O-Tasks:
"No one understands and appreciates the American Dream of hard work leading to material rewards better than a non- American" - Anthony Bourdain.
Write an essay to express your opinion about this saying.
Essay by Michelle
Anthony Michael Bourdain was an American celebrity chef, author, travel documentarian and television personality. He is considered one of the most influential chefs in the world. One of his meaningful sayings made me think a lot: "No one understands and appreciates the American Dream of hard work leading to material rewards better than a non- American".
In my opinion, I totally agree with him. People who have a great dream - American dream, will easily understand this statement. Although we all know the United States is a developed and multi-racial country, the existence of racial discrimination is still a painful issue. Consequently, non- Americans find it very difficult to get jobs with stable salaries, especially for Vietnamese like me. Apart from the fact of discrimination, minority people might behave badly in the past and some inappropriate actions led to the beliefs of negative stereotypes about the Vietnamese people in general.
Finding a job is hard, but keeping it is even harder.
Vietnamese students do some not so well-paid part-time jobs in fast-food chains or nail salons to pay for their cost of living. Sadly, many of them have to work with nervous mentality because they don't have working licenses. According to the U.S laws, they are not permitted to work under studying visas.
In reality, many restaurants exploited Vietnamese labors without paying them fairly.
Not only Vietnamese students but also those from other countries suffer from the same condition. According to the "Business Insider", a student from Argentina who came to the U.S. to do a work-study program said that he expected to work 40 hours a week but sometimes was given as little as four hours.
To get genuine dollars, they have to struggle with themselves. They must accept the unfair treatment.
Sometimes, in order to adapt to a new society, foreign students must say goodbye to comfortable lifestyles in their old days.
Let me tell you a story. I have a rich kid friend from Vietnam, Ela - who lived in a mansion and owned many luxurious cars and watches. Who on earth could imagine she has to clean the toilet or works a waiter during her stay in the U.S for her economic diploma.
Ela, like many other students, had to bear a lot of pressure on her shoulders. More than anyone else, they understood the value of hard working and they knew how to use wisely every dollars they had earned.
Every penny in their pocket was made by every drop of their sweat, tears, and blood.
To this point, I consider the Bourdain's words can help me understand the joy of having material rewards from hard working.
No one else than non- Americans can share the same view with him.
Just like two sides of a coin, an American dream can be be a nightmare. If you are not well prepared in term of mentality and capacities, you can be easily destroyed. However, if you are a true warrior, you can step to a higher ladder of the society. Your voice will be heard and you can make strong impact to change the world as a better place for human race.
If you are strong enough, let's stand up and fight for your American dream!
