When my dad came to America in 1957, he could not have imagined what lay in store for him. Imagine for a second the hope that was in his heart as he rode that ferry boat across to Key West, and got on a Greyhound bus to head to Austin, Texas to begin working, washing dishes, making 50 cents an hour, coming to the one land on earth that has welcomed so many millions. And then at age 18, he flees Cuba, he comes to America. This boy at age 17 finds himself thrown in prison, finds himself tortured, beaten. He joins a revolution against Batista, he begins fighting with other teenagers to free Cuba from the dictator. The dictator, Batista, was corrupt, he was oppressive. Involved in student council, and yet Cuba was not at a peaceful time. Imagine a teenage boy, not much younger than many of you here today, growing up in Cuba. In 1956, my mom, Eleanor, graduated from Rice University with a degree in math and became a pioneering computer programmer in the 1950s and 1960s. She had a difficult father, a man who drank far too much, and frankly didn’t think that women should be educated.Īnd yet this young girl, pretty and shy, was driven, was bright, was inquisitive, and she became the first person in her family ever to go to college. She grew up with dozens of cousins because her mom was the second youngest of 17 kids. Imagine a little girl growing up in Wilmington, Delaware during World War II, the daughter of Irish and Italian Catholic family, working class. Imagine your parents when they were children. Today I want to talk with you about the promise of America. I am thrilled to join you today at the largest Christian university in the world.
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