Motivation

QUOTES

"You can't get away from yourself by moving from one place to another." — Ernest Hemingway

"Find what you love and let it kill you." — Kinky Friedman

"Every man's work is always a portrait of himself." — Samuel Butler

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PHOTO

Me outside a 7-Eleven in Woodstock, Ontario—visiting a friend. Just a regular moment. But nothing about my life has been regular.

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VAN TRINH — VIETNAM ORIGINS

I was born on June 14, 1985, in the rice fields of Vietnam. Our family was very poor, as the country was still recovering from the war. There was a massive food shortage, and sometimes we went days without access to meat.

In 1988, when Mom was pregnant with her third son, Dad—being the risk‑taker that he is—decided to take a chance at escaping a war‑torn country in search of a better future. After hearing through the grapevine that America was accepting refugees, he pooled money with a dozen friends and bought a 20‑foot fishing boat.

The only memory I have of this place was when Mom took me to a small shack in the middle of a rice field. We knocked on the door and told a very old lady that we were leaving and we might never see her again. I later asked Mom about this. She said she didn't remember because she had told no one except close family. This was my oldest memory, and I have no idea where it came from.

Imagine having to tell your family and friends that you were leaving everyone and everything you've ever known to travel to unknown lands, in the hopes that the grass is greener on the other side. Approximately 500,000 Vietnamese refugees died at sea—half of the people who embarked on this journey.

It was in the middle of the night. We had packed enough food and water for the trip. At the very last moment, our family decided that my uncle—who was a troublemaker and wasn't doing anything with his life—would join us and take a chance at turning his life around.

We uncovered the boat buried underneath some trees, then off we went. The trip was gruesome, and Mom was very sick while pregnant. We ran out of food and had to land on shores to steal from locals, usually in the middle of the night so we wouldn't be detected.

After three months at sea, the boat was leaking badly, so we decided to land on the shores of Hong Kong and swam the final few meters. We had finally made it. As soon as we touched land, everyone was taken into refugee camps, where Mom and Dad lied about their age to be better suited for work on foreign land.

Read the full story in my Linktree. Link in bio.

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QUESTION OF THE DAY

What's the first scar you remember? Physical or otherwise. Drop it in the comments.

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www.linktr.ee/vand85
#OblCollective #HamOnt #Quotes #Motivation
— Van Trinh | August 18, 2026