Attention: TDR Forum Junkies 
I love to post stories of ordinary Americans, even new immigrant Americans, who are living the American dream of success and accumulating wealth. The stories, I believe, may possibly serve to provide a positive influence and motivate an occasional ambitious, hard-worker who wants to achieve success on his own. Success stories also disprove the ranting and blaming spewed by the America haters and the whiners, like my friend Gary with some letters and numbers in his forum name, who believe America has already failed and only big government can fix it.
A year ago I bought a new fiver with three slides which meant my backyard parking pad, behind/beside the garage, was no longer adequate to run out the slides when the trailer is parked or when an occasional RVer friend comes to visit and park in the backyard to use the hookups.
I recently asked my son-in-law, who is a successful general contractor, if he would recommend a concrete contractor to pour an additional 12' by 30' extension on the original pad. He sent me a man of Mexican ancestry who is a successful concrete contractor who does a lot of big jobs for my son-in-law and other big contractors.
I had the pleasure of talking with the man yesterday afternoon while he and one helper were setting the forms in readiness to pour concrete.
This man came to this country from Mexico approximately 30 years ago as a young, uneducated, illegal immigrant from incredible poverty. He was born into a family of 14 children who often didn't have enough to eat. The family rule was when there was not enough food, the older brothers had to go hungry so the younger children could eat. In America he quickly found work in TX as a helper for a brick mason and worked in that job for about ten years. Then he worked for a concrete contractor where he became the job foreman and worked as a foreman for approximately another ten years or more.
Less than ten years ago he started his own concrete contracting company. He employs 17 men, several of them his brothers, and has all the work he can handle. He owns several new trucks, several trailers, a nearly new large diesel-powered bucket loader, concrete saws, etc. . . all the equipment and men required to do large and small jobs. He does major jobs like new school projects or shopping center parking lots requiring hundreds of yards of concrete mix and has worked himself into a financially secure position so that he can bid those big jobs and pay for labor and materials from his own funds until the major contractor pays him. He told me he spent over $100,000 last year for ready mix concrete! The man proudly became a naturalized American citizen years ago. I was deeply moved by his success story.
His men completed my concrete pad today and it is a topnotch professional job. I didn't ask him what the cost will be and he didn't tell me. He will send me a bill in the mail and I will pay it. His is another typical American success story. He came here from deep in the interior of Mexico with no education, no skills, no fluency in the English language, and all the odds stacked against him. He is a success and on the way to retiring a wealthy man. He asked for and received no affirmative action or handouts from the government. He saw opportunity and went after it. He is a self-made success story!
Don't tell me that America is a bad country. Don't tell me that only the rich and powerful can be successful or wealthy. Don't tell me there are no opportunities for ordinary Americans. I know those words are simply an excuse for failure or excuse to demand that government take from some Americans who have legitimately earned their rewards to hand it to the non-producers. Every single man and woman who lives here can become successful, even wealthy!! All that is required is ambition, drive, hard work, honesty, and living by the rules.
A year ago I bought a new fiver with three slides which meant my backyard parking pad, behind/beside the garage, was no longer adequate to run out the slides when the trailer is parked or when an occasional RVer friend comes to visit and park in the backyard to use the hookups.
I recently asked my son-in-law, who is a successful general contractor, if he would recommend a concrete contractor to pour an additional 12' by 30' extension on the original pad. He sent me a man of Mexican ancestry who is a successful concrete contractor who does a lot of big jobs for my son-in-law and other big contractors.
I had the pleasure of talking with the man yesterday afternoon while he and one helper were setting the forms in readiness to pour concrete.
This man came to this country from Mexico approximately 30 years ago as a young, uneducated, illegal immigrant from incredible poverty. He was born into a family of 14 children who often didn't have enough to eat. The family rule was when there was not enough food, the older brothers had to go hungry so the younger children could eat. In America he quickly found work in TX as a helper for a brick mason and worked in that job for about ten years. Then he worked for a concrete contractor where he became the job foreman and worked as a foreman for approximately another ten years or more.
Less than ten years ago he started his own concrete contracting company. He employs 17 men, several of them his brothers, and has all the work he can handle. He owns several new trucks, several trailers, a nearly new large diesel-powered bucket loader, concrete saws, etc. . . all the equipment and men required to do large and small jobs. He does major jobs like new school projects or shopping center parking lots requiring hundreds of yards of concrete mix and has worked himself into a financially secure position so that he can bid those big jobs and pay for labor and materials from his own funds until the major contractor pays him. He told me he spent over $100,000 last year for ready mix concrete! The man proudly became a naturalized American citizen years ago. I was deeply moved by his success story.
His men completed my concrete pad today and it is a topnotch professional job. I didn't ask him what the cost will be and he didn't tell me. He will send me a bill in the mail and I will pay it. His is another typical American success story. He came here from deep in the interior of Mexico with no education, no skills, no fluency in the English language, and all the odds stacked against him. He is a success and on the way to retiring a wealthy man. He asked for and received no affirmative action or handouts from the government. He saw opportunity and went after it. He is a self-made success story!
Don't tell me that America is a bad country. Don't tell me that only the rich and powerful can be successful or wealthy. Don't tell me there are no opportunities for ordinary Americans. I know those words are simply an excuse for failure or excuse to demand that government take from some Americans who have legitimately earned their rewards to hand it to the non-producers. Every single man and woman who lives here can become successful, even wealthy!! All that is required is ambition, drive, hard work, honesty, and living by the rules.
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