“Imagine it, put the hours in, and stay passionate.”
Mahir’s family came to New York for a number of reasons, among them a safer political country, opportunities, and most importantly, a better education. When Mahir reflects back on his education in Bangladesh, he recalls not taking it very seriously and being very laid back: “We would not do classes … [and] just play soccer.” However, the schooling system there was based off of the British system, which Mahir views as superior to that of the United States. Thus, he felt confident in his ability to succeed academically in the U.S.
But his experience did not match his expectations. He immigrated to New York at age 16, in the middle of his high school years. Upon his arrival, he knew that he wanted to take Advanced Placement classes so as to not be stuck in dull and non-challenging ones. However, this was not the case: “That one year after coming to the U.S. was the worst year of my life without a doubt because I was stuck in classes where I already knew the material.” Due to his high school counselor’s inability to understand his Bangladeshi transcript, he was mandated to take lower-leveled classes. As a result, he felt bored and was not being pushed to the greatest extents of his academic potential.
An even greater challenge in his immigration experience was going to high school in a new country, and adjusting to its social scene. At this later stage in high school, many students had already established close-knit friend groups, and it was difficult to find a place with students his age. Mahir recalls being alone, and spending much of his time with his brother; he remembers telling his brother, “Bro I want to go back home,” adding that “home [at that time] for me was Bangladesh.” The stresses of adapting to the different society of the United States imposed a mental stress on Mahir, and for a time he felt a sense of homesickness, longing for a return to the world that he once knew in Bangladesh.
However, when he voiced these concerns to his parents, they’d tell him to “just be patient.” It was the only thing that they could say; there was no other option but forward, because they knew that if they persevered they would achieve the things that they wanted to in their new lives.
So persevere he did. Mahir started to see the fruits of his labor during his challenging first year in the United States: by his second year, he was taking the AP classes that he wanted to, and made several friendships along the way. He notes that his initial struggles in the country were instrumental in making him a more resilient and accepting person. He developed a persevering mentality and a sense of resourcefulness to not only survive but to thrive in America. Mahir also of course largely credits these values to his parents, as their realization that they had to work hard to earn the things that they wanted was what inspired his own.
Life in Bangladesh, as Mahir describes it, was monotonous, with no diversity and poor wages; he even goes as far as to describe it as “horrendous.” Once he arrived in the United States, however, he was amazed by the variety of languages, cultures, and thoughts that he saw amongst its people. Nonetheless, he feels divided in terms of identity between the two homes that he has known. On one hand, he has all of his present and future here in the United States, while on the other he has the sixteen years of his childhood and early life in Bangladesh. As a result, he doesn’t quite consider himself to be an American or Bangladeshi due to the roots that he’s established in both worlds.
In regards to his facing of various perspectives on immigrants, Mahir claims that he’s never felt out of place in United States society by other people, U.S. citizens or otherwise aside from the occasional joke from a friend about being Indian as a generalization. Despite these incidents, Mahir has never felt animosity or prejudice during his time in the United States, and has overall experienced a very welcoming attitude from his peers and neighbors, reminiscent of the Tradition of Hospitality mentioned by Jane Addams. In regards to non-personal sources of cultural influence, Mahir claims that media and the Internet have not significantly changed his thinking post-immigration because those were things that he has always been exposed to. Interestingly, life in the United States has in turn caused him to develop a “mental recognition” of what is right – an empathy that comes from a shared struggle of starting from the bottom.
Mahir is a driven and determined young man, eager to succeed academically in the United States as well as achieve the American Dream that his parents have striven for in their journey to the nation.