Choose to be Brave
When I was 7, my uncle encouraged me to jump off the high diving board at the public pool. I climbed up the tall ladder and froze on the platform. I don’t know which fear was worse: the terror of jumping or the humiliation of coming back down. I chose humiliation.
My uncle waited for me at the bottom and said “Life can be scary. If you let fear win, you won’t know your full potential. I don’t want you to live a life of regret. Choose to be brave.”
His speech was beautiful and inspirational, but I was a smart 7-year-old. I simply replied, “prove it.”
He climbed up the ladder, walked on to the platform, put his hands together in a “namaste” pose, and jumped. He swam to the edge of the pool and said “See? Not so bad. Now you try.”
I did. And it was scary, exhilarating, and one of the most important lessons of my life.
Decades later I learned that my uncle had never jumped off a diving board before. He was terrified and his “namaste” pose wasn’t a type of dive — it was a prayer. He didn’t hesitate though. It is fundamental to who he is — he would rather see me be brave than succumb to his own fear.
Two years ago, I wrote about my dad’s 50th anniversary of arriving in the United States. It is a romantic tale of a turbaned king walking the streets of New York City and passing that legacy on to his children and grandchildren. Two years after my dad arrived, my uncle joined his older brother. The two engineers left a visible mark on the city and the world with their incredible work and deep relationships.
Today we celebrate my uncle’s 50th anniversary of arriving in the United States. He is an amazing brother, uncle, father, husband, and grandfather. And above all, an incredible American.
I often wonder if other immigrant families celebrate their American origin story the way we do. Is it just an Indian American thing? Just a Bhatia thing? My family memorializes the dates our parents arrived in the U.S., and we tell our children and grandchildren epic tales of their arrival.
I wish all new immigrant families can have that same experience. Unfortunately, with all the hate and division in our country right now, I fear that the American dream my family experienced has faded for others. Many people feel frozen, like I did on the diving board that day. Do they jump in and embrace the full potential of what our country can be? Or will they climb back down the ladder, leaving us all humiliated?
I hope they choose to be brave. My uncle is an example of the many great Americans who chose to be brave in the face of racism, poverty, and uncertainty. These great Americans chose love over hate. They chose inclusion over exclusion. They chose togetherness over division. They chose opportunity over regret. They chose America.
Happy 50 years in the USA to my Chachu, Hardeep Bhatia.
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