Legacy of Dreams by Lisa Takeuchi Cullen

Which of the many examples included in this essay had the most persuasive impact on you? Was the content or the presentation of material more important? Do you think that family businesses can help a family develop deeper relationship and to prosper?

I found the story of Peter Kim, which opened the article, to be the most persuasive. When this article opens talking about Peter Kim, he is a college student, my age, just kicking back on a spring morning. Then he got a wake up call, almost literally, from his day saying "The company's got problems. Everybody's got to help out" (Cullen 76) which caused him to actually realized what he was going to do with his life. This was the most persuasive because he was my age, and at the end of the article when Peter Kim talked about driving down the highway and the realization what is father had built hit him. He said: "Then it hit me: You are such a coward. My parents and that whole generation come to this country with nothing- like, a suitcase, and maybe, what, a couple hundred bucks?... They don't know the language, they don't know the culture. They can't even find a bathroom. They know nothing and can build this. It was almost like somebody took a frying pan and smacked me on the head..."(Cullen 82). He was right. It is hard to realize everything that your parents have done in their lives, and for you, until you are put into that position and forced to do it yourself.

I don't think I found this specific part of the article more persuasive because the content was more important or anything like that. I think it was more persuasive because I found it more relatable. Peter Kim was my age when he had to face reality, when he had to grow up and use what he was in college for to help his family.

A family business can help a family form deeper relationships and prosper. Although it can be difficult on them at times, it can drive the children nuts because they don't get to go out like everyone else because they have to work, and it can strain the relationships, it also makes them stronger. The family goes through the difficult times together and they work through it together. It gives them common ground and something that they all worked together on to make successful. The family business becomes something that they are all proud of and can be made into a family heirloom of sorts. There are so many families who are swept up by the chaos of recent times, where no one is home at the same time, and car rides to the soccer field become the most time spent together. These families are blessed with being able to spend time with each other.