I spent my week visiting my parents down in Georgia. During our drive down I had the opportunity to speak with a gentleman who just bought a convenience store. He was born and raised in Mexico and has been here in the United States for about seven years. He first asked me where I was from and then he started to tell me about all the great things he was planning for the store. I could see the excitement on his face and I could hear the pride in his voice and as we talked he shared with me his story.
He told me he came here to the state of Virginia with his wife and two children with very little money and a dream to own his own business. He had relatives in Virginia and he and his family shared a bedroom in an apartment he stayed at with a cousin. He wanted to get a place of his own so he worked two sometimes three jobs. He did whatever it took so that he could provide for his family. He told me he would do any job from cleaning bathrooms to construction but he said his favorite job was working nights at a 24 hour convenience store. He said “I love people and my boss helped me and my family.”
He told me that after three years of working at the store he told his boss he wanted to own his own store one day. He said his boss took him under his wing and taught him the in and outs of the business. He taught him how to manage his money and let him take over daily operations as the store manager. He said when my boss decided to retire he asked me if I wanted to buy the store. He even helped me get a loan. So here I am a business owner and living my dream.
You may be asking what is the point of this story. Well, he told me that he was worried about coming to America because of the treatment of immigrants . He said his first few years were difficult but he said it was this White store owner who change everything for him. He said he treated me with respect. He saw my potential and gave me an opportunity to succeed and live out my dreams. He told me he never thought he would be in a situation where a White man would put trust in him to manage his business and support his dream. He said to me “I know there are bad people but because of my boss I now know there are great people.”
In a time when we can lose hope this stranger taught me to continue to believe. His story is an example on what treating people with dignity can do. It helped a family live out their dreams and know that in a world that may seem dark there is always light.
Charles Redd RN Dignity Freedom Fighter
Dignity Freedom Fighter 