I was born in the very heart of Europe, full of rich history, culture, and a two-thousand-year-old tradition of feuds, wars, poverty, and human sufferings. As impressive some of the epochs might have been, they were all built on authoritarian, dictatorial, tyrannical systems. No such thing as democracy, personal freedom, or independence ever existed.

With this kind of historical baggage, Europeans don’t comprehend what we call personal freedoms, life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. When I was able to learn what the American soul and the American way of life really mean for the first time, I was moved, excited, encouraged, and motivated. I was instantly attracted to the American Dream and decided this is where I want to live, work, and spend the rest of my life.

From my early childhood, I remember people talking about someone who “made it” in life. These were all folks who somehow managed to escape to America, the country of our dreams, the nation of unlimited opportunities, the place of the unrestricted potential of personal success.

In our vision of the American Dream, America was the only place where a poor, helpless nobody had a chance to become a millionaire. A society where anybody could generate his own fortune with hard work, proper self-discipline, and limitless determination.