Knowing Your Roots
In Aziz Ansari and Alan Yang’s second episode of “Master of None,” Parents, Dev and Brian treat their parents out to a nice dinner in order to learn more about their immigrant stories as well as to thank them for all the sacrifices they made. I absolutely loved this episode because I could relate to it in every way possible. It had me not only reflect upon my parents’ immigration stories and sacrifices, but also made me realize how different and blessed my upbringing was from theirs.
I deeply identified with Dev and Brian when they were discussing how they only barely knew the gist of their own parents’ struggles to assimilate into a new country — they were poor, and it was tough. For the first time, I fully became aware of the fact that I literally do not know what my parents went through after leaving behind all they had in their homeland in South Korea. All I know is that they initially migrated to Cleveland, Ohio sometime during the 1980’s and eventually made their way to Southern California, where my two older sisters and I were born. Although it disappoints me that I never took the time to learn the details of my parents’ journey in starting a new life in a foreign place, I now have a profound curiosity in what situations they endured and plan to ask them about everything the next time I see them. I actually just called my dad to see what the most difficult thing about settling in America was at first and for him, it was the language barrier. This was not a surprise to me as Dev and Brian’s parents, too, recalled how afraid they were to even answer the phone. I cannot even imagine how strenuous it must have been to move to an unfamiliar area without knowing anyone or the dominant language used there.
In the episode, Dev asks how his parents used to have fun back in the days to which his dad replies, “You realize fun is a new thing, right? Fun is a luxury only your generation really has.”
This statement sustained a huge impact on me as I perceived how fortunate us first generation kids grew up, all thanks to our parents’ hard work and sacrifices. They suffered and struggled in order to give us a better life with a broader range of opportunities. It also occurred to me how much more privileged we had it than our parents, especially being raised as a 90’s kid. We have only experienced living in a technological era where great advances are constantly being made so our lives only become more and more convenient, whereas our parents did not have such opulence growing up and rather often went through poverty during the rougher times of their economy. When Dev’s dad asks his son to fix his new iPad for him, Dev hastily groans that he is busy and if he could do it later. This made me feel like an ungrateful little prick because there actually have been a few times where I got annoyed when my parents would ask me questions of how to work certain things on a computer, TV, or iPad. I realize that technology is a fairly newer concept in their lives and that the least I could do is be patient and help them out. Towards the ending, Brian mentions that his dad used to bathe in a river but now drives a car that talks to him. It truly is incredible to see how far the times have come.
After watching this episode, I definitely will be showing much more appreciation and gratitude towards my parents for giving up their lives in order for my sisters and I to have a brighter future. I feel like now I understand more of what immigrants go through and had not even thought about what insane stories they could have. Through migration, diaspora members have lost their material relationship to the territory of origin, but they can still preserve their cultural relationship through memory”. My goal is to be able to send my parents back to Korea to relive their memories and youth, and to provide and give back everything they have sacrificed for me. Most of all, I am excited to finally find out all about my parents’ journey and how they got where they are today.
