This past week, as I have done for the last 40 years, I watched all the political Sunday morning shows on television. As a matter of routine, I find these morning commentaries on the local TV channels i.e. ABC’s This Week; NBC’s Meet The Press, CBS’s Face the Nation and CNN etc. very interesting due to the fact, that they offer many different points of view on the state of our nation. So, when it pertains to current events and the pressing issues of the day, I consider myself fairly informed. A big issue that I often hear is the countless programs created and available for those who do not work and who look to the government for assistance often times, at the expense of working Americans and senior citizens.
I have a simple solution for those who still think that this country can do for them what they can do for themselves and that is to “WORK” and become self-sufficient. I am sick and tired of people finding excuses for everything that is wrong in their lives and then looking to the government for a handout. As Ronald Reagan said many years ago said,
“. Government is not the solution, government is the problem.”
Some years in one of the local newspapers in Delaware County, Pennsylvania, the question of “what was one’s political affiliation and how one's belief system was formed” was asked. I was one of many who offered an answer to the question. In the most concise way, this is what I said then,
“I have come a long way since the days when I lived
In Italy under the cloud of a 12-party system with
Communism and socialism on one side and the Social
Democrats on the other. Today, I define myself a
Conservative republican in the mold of Barry Goldwater
and Ronald Reagan. My political philosophy is one in
which the individual can exert the maximum amount of
freedom within the legal confines of the law. I became a
Republican because I recognized that of the two major
Political parties, the republicans offered the best hope
for the future of this country and the future of
mankind on earth. Less government is better
than more government because what has made America
great for over two centuries is personal initiative and
motivation--to do for oneself what the government cannot
do for you.”
I am by far, the best example for this kind of reasoning: Forty-five years ago, immediately after graduating high school, it was my intention to attend Drexel University to become an architect, a love that I had nurtured when I attended my first university in my native Sicily. I happily took the college boards and was later shocked (not really) to discover that I did not receive the appropriate college boards score to enter full-time college. I was denied entrance to Drexel University due to my lack of language skills. I had been in the United States for only 5 years so I was still struggling speaking and understanding the English language. So, what did I do? Did I get mad at the system because I was unable to pursue my dream? Did I demand a retest in my native Italian language? No, I did none of those things instead, I went back to work in the same grocery store that I had worked during my high school days when I had saved $3000 in the 4-years of high school. A few years later, I used the same $3000 to purchase a business and worked in that business for 18 years making a very good living for my family that also included my aging parents.
I successfully retired from my business at age 38 because among other things, I had exhausted the satisfaction level my current job was giving me. More importantly, I had never lost my desire to get that elusive college degree. In fact, even while in business, I attended night classes at St. Joseph University during the 1970's. And so at the ripe old age of 38, I enrolled in college full-time hoping to attain my dream. Finally, in 1991, I received my Bachelors Degree in Economics and Business Administration. Two years later, I received my Masters in Philosophy (my first love) from West Chester University. At last, I had achieved my American dream, an education and a working career. I had achieved what I believed at the time, was and still is the pinnacle of my life. I did enjoy my lucrative business for 18 years but it was the elusive degree that I always aimed for and finally achieved due to my persistence and years of hard work.
Since my early retirement and in the intermittent time, I have had more than a few different temporary and part–time jobs i.e. Day-Trader, US Customs Inspector, Lab Technician, volunteering, mentoring, teaching my Italian language and my favorite past time, Bridge etc. But one thing, I will say, if anyone wants to make it in America, the answer is a simple one, "WORK!” give to the country that has given you so much. If one door closes, open another. Do not look to the government and yell, "unfair"; I do not speak the language. Don’t expect the rules to change for one’s accommodation. A person’s dream should not be handed to anyone it should be earned.
And if this boy from poverty-ridden Sicily can do it, so can anyone who is fortunate enough to be born and raised in America because all of us are living in the best country on the face of the earth--the United States of America; the country my father called, “The Land of Opportunity.”
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