Thursday, October 13, 2011

Email: My story and beliefs.

Fellow American,

I think it is awesome that at your age you have the courage to stand up for what you believe in. More teens and adults need to be like you and voice their opinions, then maybe the Wall Street protesters will realize that they are in fact part of the minority. That being said, I would like to share my story and beliefs with you.

My dad is the son of a WWII vet who later became a manager of a local retail store. His mother was a stay-at-home mom and, sadly died of leukemia when he was just a teenager. Growing up, my dad didn't have much except for good friends and the love of his brothers and father. He put himself through college by working multiple retail jobs and taking on a loan. At the age of 25, my dad married my mother and they had my brother, who is the first of four children in my family. My mother, who also put herself through school, gave up her job as a nurse so she could be a stay-at-home mother and tend to us four kids. My parents are the 53%.

As the four of us kids were getting older, my dad thought it would be a good idea to invest in a pre-paid college fund, so we would not have to take on expensive loans as he did. He sacrificed a lot for us and ended up being able to fully pay for all four of us to attend major state universities. Please don't think that my dad being responsible and mapping out a financial plan for our educations makes us spoiled. He still expected us to get jobs and live within our means while getting our educations. While many of my peers in high school had their first cars purchased by their parents for them, I had to start working at the age of 16 so I could save up enough money to get my own and pay for the insurance. I purchased a brand new car, with a loan, and after 5 years the car was paid off and the title was mine. After purchasing my car I began to save a significant part of my income to prepare myself for life while attending college. 
The guy who said that hindsight is 20/20 when choosing a college major is full of shit. When I was trying to decide what to study for school, I did my homework and looked at what is a current job that is in high demand, pays well, and is interesting to me. I am currently attending the University of Florida to be a Physician's Assistant.

The point of my story is: my dad taught the four of us the value of hard work, to research things before we make decisions, and how to be fiscally responsible for ourselves while working a low-wage job. The bra-burning hippies of the Occupy Wall Street who are demanding income equality are against everything which made America the most successful nation to ever exist. In this country, you need to work hard to earn a good living and the respect of others. Financial stability is earned through hard work, not taken from the affluent (who also worked hard to get where they are at). If you fail at something, it is no one's fault but your own; pick yourself up, dust yourself off, and reinvent yourself. Doing the absolute minimum to get by and thinking you are still equal to everyone else is called Communism, and it fails every time for a reason. To all of you lazy hippies occupying Wall Street: go home, for God's sake take a shower, submit job applications to everywhere within walking distance of your house, and for once in your life BE RESPONSIBLE FOR YOURSELF.

Thank you and God bless,
One of the 53%