No.406293
The driving force, however, that wouldn’t allow me to stay on the
left side of the Quadrant (employment and self-employed) was what happened to my highly educated but poor dad at the peak of his career.
In the early 1970s, I was already out of college and in Pensacola,
Florida, going through pilot training for the Marine Corps before a
tour in Vietnam. My educated dad was now the superintendent of
education for the State of Hawaii and a member of the governor’s staff.
One evening, he phoned me with some interesting news.
“Son,” he said, “I’m going to resign from my job and run for
lieutenant governor of Hawaii for the Republican party.”
I gulped and then said, “You’re going to run for office against
your boss?”
“That’s right,” he replied.
“Why?” I asked. “Republicans don’t have a chance in Hawaii.
The Democratic party and the labor unions are too strong.”
“I know, Son. I know that we don’t have a prayer of winning.
Judge Samuel King will be the candidate for governor, and I will be
his running mate.”
“Why?” I asked again. “Why go against your boss if you know
you’re going to lose?”
“Because my conscience won’t let me do anything else. The games
these politicians are playing disturb me.”
“Are you saying they’re corrupt?” I asked.
“I don’t want to say that,” said my real dad. He was an honest and
moral man who rarely spoke badly about anyone. Yet I could tell from
his voice that he was angry and upset when he said, “I’ll just say that
my conscience bothers me when I see what goes on behind the scenes.
I couldn’t live with myself if I turned a blind eye and did nothing. My
job and paycheck aren’t as important as my conscience.”
After a long silence, I realized that my dad’s mind was made up.
“Good luck,” I said quietly. “I’m proud of you for your courage, and
I’m proud to be your son.”
My dad and the Republican ticket were crushed, as expected. The
re-elected governor sent the word out that my dad was never to work
again for the State of Hawaii, and he never did. At the age of 54, my
dad went looking for a job, and I was on my way to Vietnam.
When he was middle-aged, my dad was hunting for a job. He went
from jobs with big titles and low pay to other jobs with big titles and
low pay. He was a tall, brilliant, and dynamic man who was no
longer welcome in the only world he knew, the world of government
employees. He tried starting several small businesses. He was a
consultant for a while and even bought a famous franchise, but all his
efforts failed.
As he grew older and his strength slipped away, so did his drive to
start over again. His lack of will became even more pronounced after
each business failure. He was a successful E (employee) trying to survive as an S (self-employed), a quadrant in which he had no training or experience and for which he
had no heart. He loved the world of public education, but he couldn’t
find a way to get back in. The ban on his employment in the state
government was silently, but firmly, in place.
If not for Social Security and Medicare, the last years of his life
would have been a complete disaster. He died frustrated and a little
angry, yet he died with a clear conscience.
So what kept me going in the darkest of hours? It was the haunting
memory of my educated dad sitting at home, waiting for the phone
to ring, trying to succeed in the world of business, a world he knew
nothing about. That, and the joyous memory of seeing my rich dad
grow happier and more successful as his years went on, inspired me.
Instead of declining at age 54, rich dad blossomed. He had become
rich years before that, but now he was becoming mega-rich. He was
constantly in the newspapers as the man who was buying up Waikiki
and Maui. His years of methodically building businesses and investing
were paying off, and he was on his way to becoming one of the richest
men in the Islands.
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