Well my family name is descended from Sun Tzu, the guy who wrote the Art of War book. My great grandfather on my dad's side was a rich farm owner in China until the Communist Party came and seized all of his assets. Actually they gave him a "choice" for him to either give it up willingly or for him to be imprisoned. I'm told that he simply went to a beach and walked into the ocean to drown himself so at least I know there's a successful suicide in my family history...
After that, my grandfather fled to Taiwan, where he served as an Air Force Pilot in WWII. This allowed him to retire at the age of 24 though he ended up living in poverty in Southern Taiwan in an incredibly rural area. He and my grandma raised six kids, my dad being the third and the only son among five sisters. Growing up in poverty turned my dad into a real hardass. He has no concern for mental health even though if I had to guess he probably actually has aspergers. He married my mom when he was like 37 and had me one year later.
On my mom's side of the family though, her family had been in Taiwan for like the past couple hundred years and they were relatively well off too. Not much trauma there though my mom does regret not meeting with her college boyfriend because he was way nicer to her while my dad was far too emotionally distant.
Sometimes I wonder what if the communists hadn't taken over China. I probably wouldn't have been born but assuming one's soul is tied to the father's Y chromosome, maybe I could have been some rich and spoiled kid living it up in China instead of an Asian American who's unhappy in California despite being surrounded by people who look just like me but don't think like me. What I do know is hopefully I'll be gone before they come for me here with what little I have.
