In an age where millennials struggle with mortgages and the cost of living, it’s easy to romanticize the past.
Today, life is not a stroll through a rose garden. But for the purpose of a reality check, it is worth contrasting our current challenges with those of our ancestors who chose to pursue a brighter future in the New World just over a century ago.
Let’s take a look at what life was like for our ancestors at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries. Countless people in Slovakia, then Upper Hungary, lived in poverty. Their homeland did not offer them a way out of the vicious circle of destitution.
When an opportunity to get rich in America came, countless people heeded the call. This was a chance at a better life for them and their children. But it would not be easy.
The United States really was full of opportunities, but these were not served on a silver platter. The journey itself came at a huge cost—countless aspiring emigrants had to sell houses and land just to afford a steamship ticket. When they stepped off the boat at Ellis Island, the struggle was far from over.
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