I’ve decided to share a little bit about myself and my life, and my hardships and my successes with you.
You konow ,this world today is tough. it’s tough for young people.
It’s tough for people that for years have had jobs and security,made good money,had been able to take care of their families.
And some time ago,as you konw,jobs were shipped overseas to improve the bottom line big companies.
And i thought i’d tell you a little bit about myself.
I quit school when i was in a 10th grade. My mother and father left me standing on a street corner.
It’s always up to me to make it .
And i had a job working at a shell filling station.and i went to the owner and i told him my situation ,
and i was making a dollar an hour,and i asked him if i could work more hours.
I tried begining working 90 hours a week .And during that time,as I’ve said before,my home was the back of an old car,and i work my 90h a week .Then i took my baths in a public station restroom ,and i washed my clothes.
My private clothes in a sink.
and once in a while ,when I was really hungry,i’ll go to the grocery store and snitch an apple,an orange.and that was in the fifties.Things were a lot different than they are now,and i’m convinced that the owner of the grocery store knew what i was doing. because it was about a half a block away from where i worked,and he knew me.I’ve said before that good things and bad things last forever,and that’s true.
and i began to learn different things. i knew in my soul that if i had nothing to offer,i was as far as i was going to go.
now , unemployment at that time was very high.on the other hand , in the fifties ,you could go to into a corporation and ask for a job and get it.And after i’d work 90h a week for a long time,i went into the service.
i was 17 in the service,i taught myself to read and write .the first book i picked up was a book written by Louis Slamore, and 196 pages in it. i’ll never foget it.
there was a cowboy story at western and there were war junior that i didn’t know. i didn’t understand .i had no idea what they were.so i got a dictionary from the service library, and as i would read ,if there was a word that i didn’t understand,i would look it up .and would tell you now , i took almost three weeks to read 196 pages,but i read, and i continue to read ,and in several months,i was reading two and three books at a time,and i knew where i was in every single one of them.So that’s what you can do.A person’s mind is incredible .Your mind is incredible.As a yound person,regardless of what’s happening in the world today,you have opportunity .And don’t you believe for one single minute what they say in the media.Because if you aren’t getting ahead,you need to get ahead.position yourselelf to learn. go to the library and learn.you are the backbone of this world.yound people. without you, this world is noting.nothing,you are the backbone of this world.you are the future leaders of the world.you are the ones that see the greed of the people that are running it now.we need you ,we need your mind.we need your hearts. we need your lives.we need your loves. we need you to care.and i know that you do care.
oh, i see yound people stepping on a flag and throwing rocks,rioting.that’s frustration .it’s frustration with the establishment,and i understand it .but that’s not you,don’t let that be.you rise above it.you’re better than that.
rise above it.anyway,i got kind of off track there.but anyway,as i went on , and i got out of the service,i had begun to write and educate myself.i got a little bit of colleage,and i continued on through my life with that.and you can do any thing,you don’t have to have a doctor or PHD or a masters degree.what you have to have is determination .you have to have an inner will to get things done.you have to have a desire.and i know the desire is there.because as i said before,without your brains,without your ambition,without your drive.
You can’t stop. You can’t quit.you can’t say,i’m a failure.