05.10.08
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Email ThisParents are doing a disservice to their children by telling them they can be anything they want to be without adding in ‘if you’re willing to work for it’. The best way to achieve a goal of any sort is to set plan, similar to a feasibility study […]
2 Responses to “The Greatest Lie Our Parents Told Us”
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Never got that from my parents or grandparents, and their personal histories are why.
Grandfather came to Hawaii at the turn of the 1900s to work in the sugar cane fields as an 11 yr old orphan. He eventually opened a grocery store on the mainland, raised 7 children and sent them all to college.
Dad was the top graduate in his law school class and was looking at a bright future as a lawyer, when the Japanese Internment wrecked his career plans and life. Even after coming back from Europe with 3 Purple Hearts and 2 Silver Stars, he was prevented from taking the bar exam, because the government had revoked his citizenship. He went on to open a small electronics store and grew it into a thriving electronics business. I’m sure he must have been privately bitter, because many of his fellow law students became judges and partners in big law firms soon after the war. But he never complained, and just kept working his business.
The lessons that they passed on were:
1) Hard work is what drives ambition
2) Whine when you really have something to whine about.
3) Everyone has a plateau of achievement
4) Some things will be ever permanently out of reach. Don’t worry about them, but accomplish what you can.
5) Reality punches everyone in the mouth sooner or later
6) Paying your dues is actually learning from those who know and have done more
7) Just because you think you deserve something doesn’t mean the rest of us agree with you.
I was in a similar boat growing up. My grandparents raised me most of my life and they raised me the way that they were raised in the 1920’s with a sense of gratitude for the little things and strong work ethics. A majority of my “inspiration” for blogging comes from not understanding my generation.
My grandparents taught me
1. Coddling is reserved for those being breast-fed.
2. This year was better then last year but isn’t as good as next year (they were farmers)
3. Sometimes to stand on your own two feet you need help.
4. Everything is better when you earn it.
5. Older people built our country.
6. A wise man learns from the mistakes of others, a fool from his own.