My parents are refugees and I think that makes them so incredibly strong and brave. Parents often make difficult decisions concerning their children, but rarely do parents need to make decisions that are so extremely life altering. Refugee parents make decisions that drastically change the futures of their children, decisions that usually need to be made urgently. Our society often applauds heroes of all sorts but never really focuses on the heroes that are refugee parents.

Thankfully, most people in the United States do not know what it means to be forced out of your country into another seeking refuge. This does not negate the fact that the United States still is a safety net for millions of immigrants. Immigration is a topic that remains extremely controversial among Americans, thanks to the influence of people like a certain presidential candidate that will remain unnamed. I find that immigration is something that is greatly misunderstood, even by the children of immigrants.

I do not see a more difficult struggle than that of an immigrant, nor do I see such bravery as commonly in other aspects of our culture. Take a moment to think about what it takes to decide to seek refuge in a new country. In order to immigrate to a country like the United States, refugees have to put every piece of their life on display repeatedly for different parts of the immigration process. Not only do they go through these highly sensitive application processes, they also say goodbye to their lives.

My parents may come from a land that is still recovering from a massively destructive war but, that land was their entire lives. It is the land where they grew up and where they knew the people, language, and culture. For the sake of their children, they left all of that behind to be unwanted strangers in a foreign land.

I do not think I can ever show my parents how truly grateful I am that they chose to come to a country where my siblings and I could have lives filled with opportunities. My parents, like so many others, devoted the rest of their lives to making a nurturing home for their three young children. When looking so closely at what refugees go through, I have trouble understanding the controversy against immigration. The amount of time devoted to learning a new language, culture, government, and so much more is overwhelming to simply think about.

My father, who lost family and friends and spent time in a war camp, was so proud of himself when he finished his English class at the local refugee center. When someone laughs at his accent or mocks his grammar, it negates all of that. The mockery negates any hard work and struggles my father went through to get to where he is currently. Immigrants are so negatively viewed by so many. They go through these hardships and make a sufficient living only to be mocked and ridiculed by cashiers, politicians, neighbors, coworkers, and sometimes even their own children.

Thank you to those refugee parents, that pick up their family and immigrate to a country where they hope to find better lives. Thank you for going through what you went through that leads you to seek refuge and still finding the courage to go through the immigration process. And thank you for putting up with the forces working against you in the lands where you found refuge.