I spent the first seven years of my life in a small Vietnamese town named Vung Tao. It is a community of closely bonded people who shared beliefs and ideas. We based our view of America mainly on letters from our relatives. To our community, America was a land of freedom and opportunity and also a land of great wealth. It seemed that there was paradise on Earth, after all. America was a country where no one goes hungry, everyone has wealth, and people live in harmony with each other. I know that this is a myth, yet I continue to perpetuate it. In our small town, whenever a family got a letter from a relative in America, the letter was shared with everyone. In these letters, our relatives told us only about how good life was for them. They would mention their successes and not their problems, so that we would not worry. By revealing only the good aspects of their lives, they protected us, but as a result, our view of America was shaped falsely. Since arriving in America, I have come to understand that what was instilled in me as a child was a myth. I see that America is not only a country of wealth and riches but also a country of homelessness and poverty. Yet when I write back to Vietnam, it is of the successes in America. I know that I am helping to create for my people the same false ideas of America that I had as a child, but I think they are necessary. My people have a need for dreams. I want them to live each day knowing that there could be something better for them. I do what I can to make sure that they do not lose their dreams.