Essay Example on That summer in Beijing thousands of students assembled in the Tiananmen Square to protest

But the story doesn't end there Despite his excitement my father quickly realized that his dream didn t belong in the reality that he lived in That summer in Beijing thousands of students assembled in the Tiananmen Square to protest for their freedoms and democracy and hoping to generate change my father was one of them But never would he have thought that Chinese government would respond to its own citizens with force and violence At that moment as bullets flew and tanks fired into the crowd my father was afraid angry and devastated And at that moment he decided that the only way he could ever pursue his dream was by leaving China And so through years of hard work and perseverance in 1996 my father finally flew across oceans to a country of freedom and opportunities America With less than in his pocket he was nothing less than broke but nonetheless fulfilled by the hopes and dreams he had carried with him Deep inside his heart my father knew that here in a tolerant America even he a poor chinese boy who couldn t speak any English had an equal opportunity to achieve his dream just like all Americans And he believed that hard work and dedication will always earn you success regardless of your culture and background For all men are created equal that they are endowed with the unalienable rights of life liberty and the pursuit of happiness With the hopes of my father I hold these truths to be self evident That despite the color of my skin the shape of my eyes and the accent in my language I too am American And everyday I look back to my father s journey believing that 20 years later I still have those unlimited possibilities and the foundation that my father once had to achieve my dream 

And indeed we ourselves were once foreigners too So why are we hating on each other for our differences the very differences that we once celebrated for the differences that make us who we are For gone are the days of homogeneity if those days ever existed And what remains is Now Now is the time that we recognize that there is no pure ethnicity or national culture Now is the time that we embrace the complexities of our identity and share our origin as one people under the stars And now at a time when diversity has never been greater and hate has never been stronger we must stay true to ourselves and truer to our values For in the land of the free and the home of the brave our American values apply to not only those who already live here but those who are new citizens and those who wish to live here Our e pluribus unum American identity is defined by our shared values And our American dream lives on within the dreams of our founders the dreams of our children the dreams of all of you and even the dream of a young immigrant who became my father And so against the fear and hatred can I dare you to defy the false labels you have thrusted upon yourself and others to become more tolerant more loving and to appreciate the diversity of our individuality that makes us who we are For change rests in your hands even a small shift in perspectives can open doors to a whole world of consciousness and The key to opening this door simply lies in whether you allow fear and hatred to rule your actions or if you