Opportunity Costs
I went home to Sac to have dinner with the family today, and as we sat around the table and talked about family news, I couldn’t help but to think…
I get my love of service from my family. My dad doesn’t work the best job he can, but he does one that he hopes will be meaningful and rewarding. My grandfather actually created a non-profit agency to help Vietnamese immigrants and made it a cornerstone of the community in Minnesota. He was the governor of his province back in Vietnam - although, the province was small, so it might be more comparable to mayor of a large town. Both of them are born leaders and brilliant speakers. They could have been very, very successful in business. My dad could have used his computer skills and moved in a very different direction… we had moved to Silicon Valley at a critical moment in the tech world. My grandfather could have just as easily made a for-profit corporation to enrich himself.
Because of their choices, though, my family has never been in the best financial condition. Not that I’ve ever wanted for anything, but we have had to scrape. At the moment, we’re not in the best shape - you didn’t hear it from me, but we’re going to be buckling down a little over the next year.
All of which makes me question my own life choices. I’ve been mooching off my parents for twenty-two years. I know that they are happy for me finding a path that will make me happy, and I know they are proud of my involvement in service organizations. However, I know that this isn’t what they had expected for me. I know that they were looking for me to look out not only for myself, but also to help them look after my sisters and my family.
It makes me wonder how different things would be if I had sucked it up and toughed it out with computer science. If I had graduated on time with my original major, I would have been working for three years already. That’s three years I could have been actively helping my family with the mortgage, with Dong Ha’s tuition and other college costs, and with a new car for Gio Linh.
And instead, I was just another mouth to feed. A sinkhole in the family bank account.
Was it worth it? Did I make the most of my time?
Life is all about opportunity costs. You get something by giving something else up. There is an equal and opposite reaction for every action you take. Kinda like this video:
(The band is “The Spinto Band,” and the song is called “Trust vs. Mistrust.” Check them out, they have some really great songs and their videos are very interesting.)
January 12th, 2008 at 20:46
You have a very coo’ family.
And hey, it’s not too late to get a job and earn money to give back to your parents.
And of course you were worth it in your parents’ eyes. You weren’t just a financial investment. They got the whole package.