Writes a friend: “I am constantly amazed at the amazement about these kinds of stories.
“I came to college with 2 trunks and $400 that I had earned frying donuts at 4 AM in a bakery that summer. I had to take a $2 an hour job frying donuts because the $9 per hour job running the offset press was verboten for 17-year olds, by the feds. The plant owner was most apologetic, as the many hours I had spent running that exact model press in my grandfather’s basement made me by far the best qualified applicant.
“At college, I paid my tuition and bills with another $2 an hour job. I found that job before I found a place to live. I got $3 if I worked over 40 hours, big money! It was hard, sure, but I figured that it was supposed to be hard.
“Today I own a small business, my house, and I have no debt.
“It never occurred to me that what I was doing was special or different. I never thought anyone else should be responsible for my life. What has amazed me for 30 years is that many other people did not think the same way; they expected others to smooth the path.
Others obliged, generally with tax money. All of this was a genuine surprise and revelation to me.
“It’s good to see some young people learning similar lessons. Surely a big cause of the mess we find ourselves in is the notion that life should be easy.
“Just a small rant when I should be working.”
4:01 pm on February 14, 2008 Email Llewellyn H. Rockwell, Jr.
