Page 22 - letmetellyou

MyFirstJob
IbeganmyworkiingcareerwhenIwassevenyearsolldand,, ffor young scoffffers,, I have a newspaper arttiiclle tto prove iitt.. Aboutt a year beffore tthe ffarm was solld,, my motther deciided tthatt my ollder brotther was ready tto gett a jjob.. He was ttwellve years olld att tthe ttiime.. Afftter alll,, she and her siistters began workiing regullarlly iin her motther’’s roomiing house att tthatt age and,, unlliike ttoday,, European iimmiigranttsraiisedttheiirchiilldrenttobecomeproducttiiveattanearlly age,, so tthatt tthey coulld lleave tthe home and entter tthe work fforce as soon as tthey became adulltts.. Att lleastt tthatt iis whatt my motther belliieved;; and I can’’tt hellp conttrasttiing tthiis wiitth our chiilld-centtered culltture ttoday where tthe recenttlly passed healltth care llaw consiiders ttwentty siix year ollds elliigiiblle ffor ttheiir parentts’’ healltth care iinsurance.. In any eventt,, my ollder brotther and I wallked tto tthe nearestt gollff course whiich was aboutt ffour miilles away "as tthe crow fflliies".. We ttook tthe shortt-cutt tthrough tthe ffiiellds..
My ffatther had been a caddy as a kiid;; tthen a caddy-mastter;; and tthen a gollff pro unttiill tthe Depressiion allso ended tthatt career.. He was a natturall atthllette and became an accomplliished gollffer wiinniing tthe Tolledo Publliic Liinks Champiionshiip iin 1949 as welll as otther llocall publliic lliinks’’ ttournamentts.. In tthose days,, priivatte cllub members and publliic lliinks pllayers rarelly competted,, a holld-over ffrom tthe cllass diisttiincttiion iinheriitted ffrom tthe Briittiish Islles ffrom whence tthe game off gollff oriigiinatted.. Thiis diisttiincttiion was graduallly elliimiinatted as caddiies,, members allmostt excllusiivelly off ttheworkiingcllass,,proviidedtthecllubprosffortthecounttrycllubsand,, eventtuallly,, tthe bestt gollffers ffor tthe game.. As wiitth tthe breakiing off tthe "collor lliine" iin proffessiionall baseballl duriing tthiis same era,, Ameriica coulld nott preserve systtems whiich deniied tthe ttallentted equall opporttuniittiies tto compette regardlless off cllass or race.. Whiille tthiis compettiittiive spiiriitt became tthe halllmark off Ameriica tto tthe restt off tthe worlld and more tthan any otther siinglle ffacttor,, iin my opiiniion,, drew tthe worlld’’s ttallentted tto our shores,, iitt iis under dangerous assaulltt ttoday.. Today,, consciiouslly or unconsciiouslly,, our culltture,, whiille payiing lliip-serviice tto tthiis uniique culltturall heriittage,, has ffosttered atttiittudes and adoptted programs and even llaws whiich produce mediiocriitty ratther tthan excelllence iin tthe miisguiided pursuiitt off equalliitty ffor alll.. Thatt we Ameriicans belliieve tthatt "Alll men are creatted equall" does nott requiire tthatt every kiid be iinclluded iin tthe game and pllay and tthatt every kiid receiive a ttrophy and tthatt every
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