Hi,
"The race goes to the swift, I s'pose,
or else the slow and steady,
or else the passionate, or those
who bothered to get ready,
or ones who coached themselves, or those
meticulously mentored.
But every single time it goes
to somebody who entered."
-- Jeff Mallet 2003
So, no. Not everyone who tries makes it. But it is a good bet that those that do make it come from the ranks of those who tried, not those who cried.
As I walk the streets of downtown Seattle, I see bars and restaurants, bookstores and boutiques, cleaners, bodegas, Asian food stores, mini breweries, delis, hobby and toy stores, costume shops, and dozens, possibly hundreds of enterprises of all types. Most of them are not franchised, they are the property, the livelihood, the dream of an individual or of a family. These are workers who have taken control of their lives, who have become their own bosses. So it isn't just one case, it is many. It is the woman from Hong Kong who didn't know how to hold a needle twenty years ago and that now has possibly the most successful alterations shop in Atlanta. It is the guy from Macon who couldn't find a steak prepared the way he liked it that now owns one of the top rated restaurants, also in Atlanta. It is the lady who owns the tea store where I buy my tea -- who goes to the Dragon Well, and other tea producing places, to get the best quality at the best price.
But maybe you are right. Maye the American dream is dead. As I go to these stores, to these restaurants, to these businesses, I see many Latino faces, many oriental faces from the middle East to Japan. I don't see many Anglo faces there anymore. So perhaps the American dream has become the property of the immigrants. Or, maybe, that's what it always was, and those born to the prosperity of the second generation lost, or never developed, that drive, that desire, that fire, that allows one to take control of one's own destiny.
It's easier to blame 'The Man' than to admit the man is us.
--Pete
Quote:I have to agree with Kandrathe here.They must be selling lift tickets in hell. :lol:
Quote:You are just mentioning an example in which everything turned out fine and state that because of that it should go the same for everybody that puts in effort.There's a poem I ran across a few years ago on the comic page of a newspaper, of all places. It runs:
"The race goes to the swift, I s'pose,
or else the slow and steady,
or else the passionate, or those
who bothered to get ready,
or ones who coached themselves, or those
meticulously mentored.
But every single time it goes
to somebody who entered."
-- Jeff Mallet 2003
So, no. Not everyone who tries makes it. But it is a good bet that those that do make it come from the ranks of those who tried, not those who cried.
As I walk the streets of downtown Seattle, I see bars and restaurants, bookstores and boutiques, cleaners, bodegas, Asian food stores, mini breweries, delis, hobby and toy stores, costume shops, and dozens, possibly hundreds of enterprises of all types. Most of them are not franchised, they are the property, the livelihood, the dream of an individual or of a family. These are workers who have taken control of their lives, who have become their own bosses. So it isn't just one case, it is many. It is the woman from Hong Kong who didn't know how to hold a needle twenty years ago and that now has possibly the most successful alterations shop in Atlanta. It is the guy from Macon who couldn't find a steak prepared the way he liked it that now owns one of the top rated restaurants, also in Atlanta. It is the lady who owns the tea store where I buy my tea -- who goes to the Dragon Well, and other tea producing places, to get the best quality at the best price.
But maybe you are right. Maye the American dream is dead. As I go to these stores, to these restaurants, to these businesses, I see many Latino faces, many oriental faces from the middle East to Japan. I don't see many Anglo faces there anymore. So perhaps the American dream has become the property of the immigrants. Or, maybe, that's what it always was, and those born to the prosperity of the second generation lost, or never developed, that drive, that desire, that fire, that allows one to take control of one's own destiny.
It's easier to blame 'The Man' than to admit the man is us.
--Pete
How big was the aquarium in Noah's ark?