But there were those of us who followed the example of our parents and grandparents and had a sense of pride, doing a good job - even at a minimum wage job and we had hope for a future that would provide better things. All we needed was an education and a chance to learn through work.
On Sunday you got your butt out of bed and went to Mass.
Those who didn't were on the bad side of my Grandmother for the next week... and no one enjoyed that.
So we got up on Sunday morning headed for Church, received communion (providing we were worthy to do so), stopped at the "Sav-a-minit" to buy the Sunday paper and returned home to the smell of chuck roast cooking for our Sunday dinner.
There were usually 8 to 10 of us and a pretty small roast, but no matter, it always seemed to be just enough.
We weren't always happy, we rarely got what we wanted at Christmas or birthdays, but we didn't burn down our neighborhood or blame anyone else. Somehow we understood that we, each one of us, was the master of our own destiny. If we screwed up, we had to deal with the consequences.
Anger? The only one we could be angry with would be ourselves if we failed. Even so, we got up the next day and tried again.
Failure was a temporary condition that we could work our way out of. The greatest gift in our lives was the example and direction we received from the adults in our lives, our parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, teachers... I thank God every day for that.
This is the attitude that makes this country great. Great post!
What a great story, not unlike my own. We both have the same attitudes thanks to those that raised us right. My parents divorced when I was an infant. My mother, with the help of relatives, raised us till I was 10. My brother and I both became professionals due mainly to a work ethic instilled by our parents and grandparents.
And your story hits on the REAL problem.
The real problem isn't wealth or mental agility, its morals.
There are many not so bright people who have deep grounded moral convictions, who don't get wrapped up into lower living.
A certain portion of our society has done everything it could to remove God from our society, and succeeded, and the results are in evidence from this story. And yet they demand different results from their ways.
The blessings and prosperity that have been on this country are precisely because of the way we have lived in the past. As society steps farther and farther away from Gods precepts, the farther we slip into a third world hell hole.