Quote:
Originally Posted by m21sniper
You're right sammy, your mechanical knowledge puts you way ahead of some of these poor(literally) bastards.
There's no doubt that bad decisions play a big part in being that poor, or sometimes limited intelligence, but other times a crappy family situation and a desire to leave school early and get a job to help mom and her 14 welfare babies can leave a fellow perpetually broke for life.
I'd be willing to bet money the above vehicle belongs to a person with an honest job, and not a welfare recipient. Just a guess, but i'd make a gentleman's bet on it.
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My wife has asked me many times how I learned to do something, like when I was laying tile or remodeling a kitchen or putting in a new doorway, rebuilding a 911 engine, etc.
I always tell her the same thing. I don't know how. I didn't learn it, no one taught me how.
I read about it, I asked some questions, and then I figured it out.
Does that mean I'm smart or have some special mechanical aptitude? I don't think so. Does it mean I am willing to learn? Yup. Sometimes a project doesn't turn out perfect but if I have to I do it again until I get it right.
My father taught me to think. He figured out lots of stuff when I was growing up, he had to. We were very close to what I would describe as being poor when I was young.
We had an old beat up car and an old international pick up, we had a roof over our heads, and we only went hungry a few times. We lived in a clean neighborhood but there was no doubt it was lower class. My parent's first house was an old abandoned beat up wreck with no windows and holee in the roof and two walls.
My father knew the owner and promised him that he'd fix it up if he could live there free for two years. He did, and when the owner sold it he was so pleased that he gave me father $2000 of the profit. My dad used that money on a down payment on the first house he owned.
I remember dad wore the same work shoes for almost a decade. He had them re-soled several times and polished them every Sunday night like it was a ritual. They were so thin they were like glove leather.
My mom shopped at the goodwill store, the day old bakery, anything she could do to save money. She bought clothes from the church box, but never took anything for free.
Somehow they always found a way to pay for sports equipment for their 4 boys.
We didn't have much money but my father and I made trips to the junk yard to keep the vehicles running.
He chopped wood and did odd jobs to pay for things like carpet for the house. I remember that carpet took him three years to save up for, they actually had a jar they kept the money in.
He always found a way. I don't think it takes smarts or aptitude to special skills, I think it takes initiative. I've seen him do lots of thing he didn't know how to do.
I've seen him spend hours trying to fix a $2 string of Christmas lights.
He's retired now and his health isn't that great, but he still fixes stuff. last time I visited them we spent 2 hours trying to fix a $12 halogen light he had in the back yard. I told him I could just go get him a new one but he insisted on figuring out why it didn't work and fixing it. At that time he was worth $1.8 million (I'm named as executor of their estate just in case so I know their financial situation).
Just before I was born he was going to the University of Utah and working at Morton Thyocol until they lost the government contract and laid him off. He got a minimum wage job at Hercules scrubbing bottles and mopping floors.
12 years later he was a senior project engineer designing new shape charge explosives and solid propellants for rockets. He never finished college, he dropped out in his senior year to support his family but he ended up doing very well for himself.
Maybe I am blessed, maybe having a father like that is something I should thank the lord for and realize that not everyone had been blessed with the same upbringing. Maybe I need to stop being so harsh about judging others when it comes to something that seems so natural to me.
Let me think that over and see if it sinks in.