Aaron Shin - South Korea to Seattle, USA, Late 1940's

My harabeoji (grandpa in Korean) has lived a life full of hardship and although now he is retired and living well that doesn't mean it was always like that.

In the late 1940’s right before the Korean civil war my grandpa was only seven years old living in Gangwondo Chulwon, which is currently part of North Korea. My great grandpa worked as a farmer and heard rumors of the coming war. He packed up his bags and took his family to the outskirts of Seoul in the south leaving behind his land, community, and most of their belongings. Thank God he did, otherwise me and my family would not be here today living our lives the way we are. During the civil war my great grandpa had to hide underground during the day only being able to come out at night to see his family for fear of military recruiters while my great grandma worked at the laundromat.

Later in his life my grandpa graduated trade high school and worked in a factory right away. After a few months his friend told him to enlist with him in the navy but the day before my grandpa showed up and his friend got drunk the day before and forgot to show up. After 3 years in the navy my grandpa got a corporate job. He started dating my grandma and got married.

He worked at Haitai, a Korean snack company, for a few years when his boss offered him a promotion if my grandpa gave him money and my grandpa disliked that type of corruption due to coming from a low income household, so he quit. 

He then looked for a job for a while and decided on moving to America to have better opportunities for himself and my dad. But after moving for a year to one of Hawaii’s islands where our distant family lived, they realized that the American Dream wasn't for everyone and went back to Korea because there wasn't even a hospital much less a chance for success. After a year they once again decided to try for a better life in America, this time in Seattle. They got a small apartment and my grandpa worked in an auto shop while my grandma worked in a sewing factory. Although they couldn't live a life of extravagance or get the American Dream for my dad and aunt, they’re happily retired, my dad still turned out to be a successful doctor, and my aunt lives comfortably in Seattle just a few minutes away from my grandparents with my uncle and two younger cousins.

My grandparent's life shows me how life can be hard and might not fit into place like a puzzle but as long as I don't give up and continue to chase a dream everything will work out. I’ll leave you with a quote that my grandma always tells me “Find a dream that reaches beyond the stars because even if you fail you’ll fall onto the clouds in the sky.”