A Word of Caution on What's to Come...

On my 28th birthday, my mom told me I was an accidental anchor baby.

My existence put my Taiwanese parents on the road toward Green Cards for US citizenship.

It’s also what lead me to having a punching bag/playmate that is my younger brother.

(I can say that because I’m watching my own two boys give each other the same treatment, but I draw the line when they start throwing anything.)

To top it all off, I was born and raised in South Carolina in the 80s…deep in the Bible Belt/Republican territory.

I was called everything from “Ching Chong” to “Pork rice” to “Mister Miyagi”.

It looked like I had a snowball’s chance in hell of finding someone here to settle down with.

It didn’t turn out that way at all.

In fact, she was the one who hunted me down.

Did I mention she’s a Caucasian girl with roots in West Virginia?

Life is strange, which is why today is not all that surprising to me.

Stand for something or fall for anything

To put it mildly, I got extremely lucky given where I live and my background.

I know things could have been far more difficult for my parents if the civil rights movement hadn’t opened doors for minorities.

I have Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr. to thank for that.

His leadership and strength of character paved the way for many to have opportunities that extend far beyond that struggle.

Now, I still live here in SC and work with people from all different backgrounds come together to advance technology for the better at a company based in Japan.

Bigotry, misogyny, racism…these are things that the people I associate with also find to be incredibly small-minded to say the least.

On this day, every year, I’m reminded of my good fortune and to continue to be grateful for all the freedoms that I enjoy as an American.

Regardless of who is the President, I will continue to fight for those freedoms for everyone in every way that I can.

Freedom of expression

One of the dangers of what is happening now is the threat of freedom of speech and all forms of its expression.

The oligarchy that is crystallizing around the new administration and the Orange Julius is unmistakable.

The internet is the new frontier, and it’s up to us to learn how to use it to safeguard our rights as citizens.

I’m still learning and evolving, but it’s worth sharing my journey because everyone goes through a similar process.

The only difference is the time scale.

As a 9-5 parent, mine is far longer than it would have been otherwise, but the results are the same.

I went from taking hours to write even one short form post to having endless ideas and stories to tell.

It took me three years to get to the point where I could write daily articles.

I don’t usually talk about government and politics, but my purpose is to improve my critical thinking skills through writing and showing others how I’m doing it as intellectual armor from propaganda, liberal or conservative, by hammering down a digital footprint large enough to stand for something.

If you want to learn how to get started, let me know in the comments below.