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@kaymtye | |||||
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Sometimes forget to be grateful to be a US citizen, but got talking w @aa_fenton about how our parents immigrated to America, and it reminded me to hold on to the inspiration and courage our parents had:
THREAD (1/n)
RT with your story, if you have one! pic.twitter.com/HEnysZUj9V
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Kay Tye
@kaymtye
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31. sij |
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My great grandfather had the monopoly of eggs in all of China and my grandmother was super rich living in a mansion when the cultural revolution happened and communism took everything away.
2/n
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Kay Tye
@kaymtye
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31. sij |
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Communist officials took over their home and left my grandmother homeless with three young children (my dad was the #2, and a toddler). She had to leave her baby behind in Shanghai, almost left my dad behind too, because she couldn’t carry him and he was sick w a fever
3/n
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Kay Tye
@kaymtye
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31. sij |
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Luckily, the day they had to flee, my dads fever broke and my grandmother decided to take him, too, along with her eldest (my aunt). They had nothing but the clothes on their back and had to walk many many miles (with two young kids)! All the way to Hong Kong.
4/n
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Kay Tye
@kaymtye
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31. sij |
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My grandmother arrived in Hong Kong w no money, no skills, and didn’t speak Cantonese (only mandarin). She went from super rich to very very poor and it was years she was separated from her other daughter.
5/n
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Kay Tye
@kaymtye
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31. sij |
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My dad grew up being told over and over again:
“Money, power, business, titles, property... all can be taken away from you in an instant. The only thing nobody can ever take away from you is your education.”
6/n
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Kay Tye
@kaymtye
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31. sij |
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So my mom and dad both crushed at school and earned scholarships to get educated in the US.
They met on the boat.
They both got PhDs, got married @MIT. #nopressure
7/n
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Kay Tye
@kaymtye
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31. sij |
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And while academia certainly isn’t perfect, they always loved their jobs, never once complained.
After all, having job security to study whatever they want and the psychological safety that nobody could take away their education was their
“American Dream”...
What’s yours?
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Kay Tye
@kaymtye
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31. sij |
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☭ is love
@ErichSBloodaxe
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1. velj |
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So if not for the cultural revolution, you wouldn't be a neuroscientist now, but simply another useless rich drone, doing nothing for humanity while living on wealth exploited from others is the takeaway of the story.
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Kay Tye
@kaymtye
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1. velj |
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Yep. Grateful for the paths that led me here. I mean... nobody becomes a scientist for the $...?
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