20/07/2022
Origin makes a difference!
My father came to Germany at the end of the 60s and worked as a truck driver because he could no longer practice his actual profession as a carpenter. My mother was at home for a long time and later worked as a cleaning lady and in production. What I learned from my Hungarian parents is humility, cohesion and a lot of love. Business contacts, money, private school, university etc. they could not give me.
Again and again I see mail from wonderful people who move and achieve a lot. And when you then look a bit into their family background, you know that their start was much easier. Is that a bad thing? Not at all! I'm happy for them! Very!
In the same way, I would be happy to see celebrations when people have achieved something who didn't have that starting point. And maybe don't achieve quite "as outstanding results" in comparison... but the individual successes are terrific!
I first graduated from Realschule, then did my Fachhochschulreife, completed an apprenticeship as an industrial clerk at Daimler and then started studying. During my studies I went abroad early on, to NYC and Beijing (end of the 90s!)... all financed and organized by myself. At the age of 23 I built up a company in Shanghai for Siemens and managed 14 employees. I achieved a lot and yet always had to do more than others. When I started my own business 11 years ago, I was faced with a completely new beginning. Wife, mother, "migration background" and academic.... When someone tells me today that it makes no difference, it makes me angry. Anyone who has been down this road knows how rocky it is. Knows that it makes a difference, which one may and even must recognize! And it is not so easy to leave the family of origin... my parents still don't quite understand what I'm doing. But that's ok. They love me and I love them. We stick together.
Continue in the comments....
