John O'Donnell

On the west side of Chicago in the late 1930's, a young schoolgirl stands at her desk.  She's nervous, anxious and not sure what the future holds. The tuition is due at St. Thomas Aquinas grade school. It comes to $5.00 per month. Neither she nor her family can afford it.

Years later this woman recalls the event and says she is forever indebted to the school and the nuns in charge for not sending her away. She remained a student, got an education. and would pay the tuition as her family could afford it. From St. "Tommy's" she'd attend Siena High School, and all-girls school a few blocks west of where she lived. She would graduate from there and gain employment at Sears with a position she held for years.

Fast forward to the second decade of the 21st century, and a young woman faces a career decision. Option A: stay in the Midwest and practice medicine in Madison, WI. The administrators offer an attractive package—housing, comfortable housing, and even an offer to relocate her boyfriend (now fiancé) and find him employment in the Madison metropolitan area. Option B: work and live in Seattle, where, among other attractions, her boyfriend resides. A most important element is the opportunity to serve those in need, and this resides in both options. Still, though what will it be … cheese heads or Space Needle? Flat land or mountains? She chooses Seattle. Her Midwestern family is mildly disappointed, but not surprised. They know of her happiness, and they see it and hear it when they see her and hear her.

The lass in the first paragraph becomes the grandmother of the woman in the third paragraph.

I dare say that most families in most places in most eras on the planet would not be able to tell such a story. What the grandmother or grandfather did is what the daughter or son would do, and what the granddaughter and grandson would do, etc. Upward mobility was not a thing; survival was. So if my dad worked the fields, that would likely be my destiny.

The United States is different from most places. How does a family move from poverty to physician in two generations? The answer is hinted at earlier: opportunity. It is not a cliche nor something that employers have to have in writing; it's a reality. I've seen it. My mom (the lady in the second paragraph) works hard at Sears and brings home money to help pay the bills. She marries my dad at a young age and together they bring an older sister, me, and two younger brothers into the world. My dad's education consists of a high school diploma and taking a course or two at the community college. But four children curtail formal education and lead to his moonlighting gig—he drives a cab at night. Routinely we rush to the second-floor window at a certain hour, under the direction of my mom, and we watch dad drive by with the light on the top of his taxi winking at us just and telling us it's bedtime.

Question: what happens between the grandparents and the granddaughter? Lots of jobs, lots of schooling, lots of laughter (she does have three siblings), and lots of opportunities to help make a life count. If I make ask, dear reader, take stock of the opportunities you've had by being and living in the U.S.  Personally, I can't help but feel gratitude and responsibility. Gratitude for being born here, and responsibility, not pressure, to make contributions and hopefully to leave things a little better than the way I found them. And grateful that as an American, I act as a link in a chain that takes a girl without five dollars to blossom one day to a granddaughter who practices medicine.