Monday, July 8, 2019

A SECULAR HOMILY!


THE LAND OF OPPORTUNITY

                      John Jay Hughes

I have long contended that our country, despite all our problems and deficiencies, remains what it has been, for millions, since the first settlers came our shores in the early 17th century: the Land of Opportunity. Here are 3 contemporary examples:

Colin Powell: The son of black immigrants from Jamaica, he grew up as a street kid in the Bronx/NY. He rose to become a 4-star general and Secretary of  State. He says in his autobiography (which is a great read): if my parents had gone to England, I’d be lucky to be a sergeant major.

Lawrence S. Bacow: The son of penniless refugees who came to this country fleeing the Holocaust (his father as a child, his mother as a 19-year-old survivor of Auschwitz), he was chosen in 2018 as the 28th President of Harvard University. In what other country is such a life even conceivable?    

(Less well known is) Manfred Steinfeld.  In July 1938, at age 14, with a $10 bill sewn into his pocket, he was put on a train in in Germany for Hamburg by his sobbing mother (whom he never saw again) who told him: “Be quiet and do not draw attention to yourself.” After a sea voyage, he was met in New York by a representative of a Jewish Aid organization. Though he never became famous, he founded the Chicago-based Shelby Williams Industries, Inc. which made some 30 million chairs for leading hotels all over the United states. He died a wealthy man in 2019.

 

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 

 

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