I had the pleasure of lunch the other day with some Richmond colleagues at a Short Pump restaurant called House of Vietnam. I had been there a few times before, but my friends go there quite often, and have become friendly with the owner – a very warm and gracious gentleman who immigrated here from Vietnam. Over the years since immigrating, he was able to open a restaurant and turn it into a very successful establishment. I’m sure there’s much more to his American story, but that’s all I happen know.
As we were paying our tab, one of my friends asked how his family was doing. The owner very proudly described how his son had been accepted to several colleges including William & Mary, Washington & Lee and a couple others. Then, clutching his hand to his chest and almost with a tear in his eye, he said, “For me, THAT is achieving the American dream.”
Amid our often shrill political discourse, it’s so wonderful to find the occasional pearl of proof that we still live in a land of opportunity and optimism. Just thought I’d pass it along.
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