My Personal Story of The Sacrifices Made by My Parent in Order to Give Me a Good Education

From a young age, I saw my dad’s hard work to provide a better life for me. Every time he left for work with his black suitcase, I would sit on top of it to keep him from leaving. As he walked out the door, I would burst into tears, and my mom would hug me to stop the crying. My father traveled from Taiwan to Hong Kong each day, leaving early in the morning, with barely any sleep the previous night, and not coming home until midnight. When I asked my mom why he was always traveling for work, she told me the story of my father growing up.

At the age of 13 his father had passed away, so he worked from then on to support his family. Having grown up in poverty, my father wanted me to have better opportunities than he had, and to be a better person than he was. Every time I made a mistake, he would tell me how to make it right, but he never did it for me. My father did not want me to be a spoiled kid and feel that everything would be handed to me. He taught me that my dreams could only come true if I put in the hard work.

As I got to the age of 10, dad had saved up enough money to take mom and I for a vacation to Tokyo, Japan. Deep inside my heart it felt that there was going to be a great new change. I was so excited to be able to go to a country that I never been before, and also spend some quality time with my father.

It is the day of our flight; my parents had packed the bags for our vacation the night before our trip. I was still asleep, suddenly my dad had whispered in my ears telling me that we are going to be late for our trip. I quickly woke up with full energy and power to start the trip. As we arrived outside of Taipei Taiyuan International Airport, I was able to hear airplanes flying over the top of head. The engine noise made me fall in love with it.

As we got to the boarding gate, I was able to see the plane that we were flying which was a Cathay Pacific Airways A330. I was surprised by how big the aircraft was compared to the airplane model that my dad had got me. Soon the pilots of the aircraft had started to board the plane. I was amazed on how sophisticated the pilots look. As we board the aircraft, I was able to see the cockpit from a small angle. I wanted to get a closer look of the cockpit, so I had walked closer. As I began my way to the cockpit, dad called my name. Eventually I ignored him and continued my way closer to cockpit.

As I was about to approach the cockpit, one of the crew members of the aircraft had tried to stop me from walking into the cockpit. Soon dad walked behind me and grabbed me on the arm. He apologized to the crew, and demanded me to get back to the seat that we were assigned. I refused to listen to my dad, and begged my father to let me see the cockpit. Apparently the captain of the aircraft had approached us told the crew member to let me see the cockpit.

As I quickly made my way to the cockpit, I fell in love with everything that was in there. The lighting system had first brought great attention to my eyes. When I looked out the windows, I was able to see a great view of outside the aircraft, and wished to sit behind the pilots. The captain had showed me the technology that they had on plane causing me to want to touch them. Eventually as I laid my hands on one of the button, the captain had stopped me. He told me that when am I pilot then I would be given the permission to touch them. After the experience in the cockpit it had brought me to want to study more about airline aircrafts.

As I grew older, my dad saved enough money to send me to the United States to study abroad. He wants to create more opportunities for me, and allowing me to seek the vast world that was around us. Eventually leaving my parents was a tough situation for me. At first, I had felt that really empty and lonely inside of my heart to leaving my parents. Eventually I took the spirit within them with me everywhere I went.

I attended high school at Western Christian High School, a small school. It was tough to get used to the environment that was around me. Sometimes I feel that I want to leave environment that I was in and go back where I came from. As the school year proceeded, I was able to make friend that have brought me closer to the environment. Eventually I was able to meet friends that had similar desires like mine. Slowly and slowly the friends that I’ve met became family to me.

As I grew older I wanted to volunteer in museums that are related to airplanes. Eventually I had researched places that were related to aircraft, and are seeking for volunteers. I found a place called Planes of Fame Air Museum that was close to me, in which carries a lot of aircraft that are really funky from WWI to WWII aircrafts.

Eventually I volunteered as a tour guide at the air museum. There I was able to learn about different aircraft and the function that was used in the past. During my volunteer at the air museum, I was able to discover one of my favorite aircraft out of all the airplanes which was the B-16. It was a bomber aircraft that had a stunning looking cockpit. After looking and studying the past aircraft, I felt that aircrafts in the past are harder to fly compared to the aircrafts that we have currently.

During the experience of volunteering at the air museum, I was able to talk to many veterans that were pilots that had served during WWI and WWII. Eventually I was able to meet one of the head volunteer coordinators, Deborah Manning. She would also tell me stories about the experience being in the air was had allowed her to become more free. It had allowed her to be able to see the vast world that is around us. Eventually I was able to picture her story in my mind, and allowed me to do the same. I wanted to see be in the shoes of hers, eventually I told myself that I wanted to become an airline pilot.

As I got into my senior year in high school I was doing some research for colleges to apply with a major of flying an airplane. I was able to find many colleges that had the major that I desired for. After all the application result had come out, I was able to pick the college that I wanted to go. Eventually I picked Arizona State University, out of all the colleges that had accepted me, because the program was partnered with the ATP flight school.

Works Cited

1. Chen, D. (2018). Taiwanese American Families: Transnational Families and Identity. In Transnational Families, Migration and the Circulation of Care (pp. 99-117). Palgrave Macmillan.
2. Liu, W. M., Lee, R. M., & Negi, N. J. (2019). Asian American fathers: A systematic review of the literature. Psychology of Men & Masculinities, 20(2), 258-272.
3. Tsai, J. L., Louie, V. S., Chen, A. J., & Uchida, Y. (2007). Learning what feelings to desire: Socialization of ideal affect through children's storybooks. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 33(1), 17-30.
4. Lee, M. (2015). Exploring the role of culture in fathering: Perspectives of Asian immigrant fathers. Journal of Ethnic and Cultural Diversity in Social Work, 24(2), 122-136.
5. AirlineGeeks.com. (n.d.). Cathay Pacific. Retrieved from https://airlinegeeks.com/airline/cathay-pacific/
6. Cathay Pacific Airways. (n.d.). Our Fleet. Retrieved from https://www.cathaypacific.com/cx/en_US/flying-with-us/our-fleet.html
7. Smith, A. (2022). The Cockpit: The Craftsmanship of Flying. Random House.
8. Federal Aviation Administration. (n.d.). Becoming a Pilot. Retrieved from https://www.faa.gov/pilots/become/
9. Planes of Fame Air Museum. (n.d.). About. Retrieved from https://planesoffame.org/about/
10. Manning, D. (2017). Flying Free: A Memoir. HarperCollins.