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They are told that here fortunes await many and the rest can quickly go on relief

Then, there were the proud, who would take whatever job existed, to take care of their families.

My mother was one of those proud ones, who I remember saying to her 4 children (including me), that she would never take welfare or any kind of public assistance. She did so for many years, working at several "factorias" as a seamstress and stuffed animals maker. She worked hard, and we could all see the pain in her body every time she came home in the late afternoons. We grew up poor, knowing that accepting some public assistance would have helped us live a bit better life. But, NO!!!, her pride was more important to her, and she made sure that we too learned what that pride was about. My sneakers had to last me one whole school year, even with holes in them everywhere, including no soles. It was embarrassing, but I learned to appreciate the lessons my mother impacted on all her kids.

None of her kids ever went on any kind of public assistance, unless one wants to classify social security as a handout.

We all ended up as middle-class workers and we all ended up with our own homes, and now, our own kids have a much better future than my mother's kids. The lessons we all learned from our mother, is being passed on to our kids.

I'm a very proud American. I'm also proud of my Puerto Rican heritage. My biggest source of pride is still my mother, who left us in 2014, but her memory and ideals are still with her kids and grand-kids.

Gracias! Stories like this are many, including my own dad’s who told us when we gave up on Jamaica-Queens after only six months: “I’d rather be poor in Puerto Rico than on welfare here”. This was the early seventies and he couldn’t find a job over there, even as a skilled tradesman. So we chose to eek out a living back on the island until the situation improved in the 80s.

God Bless your mom.