Refugee’s Example Is Truly Inspiring

What a wonderful story (“Success Was Ocean Away,” June 12)!

Bang Phi Dang came to our nation from Vietnam when he was 8 years old. A refugee, a stranger in what to him must’ve seemed a strange land. He could neither speak nor understand our language.

Today, he is valedictorian of his high school, has a 4.695 grade-point average, will soon have enough college credits to earn an associate’s degree and plans to continue his advanced work in science and engineering at Caltech. He is 17 years old!

I barely made it through Tustin High School, earning mostly Cs, Ds and an F or two.

At 44 years of age, I’ve never held a job that paid more than $8 an hour. While reading the story of young Mr. Dang, I couldn’t avoid thinking of all the excuses made to myself over these last many years.

Always “because.” I don’t have a good job because. . . . I have little security in life because. . . . I don’t have a wife, kids, a family, own a home because. . . .

This story of Mr. Dang is one of the most inspirational I’ve ever read. It also fills me with a lot of guilt and remorse for I willingly threw away much of my life. Unlike young Dang, I had no determination to succeed.

There are, no doubt, many other Americans who’ve taken my path in life. Parents, if you have teen-age sons or daughters who think school is a joke, a waste of time, a terrible inconvenience--for their sake, let them read my letter. Perhaps it will inspire them. Thank you, Bang Phi Dang, for inspiring me!

FRED J. HERMON

Santa Ana