It is inspiring how some parents strive hard to create a life for their children that they could never have. From providing the best education to supporting them in turning their dream into reality, some parents are the real heroes that we need to applaud as a society!
We are surrounded by such real heroes, who are ready to stretch themselves to the new limits so that their kids can scale new heights. From PV Sindhu’s father who used to get up at 3 am to drive his daughter for 12 hours for her training to the single mother, who is fighting the world for a better future for her daughters, there is no dearth of such heroes.
And, here we are celebrating one such great set of parents, whose sacrifices laid the foundation of their kids’ dreams. We are talking about Akshita Kapasiawala, who recently got appointed at NASA as a system engineer.
In the heartwarming Linkedin post shared by Indiatimes, she mentioned the hardships her parents had to go through to bring her to this stage in life and how she’s immensely grateful for it.
While sharing her inspiring story, she said in the post,
“I came to America 25 years ago from India with my parents. They came to this foreign land with just the clothes on their back and one goal: provide a better life for their children. I grew up watching my dad work 12-15 hours a day to single-handedly support a family of five.”
Further adding how her parents tried to save money wherever they could to make ends meet,
“We never went on family vacations, camping, movies, or even a weekend getaway. If we ever wanted something, we were told “No, it’s too expensive” or “Maybe when it’s on sale.” My mom was a conservative stay-at-home mom who couldn’t speak English and had no friends or family to help her with three children. They both struggled, and they struggled a lot.”
However, this struggle didn’t break her. Rather it made her more appreciative of things that she was gifted with and dream bigger.
“This struggle taught me something. It taught me to appreciate what little we have in life and to never be afraid to dream big. It taught me to take risks. It taught me to be self-motivating. It taught me to be a fighter. Most importantly, it taught me to never allow failure to define who I am.”
She further added,
“Five years ago, I would have laughed at the thought of ever getting a job at NASA. A month ago, I received an offer from Marshall Space Flight Center for an engineer position. In that moment I realized that dreams do come true. Dream hard, and dream big. Don’t let anyone ever tell you otherwise.”
Many readers could relate to her story and came forward to share how they could relate to her parents’ hardship:
After completing Bachelor’s in Science (Mechanical Engineering) From Rutgert’s University, Akshita K worked at the Naval Surface Warfare Centre for two years. Post which, she joined NASA. In NASA, she is responsible for NASA’s Human Landing System which involves working on software extensive work as well as planning and maintenance of the system.
At IFORHER, we are in awe of Akshita and her parents, who struggled hard to make their kids’ a life that they could never have.
In fact, we are proud of all parents who stretch themselves to help their kids scale bigger heights. And, saluting the effort of every good parent, we would like to close with Khalil Gibran’s powerful words:
“Parents are like bows, children, like arrows. The more the bow bends and stretches, the farther the arrow flies. I fly, not because I am special, but because they stretched for me.”
