...What You Want, You Can Do

I was watching a show called Eden Eats on the Cooking Channel this weekend.  Eden visits a city and eats over a 24 hour period (yeah- rough job) she goes to international food restaurants.  She also gets the owner’s story as most of them have immigrated here.  

This episode included a man from Tibet.  He spoke of how his father was a governor in Tibet and the government came in when he was eleven and executed his father and his sister and imprisoned him for three years.  He escaped and walked for a month to freedom. He made it to have a visit with the Dalai Lama.  He said he cried for hours with him and unburdened himself.  He eventually came to the U.S. and settled in Utah. 

I loved this story because of what he said about America, he said and I quote “America is freedom country, what you want you can do.”   What a simple yet complex statement.  What we want we can do.  How many times do we allow ourselves to think about all the things we can’t do instead of all the freedoms we have? 

I think it’s important to remember that here, starting your own business and living the life you want is yours for the taking.   I’ve always wondered why so many immigrants come to America and start a business that ends up being successful.  It occurred to me while listening to this man that starting a business in America was probably a piece of cake after surviving imprisonment and losing his family at such a young age.  

Sometimes, we take for granted all the things that make our lives easy here.  That’s not to say that some people don’t have rough lives here- they do. But we can wake up every day with the choice to start a business or run our business and our lives how we see fit.  And frankly I think that’s great.   

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Suzanne Cormier
Executive Director
BizWorks (Small Business Incubator)
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