12/08/2008

Wisdom of a Immigrant Businessman: A Money Blog.

It's funny.. sometimes looking the eyes of an immigrant changes the entire perspective of all things....  especially money.

Last year my father, a Chinese immigrated, retired small businessman, went for a holiday tour of the country from which he was born.  Upon his return, I asked him if he ever wanted to move back there and spend the rest of his retirement years there. 

He replies in his broken English tone of voice as if I was being facetious:  

 " Are you crazy?? Too many people!! This is the land of money! There's money all over the place!  Why would I go back?  People have so much food here, they get so fat, waste so much! "  

"Money all over the place?!?" I ask, "Where?"  He replies "Right in front of you!"

  
So I'm thinking, here I am, working day in and out in the oil patch, eking out what I can to provide a standard of living above par for my family and my crazy dad is telling me there's money right in front of me!

He carries on:
  " That's the trouble with you Canadian-born.. All you Canadians do is close your eyes and smile and figure someone is going to give you all that money...  it's not that easy son...  All I see is the money is everywhere.. all you have to do is open your eyes and look for it! " 

Point taken.  Opportunity does exist even in these times of economic peril.

No comments: