Originally posted by nuevobilly
As I have said before the family farm, taken from us around 1985, Feed people like you.
So could you take my noneducation and do as well as I do.
I had to think about this.
First I came from a poor family. My Father from Ranchers and my Mother from Farmers. My Father died when I was 15 and we lost our farm. I went to work
at a truckstop at 15 and worked my way through a Bachelors Degree by working graveyard shift and going to school in the daytime.
(We had fruit orchards and my Father was a Construction Welder so I did all the work on the Farm most times. By the age of 10 I handled the
irrigation, pruning and picking the fruit. I pulled so many weeds I still have knobs on my knees.)
I then worked construction because there was no work then like there is now. I worked Industrial in the armpits of the universe, like the high Wyoming
desert, mid-winter at 30 below zero. Why, because it fed my new family and it paid well. I did not get to go home often, but you do what you have too
to feed the family.
Between those jobs, where I managed to finish an Industrial Electricians apprenticeship, I would Roughneck on the oil rigs. Work sucked but it paid
OK. At the time it was said to be the most dangerous job even trumping Fire Fighters for fatalities.
I went back to school and learned marketing and how to run a business while working whatever I could find. My current Wife and I started a business
with $190 and an old Ford Galaxy. We worked 6 days a week 9AM to 9PM so we could make payroll. At first it was a struggle but it got better and better
because instead of whining we worked our asses off.
Now we enjoy a trip to Florida every winter for a little sun and we are comfortable. We never forgot poverty. My Wife was also raised dirt poor on a
farm in North Dakota. We never sat around an blamed others or the system.
I now employ and support a half dozen people and their families. They all make a decent wage. I may not be wealthy, but I'm happy and fulfilled. I
won't lie, I suffered along the way, but I never gave up and sat around trying to survive where there was no work. I changed with the times. 10 years
ago I could not even use a computer, now I earn thousands extra a year just by doing little desktop publishing projects for others. My business is at
the point it runs itself pretty much.
Your veiled attack on me was uncalled for. I made my way in this world the hard way. I earned the right to criticize as did you it seems. I've seen
others suffer because they got it into their heads they had to live in the same place their whole lives. Lots of farms and ranches in my family.
My Father was youngest of 11 and my Mother youngest of 12, brought up through the Depression. Some of my Aunts and Uncles lost there farms because
they could not seem to comprehend the farms were no longer viable. The ones who sold made millions while the stubborn ones went bankrupt. I've seen
it all. At one time my Fathers and Mothers families combined had litterally millions of acres of misery and heartache called land. Like I said, the
smart ones sold out and moved on.
