There's joy and sorrow in coming home

These past two weeks were great for my wife Jakyung and I. Living in Asia for almost eight months now, coming back to the U.S. for our home leave was just what the doctor ordered. We have traveled throughout Japan, which has many splendid small cities and natural areas to explore, enjoyed Korea with its warm and friendly people, and vacationed in the Malaysian side of Borneo, which was simply spectacular. But coming back to visit friends and family in Washington, D.C., New York City, and Youngstown reminded me that the personal freedoms and liberties that people in the U.S. enjoy (and take for granted) is something to be cherished. I now believe that such freedom not only makes the U.S. a more enjoyable place to live, but causes America to stay strong when the country faces adversity. I think a few stories from our trip are the best way to explain this:
At the half-way point of our journey, Sunday morning found me at a local Laundromat in Astoria, one of the more diverse neighborhoods in Queens. An old television in the shop was showing Meet the Press, with John Kerry the guest. Watching and discussing with me was the Chinese-American owner, a young Latino couple, and some lady who by appearance could have been from Utah, but her accent seemed more like the Ukraine. Only in America can this happen. If this isn't a reason why there should be proper allowances for society-contributing foreigners to immigrate into the country, I don't know what is. This strength of this country has been based on the sweat equity of immigrants, and if there are two cities that should know this, its New York and Youngstown.
The second week of our visit was thrown off track, as I had lost my passport. Now the double whammy is that not only could I not leave the country, but I could not re-enter Japan, as my work visa was attached to the passport. After an emergency trip to Washington, within four hours after applying I had a new U.S. passport. However, the Japan embassy was a nightmare, with a junior staffer telling me it would be two weeks minimum before I could get a new visa. It was only by the efforts of my office in Tokyo that I could re-enter Japan. I found success on the U.S. side because there were people at the U.S. passport agency that listened, thought out-of-the box, and sought a solution. Our government can work, and as with any organization, it's the people on the front lines that make the difference.
My wife and I, on many occasions in our trip, had people walk up to us and start spontaneous conversations. This doesn't happen in very many places outside these borders. At the U.S. Passport agency I stood in line next to a man who has worked seven-day weeks since Hurricane Katrina educating low-income homeowners in that region on their rights regarding flood insurance. We discussed their problems and how his agency is working for a solution. It is in the psyche of Americans to communicate with others. This doesn't happen in many countries. We have noticed a sterile nature to life in Tokyo, and this lack of interpersonal communication is the primary reason. Communication breeds ideas and debate.
While other stories were equally as good, there was one conversation that saddened me while visiting relatives at home. My cousins are the proprietors of a successful downtown business, Youngstown Plant & amp; Flower. They have been downtown for well over 50 years, providing florists, decorators, and churches with flowers of all colors and cuts. They have been in the business as long as they have because they treat their customers with care and respect. Now I wish I could say that the local government has done the same to them. Their property is in one of the locations that YSU is targeting for its expansion plans. The lack of communication from YSU and the city with YP & amp;F makes my cousin fear that eminent domain is in the works. I am sure "they" will offer my cousins some book value of the property, which is based on the location being in a depressed urban environment, and not take into account the replacement cost of moving to a new location, and re-constructing coolers that are embedded in the current building.
The irony of it
First, doesn't anybody find it ironic that the university wants to build a new school of business administration, a hall that teaches the tools and ideals of our free-market society, by subjecting a long-standing profitable small business to a mandatory relocation and not properly compensating them for it? While the growth of YSU is in the Valley's best interest, having Lenin teaching a course in enterprise valuation isn't.
Second and lastly, what saddens me that this whole process hurts a business founded by immigrant families, involves no out-of-box thinking from the front-line people that claim to be community leaders, and has had no real communication with the parties being affected. That is the antithesis of my America, and it is something I expect to see from lesser people from lesser lands.
Planey, a Youngstown native, lives in Tokyo and works in business development with U.S. clients of the Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi Trust Company.