Our Asian-American Fathers

Although we all have our own stories, most of us can appreciate our fathers. In a time with even more hardships that came along with being Asian, they still endured for us and are great role models for us to look up to. Here are some anonymous stories of various Asian fathers to celebrate Fathers' Day. Enjoy!

Story #1:

My Asian dad stayed with my cheating mother during a rough patch when I was 9 to 15 years old. Although they worked it out eventually, he did this to keep our family together so my sister and I wouldn't be mentally devastated at a young age. I didn't know how much it meant to me until I had my first girlfriend. Even though he doesn't show it, he loves my sister and me and wants the best for us all the time.

Story #2:

My dad's story is a movie... He is the last of 6 kids, and the 4th child of my grandfather's 2nd wife. My grandfather was a textile manufacturer until the communists took it, promised to give his family a stipend, and stopped after a month. Grandpa complained, but died at a labor camp. Grandma was still educated, and she joined the communist politburo, but was ashamed since all her kids (except my dad) left the country. My grandma tried to commit suicide by jumping off a building but she failed and was badly injured. My dad (12 years old at the time) carried her to the hospital 1/2 mile away and sat with her until she died three days later. My dad then just walked around doing random things like building nuclear bomb shelters for the communists until he was older. Him and his friends tried to swim across a bay from China to Hong Kong but was caught and sent back twice. He eventually immigrated to the United States and worked as a waiter for 7 days a week while doing school. He married and had kids, tried to start a restaurant business and failed, losing life savings. He then worked for 30 yeras in sales, half of which he was still doing the waiter job on the weekends. Now, both my sister and I hold MAs and are in the upper-middle class. My dad's finally relaxing at his home happily.

Story #3:

My father is a 1st/1.5 generation diaspora Asianl he didn't speak a lick of English and had to learn it all by himself until he is now at the Native-speaker level. He moved to the west at a very young age, to an Anglo majority white country trying to make ends meet, and he succeeded. Here's one story that I still remember: When I was in my teens, I did a part-time job at a retail shop working weekends. One weekend, the management decided to not pay me. They completely ignored me when I brought it up. I was already poor and didn'twant my father's help. That was until I mentioned this incident to him. He was infuriated, storming into the store and spoke to management, making a scene on the floor. He talked about how I was studying and doing this job, yet they decided no to pay me. After this, they listened and paid up.

A lot of people don't have a close relationship with their fathers. However, it is important to reflect on what role our parents had so we could be where we are today. Show appreciation to your fathers this Fathers Day!