DamnWrite Blog

A business woman called into a talk-radio program sometime back, leaving quite an impression on me. She spoke about her and her husband’s upset; not so much with Obama’s winning of the election but more so their employee’s reaction to his winning, that of jubilation and what her employees felt  it meant. She said that many of their employees had openly expressed how Obama’s winning and his call for “change” would now bring fairness to the country; that the rich would finally be getting their’s, be made to pay more.  Of course her and her husband being owners of the business knew that they were included in this “rich” category; she knew that many saw their affluent lifestyle, the cars they drove and the house they lived in and felt perhaps envious of their wealth or upset that it was somehow gotten through improper means or on the back of their labours. What she wanted the host,  his audience and her employees to know however, was how she and her husband had been working their business for 20 plus years, that it was not a instant success. There were many occasions in the first decade of their existence where they weren’t sure there would be an existence. It had looked like they were going to go under several times; twice being forced to sell their home in order to utilize the equity or down size to keep things afloat. That many years of their 20 plus, they made far less than their employees and had struggled through losing periods of being in the red to keep them in their employ. Unlike the employees, her and her husband didn’t have the luxury of going home,  leaving  job  and stress behind. She told of how her  husband to this day,  spends  most evenings working on the business, burning the midnight oil only to retire to a sleepless night due to worry. Today their business is considered by most to be successful; they enjoy an income that most would say is substantial and the lifestyle that comes with it but it didn’t come easy or fall into their lap.  They worked very hard for what they  have, worried many a year off their lives and  know all-to-well that through currency and market fluctuations, high interest rates,  bank failures, changes in law, poor political leadership, ideological tampering or as Obama puts it, “fundamental change,” that their business and its success can all fall away. Her story made it very clear to me that a business person is a very special breed; they are the leaders, the creators, the visionaries, the risk takers and life blood of our country. Maybe just maybe, we should understand that fact and thank those who create the jobs we enjoy instead of making them out to be the villain.

Am I right?  I’m damn write!