One hundred years ago, my Swedish and Finnish ancestors arrived in the United States. In the old countries, they were poor tenant farmers, but in America, they gave up farming and learned new skills. Within a generation or two, their children were planted solidly in the middle class.
In my reading this week, I learned that the American focus on individualism can make us prone to think we arrive at our current successes on our own. We can easily take pride in our personal efforts, taking for granted the sacrifices of parents and ancestors, including the homes, neighborhoods, and schools they created. There are daily and hourly sacrifices parents make for their children, but there are those in our ancestry whose sacrifices were just enormous. Many made the drastic move from all they knew: language, culture, livelihood, and family, to plant their family firmly in a higher class. To be upwardly mobile in class is an astounding feat, no matter when it takes place. Our family still claims blessings from this shift. It is a remarkable gift.
