Pop was only 14 years old in 1932 when he was cast off his
family island and told to fend for himself. Now that America is headed down that same
road again, I would like to share how Pop not only survived but earned his
place as a standing member of that Greatest Generation.
Pop could spin a story with the best of them, but I never got that
interested until I faced a job
loss in the midst of the Carter Recession. It wouldn't have been that bad for
me alone but I had a wife and two young children to support. What's worse is
that my job loss was of my own doing and therefore I was not eligible to
collect unemployment benefits
nor would it be easy to find another job in the same profession. You see, I was
a high school teacher suffering burn-out so bad that the thought of going back to school left me in a
state of depression. With little useful business experience to show prospective
employers and unable to collect unemployment benefits I stayed awake many nights
worried sick. Pop assured me that we could move in with him and mom if worse
came to worse, but I could tell that he dreaded that possibility more than I
did. That's when I began to pay close attention to the hidden value in the stories he would tell
me. In a subtle way he conveyed five important survival skills that got me
through hard times then and still do today: 1. "In God We Trust" appears on our currency for a reason: Trust in God--not the Government
2. Be humble enough to accept help from any friend or stranger willing to give you a hand up.
3. Learn from everything you do--even if it does not appear to have value at the present time.
4. Be flexible in your goals but never bend your principles to achieve them
5. Give back whenever you can and in any way you can.
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