“Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work.”
—Thomas Edison

Perhaps you, as am I, are still troubled by the statistics I cited in my June 23rd blog regarding U.S. citizens’ views of our country. Clearly, we live in a nation where a significant percentage of people don’t appreciate the blessing it is to be an American. That’s especially true for our young adults.

If there are two words that best characterize the U.S., perhaps they are “freedom” and “opportunity.” Clearly, some of us were born into circumstance much more conducive to success than others were. Some “won the lottery” simply by having responsible parents, economic advantage, and favorable living circumstances. Others were not so fortunate.

Yet there’s no denying the fact that birthright citizenship in the U.S., regardless of how and where we start, affords us a myriad of possibilities and a measure of freedom that so many people in other parts of the world could only dream of.

The American experience is replete with stories of rags to riches success. Some we know because the subject is a public figure. Many more go unknown—successfully laboring in obscurity save for those closest to them. Some examples:

• Consider two U.S. Senators from South Carolina: Tim Scott and the late Lindsey Graham. Sen. Scott was raised in severe poverty by a single mom who worked double shifts to provide for the two of them. She insisted that he place a premium on his education, and apparently she “held his feet to the fire.” Sen. Graham grew up in a single room behind his parents’ saloon/restaurant. The family of four boiled water on the stove to use for bathing. He was the first in his family to go to college. Suspend your political persuasions if you must. These stories are bigger than politics. They speak to American gumption, a pull-yourself-up-by-the-bootstraps approach to life.

• You may begrudge Jeff’s bank account ending in zeros as long as the Amazon, or you might not think Taylor’s all that swift, but consider their stories. Bezos and his then-wife started his mammoth business by boxing books in their garage and taking them to the post office to mail. As a young teenager, Swift traveled from radio station to radio station and venue to venue, playing songs she’d written and handing out demos.

• Another, perhaps more relatable story, is that of Tony Barzar. Forty years ago, he started his blue-collar career at Costco. His nest egg now makes him what’s known as a Costco millionaire. How many other stories are there of everyday Americans who brown bag it to the job, day in and day out, for their entire work career, and are the better for it?

The common threads throughout these stories are discipline, hard work, a certain stick-to-it-ness, and the belief in one’s ability to make the most of the opportunities afforded them . . . and what country better than America makes such success possible?

Certainly not all, but many young adults suffer from a disease known as “Entitlement.” They’ve grown up soft, with things handed to them, and have no idea what hard work is, and what’s required of someone to be truly successful. When they fail, they have no idea how to rebound. No wonder they’re unhappy. Someone or something has to take the blame, so they choose to disparage our country. That’s disingenuous.

Often, the cure for that disease is a kick in the seat of the pants. When we work for things, when success comes from self-initiative, it feeds on itself and is appreciated much more.

The last existential threat to our nation was the Second World War. Few remain who fought in it. From our country’s inception through the subsequent two-hundred years, men and women were periodically called to step up and defend it. How often are those sacrifices overlooked? How easy it is to take our freedoms and opportunities for granted.

We just celebrated our country’s glorious semiquincentennial As we stand on the shoulders of those who made our lives as Americans possible, maybe we should each take a moment, look toward the heavens, and thank God for His providence; then, look down at the ground and thank Him that we’re standing on U.S. soil.