Keeping It All In Perspective

I talked to a new client today who is originally from South Africa. She moved here in 1977. I was just making conversation when I asked her why she happened to move to the U.S. I had expected to hear something like, "my husband moved to the U.S." or something along those lines. Instead she told me a story that I did not expect that that shocked me to the core.

In 1976 my client was working for a her family's road construction firm in South Africa. She made a trip to a client site to deliver some papers; her only son, an infant was in the car with her. She had been told that her son was the only child she would ever be able to have. She doesn't remember exactly what happened but she was caught in a massacre and the next thing she knew her car had been bombed and her baby was thrown from the car in his car-seat which, thankfully, protected him from the blast.

She returned home and called some family in Los Angeles, California and told them she was leaving South Africa for good and only asked that they help her obtain the necessary paperwork to get a job in the U.S. Not surprisingly this client came to this country and became very successful in her chosen career - she has ascended the corporate ladder in a couple of very male dominated industries. She is a tough lady who hasn't spent a moment of her life wallowing in self-pity and has, instead, worked hard to earn a great living for herself and her son.

No matter what our current economic situation we Americans are so lucky to live in the greatest country in the world. Our country may not be perfect but, on the whole, it is a wonderful place to live. Americans don't know what true hardship is and we should all be thankful that is the case.