Never Regret --Cause and Effect Essay

Never Regret

            In a traditional Chinese family, all the important decisions will end with the father’s decision. Eighteen-years ago, my father made one decision made to change my family completely. My aunt, Xiang, a U.S. citizen, sent an invitation to my family to immigrate to the U.S. At that time, I was just a three-year-old baby and my family knew nothing about the U.S. But my father chose to accept it. He chose to immigrate to the U.S. The reason was he knew that no matter how bad the life in the U.S. was it would be better than just staying in China. I am not sure if it was a good choice, but I know my family experienced a big change.

            First, our life in China began to changing by this choice. My parents brought my sister and me to Shenzhen to let us have a better education. They thought it would help us accept and adapt to everything in the U.S. At that time, our citizenship was not under Shenzhen, so we had to pay an extra fee to go to school. We received a lot of things like money and help from friends before we came to the U.S. In the last year, we paid all the money back to them. In fact, my parents underwent to be citizens in Shenzhen. For example if they bought a house in Shenzhen would automatically become citizen of Shenzhen. However, they gave up because the immigration policy at that time needed people who applied to immigration to keep the same citizenship while they applied until they left this country.

In addition, immigration to a new country meant we had to give up everything in our hometown. My father was a traditional Chinese music player in China, but today he became a cook in a Chinese restaurant. Most of the time when he had a day off, I see him playing his music alone. I ask him if he regrets coming to the U.S., but he always say no. Also, my mom was a housewife before, but today she became a factory worker and takes an English class in Chinatown. Same as my father, she never feels regret.  One day she told me, “We never regret immigrating to the U.S. We are old. We came here because of your sister and you. We hope you can have a better life right here.”

             Therefore, my parents put all their hope to my sister and me, and my sister and I are doing as well as we can now. My sister, Jing, is a university student in one of the best universities in Illinois, University of Champagne\Urbana. When my sister was still at high school, she worked so hard to be the best she could because she knew she was the older one and wanted to be the head of my family to lead us in this new country. And I, the one who had no hope to go to high school in China, now finished high school and am going to college. I work hard to be good and hope one day I can share my sister’s position.

 Sometimes when I stay at home, I think about how life would be if we were still in China. However, I know my father chose to create the best environment to us. And what we can do under his decision is do the best we can and be the best we are. Then, when we face our children, we can tell them we never regretted coming to the U.S.