I watched a segment of Fox News several days ago called ‘Freeloader’. It was the first time I had seen this show because it was several wrong clicks away from ‘History Channel’, the cable tv I regularly watched if I can afford the time. The man on the show made a compelling statement. He said the Sioux, a group among the Native American Indians, is the poorest ethic group in the US. They live in reservations that receive a lot of federal financial assistance. He was interviewing this lady-lawyer who said the Sioux was a neglected community and she advocated for a strong lobby to force government to provide more.
However, for each argument the lady-lawyer made, the host would show a small video clip of a successful Sioux individual of the community who made it big in business. And there were several of them. What they said was startlingly consistent: they attained success by not depending on the dole-outs to the reservation. They scratched and scrimped to buy their own lands and set up their own businesses, and resisted freebees of government.
One guy owned a big, thriving farm in a plush area. His neighbor had a decrepit, unproductive farm in another part of the reservation. He said the difference comes from the confidence in investing money and labor to what is truly your own. And most importantly - knowing that you cannot and should not be dependent (on dole-outs) for your survival.
I have been president of the association of private tertiary-level schools in my province for several years now. I have witnessed through the years some member-schools fold up and close shop. This made me take a hard, cold look at what ails our industry.
You could say things were bright for them at the onset. They were established by wealthy families. They had the right connections. But they started with one intrinsic, fatal defect: they believed that their endeavor would succeed because they could depend on this state subsidy or that state grant due to the fact that they had the right government connection here and there at one time or the other. Wrong.
Well, this leads me to try and coin the wisdom of these events, not in the most eloquent of terms but in the most dramatic, the better for all of us to remember: “Survivor’s Law: Do not be dependent on others if your survival is at stake.” I know you can improve on this concoction to suit your own taste and experience. Let me know.
