Tougher Question

I came to the US 20 years ago with only an old suite case. Now I have my house, 2 cars, and all other good things. On the flight that I took from Japan when I came to this country I sat next to a gentle man (I just call him as “Ted”). Ted has advanced degrees from prestigious universities and was working as a successful professional. I casually mentioned that I was interested in getting an advanced degree in America. Ted said “That’s a great idea! You can do whatever you want to do through your hard work”. Fast forward 2 decades, I would say that he was right back then. If you measure a success in terms of how far you accomplished what you wanted to achieve, I did well.


There is a question that pops into my mind. The one is “can you still achieve what you want to do today?” I would say “sure thing”. Due to the tough global competitions and technological changes things will be tougher for many people, but it’s just like they say “when the going gets tough, the tough gets going”. All of these changes will bring us new opportunities and we will be able to capture them. We still have a good amount of natural and human resources here in the US, we can be successful through innovations and hard working.


However, the next question will be more difficult. The next one is “will you be able to achieve what you want to do 20 years from now?” I would answer “may be”. I’m an optimistic guy, but I’m realistic too. What we will be able to do 20 years later depends on what we do today. If we don’t tame our budget deficit while improving our education system how come can we expect a bright future ahead of us? If we don’t solve our issues today what will happen to the next generation of Americans including my nephews and a niece? What will I say to a young man who will be coming to America in the future? I don’t want to say to him “sorry buddy American dream is over”.


We need to fix issues in this country one by one. We need to set aside our ideologies and choose well thought out solutions. What we need is to lay a firm foundation for our future growth. If we don’t do this now, we’ll only have ourselves to blame 20 years from now.