Growing up, the dinner table was always a source of joy and connection with my family. The beautiful aromas of traditional indian cuisine mixed with the detailed recountings of one another’s days created a comforting and care-free atmosphere in my home. Stuffed with food, I often would not be able to finish my plate when my father would say “You must finish! There are starving children in India who would walk miles for the morsel that you are giving up!” “Send this to them!” I’d reply, not understanding the significance of not consuming a bit of food that seemed plentiful. I should mention that I grew up in a suburb of Massachusetts, a small state on the east coast of the United States, which is the wealthiest and most powerful nation in the world, filled with overwhelming abundance and prosperity. The quarrel that would ensue between my parents and I at the dinner table led me to think about those hungry children in India, and what dinner time would be like in the rural village of Madurai where my father grew up.
Raised in an underdeveloped region with scarce access to vital resources such as clean drinking water, proper nourishment, and adequate medical facilities, everyday life was a challenge for him and his family. Contrary to my meal time conversations of feeling “too full to ever eat again”, my father recounted many a night huddled close to his siblings and sharing a meal on a large banana leaf, excitedly discussing farfetched plans of moving to America where “there is so much food that you never feel hungry” and “there is so much money that nobody is unhappy”. These claims may seem outlandish and unrealistic to those who have grown up in America, who know that though there is lavish wealth, there is still widespread poverty, hunger, and mental illness that plagues millions of American citizens. However despite the numerous issues that Americans face, the nation’s founding principles of freedom of speech, religion, press etc., though no longer unique to the US, still transcend throughout the globe the image of America as a kind of “promise land” where happiness and affluence are guaranteed.
Similar to my parents’ realizations of the inaccuracy of such an image upon their arrival to the US, Rais Bhuiyan experiences the unfortunate truth that just like anywhere else, life in America entails perseverance, sacrifice, and determination in order to succeed. His unyielding strength in the face of such immense hindrances as his shooting and partial blindness did not deter him from achieving success; in hindsight it was this very injury that led him to embark on a humanitarian mission that has inspired people all around the world to seek empathy and tolerance towards their fellow human beings.
Bala Sivaraman is a junior at UMass Amherst majoring in communication.