality is unfulfilled. People living paycheck to paycheck are unable to work towards higher education as they barely manage to scrape by in a country where the cost of living is so high. Even those working hard towards higher education and wealth are not rewarded. Instead, they were trapped into this promise of success that entails massive debt. To some, the promise of a better life is elusive. They were not set up for success.

The promises associated with the United States do not extend too far. Many factors influence whether these promises are fulfilled. One of the biggest factors is the foundation supporting the person reaching these promises. Different barriers also block people from these promises. Despite being made out to be bigger and better, the promises associated with the United States are not a “one size fits all”.