Unfulfilled dream<\/p>\n
About two decades ago, Ayub Yahya (not his real name) was a
\nrich man by Indonesian standards. He had graduated as an
\neconomist from a prestigious university and his wife held a law
\ndegree. They lived happily in a large house in Jakarta with a
\nvery spacious garden, about 1,000 square meters, and considering
\nthe high price of land, Ayub could certainly be categorized as
\naffluent.<\/p>\n
To top it all, he drove a Mercedes Benz limousine. It goes
\nwithout saying that the family lived in an elite neighborhood.<\/p>\n
However, Ayub had a dream, an American dream, so to speak. He
\nreasoned that, if he could succeed in Indonesia, he could
\nundoubtedly succeed in Uncle Sam's back yard.<\/p>\n
With his university degree and his fluent English, plus a
\nlarge amount of U.S. dollars at his disposal, by disposing of all
\nhis possession in Indonesia, he was confident that even in the
\nUnited States he would not have any trouble in making a living.<\/p>\n
As the first step toward accomplishing his dream, he sold all
\nhis possessions including his comfortable Mercedes and migrated
\nto America. His three daughters were enrolled at a prestigious
\nschool and having a sizable amount of dollars he easily bought a
\nhome. So far so good! His dream had come true.<\/p>\n
But when he tried to secure a respectable white-collar job in
\none of the large companies as befitted a man with a university
\ndegree, his dream proved empty. He sent hundreds of application
\nletters to prestigious companies, but they were all in vain.<\/p>\n
When his dollars began to dwindle rapidly, he and his wife
\ndecided to do something to make a living. They opened a laundry
\nshop in Los Angeles and although it meant hard work from sun-up
\nto sun-down, the family business flourished according to plan.
\nThey could smile again.<\/p>\n
A few months passed until one fine day, Ayub woke in the
\nmorning to find a new Korean laundry shop had opened in the same
\nstreet. Trouble started again. All his customers preferred to
\nhave their washing laundered by the Korean competitor and they
\nworked more efficiently, more professionally and, after all, the
\ncharges were lower.<\/p>\n
After a while, Yahya had to sell his laundry shop and other
\nassets and return to Jakarta. It was not hard to imagine that
\nthey then began their life from scratch. Fortunately his wife
\nmanaged to find a well-paid job to further finance their three
\nkids who were still studying in the States.<\/p>\n
A lesson to be drawn from this is that a bird in the hand is
\nworth two in the bush.<\/p>\n
A. DJUANA<\/p>\n
Jakarta<\/p>", "url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/unfulfilled-dream-1447893297", "image": "" }, "sponsor": "Okusi Associates", "sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com" }