To Victoria Liu, being American is driving down a long stretch of road, Route 66 style. Its blacktop with yellow dotted lines calls her name and the wind swims around her in a beat-up old van.
Being American is nibbling down on some corn on the cob and mashed potatoes while her friends in the background sing her a version of “Paparazzi” by Lady Gaga.
Liu was born and raised American in Roanoke, Va. She had a younger brother, two parents and friends — the only difference was her background.
Liu’s father grew up in Hong Kong, and that has changed who she is and how her life is diverse.
Her parents are from two completely different places with two completely different backgrounds but their one similarity? How they grew up. Both of Liu’s parents had what could be considered a hard life, she said.
Siuying Liu was growing up in an orphanage while Rebecca Liu, a Caucasian from Roanoke, was experiencing a troubled home life that included the worse kind of neglect and poverty.
"Compassion," Liu said when asked what her parents' childhoods had taught her.
In the summer of eighth grade, Liu's parents provided the opportunity for her to travel to Paris with E.F. Tours, where students across the country go to exotic places. With almost 40 other students accompanying her, Liu traveled to Paris, a place that her parents never had the chance to visit at her young age.
As a child, Rebecca Liu told her daughter that in her day, the only jobs that women could get was as a librarian, a teacher, a nurse or a stay-at-home mother. She described the feeling of being given a once in a lifetime opportunity as a sense of appreciation.
It was "a moment," Liu described, "gradual maturity" to realize how lucky she was to do so much in her life that her parents had not been able to do in theirs.
Liu can’t say she knows what it is like to grow up in such a difficult manner, but she knows what it is like to be loved and proud to be a true American.
Liu has always considered herself American, first and foremost, she said. Despite the fact that she has experienced Chinese culture through gifts and food, she has always regretted not having been more immersed in what her father has brought into her life, she said.
“Being American gives you a sense of freedom,” said Liu.
She explained that in the Chinese culture, children experience only what their parents want, whereas in America, children are able to explore their own likes and dislikes for themselves.
The sense of justice and pride are among her feelings of the American heritage that she shares with millions of others, and she remains proud to be an American.
