He learned to work 12 hour days, he learned to work fryers and cook meat in 110 degree summers, and he marveled at how his dad seemed able to do it day in and day out, week after week for years. He learned by working with his family and others that triumph really could be wrestled from seemingly hopeless situations, that working hard really can lead to success, and that as long as there is a hard working kid with a goal for something better, the American Dream endures. He learned from his grandfather the regret of not taking education seriously, of not taking every opportunity to work with his brains and not his back, and felt a commitment to the family that had worked so hard for so long to take every chance he could to reach the next level. He even eventually found his way to college. He got there by the hard work of his family, by the dedication of a great-grandfather, grandfather, and father that succeeded when government wasn t there to save them, when neither sociology nor socialism were there to save them, an amazing work ethic, faith, dedication, and self taught skills the only tools at their disposal.
Life is a journey, and the quest for success can be long, multigenerational one.
The beauty of the American life is that it leaves of free to take that first step. It might not provide us with a car to make the trip any smoother, but it does provide us the road to get where we re going. It doesn t promise ease, it doesn t always lend itself to comfort, but this is a nation founded by pioneers and built my men willing to take a chance. It s a society that sets challenges before us instead of dragging us down the socioeconomic scale by redistributing our wealth, a society that encourages us to dream, leaves us free to try, and inspires us to succeed. The possibility of economic failure is an ever present one, but is the price we pay for the enormous freedom we have to succeed.