Our parents are not rich people. But growing up, they never made us feel like we were lacking. I couldn’t remember a time when our parents said, “We can’t do that because we are not rich” or “We can’t buy that because we don’t have money.”

Maybe there were times our parents said these things to each other. Perhaps we were too young to remember. Perhaps we never heard. Perhaps there were moments of doubts, fears and scarcity.

And perhaps these moments were plenty. But they never, ever, told us or made us feel that we can’t pursue anything we want or become anyone we want during those formative years.

Our parents are not rich people. But growing up, they never made us feel like we can’t pursue the courses we wanted or even the universities of our choice.

When I was younger, I was unfamiliar with all the sacrifices our parents endured to put us through school. They never told us, at least explicitly. But that doesn’t mean that I didn’t appreciate every single drop of sweat or every sleepless night they had to go through just so we can all graduate in time.

Our parents are not rich people. But they have so much more than just material wealth. They have family and friends wherever they go.

Our parents are not rich people. But they never pretend to be someone they are not and they don’t use other people to get what they want. They may not be rich but they are blessed, in the truest sense of the word. And they gave their children one of the most precious gifts anyone could ever have—choices.