Yesterday I Turned 75

Yesterday I turned 75, and I took the opportunity of a captive audience to again expound the importance of education in Nevada. Without a well-educated work force, without a citizenry capable of critical thinking and clear communication, America has little chance of competing on a global scale. And make no mistake--we are a global economy and a global citizenry. Education is not a privilege; education is not a luxury; education is the basis of every civilized society. Let's show the world we care, and we can. Support education in any and every way you can. 

Less?

My family didn’t have two cars until I was 14.  Our house had a one-car garage with no plans or ability to make it a 2-car garage.  My father had an excellent job that paid good wages and mother didn’t work until I entered the 7^th grade.  Under today’s tests for determining success, my family was a failure.  Yet looking back over those one car, one garage, one parent working and one parent staying at home, it seems to me my family was far more successful than its counterpart today, which must have both parents working, often more than a 40 hour week, both parents being stressed to the limit, and their children being denied the necessary time and attention from the parents.  How can we have more, and at the same time, less?

Take Inventory

I want you to do yourself and me a favor.  I want you to ask yourself why you are so ineffective in persuading others around you that if they don’t spend at least 20% of their time participating in government, education or health initiatives, that it won’t be long until the government, education and health care systems completely fail.  When I graduated from law school in 1962, I took the bar review course in Arizona which was taught by a Chester Smith.  He also was probably the best professor I had in my nine years of college.  He made the following point over and over, and though I’m not sure that his mathematics were accurate, his concept of how one should spend his or her time was sound.  He said, spend a third of your time working, a third of your total time involved with your family and a third of your time involved in the activities of your community.  I’ll bet a survey of Americans would show that they spend 90% of their time thinking only of themselves, 7 ½% of their time thinking and being involved with their families, and 2 ½ % of their time being involved with the communities in which they live.  It seems to me that’s a recipe for failure. May I suggest you take inventory of your own life to see how you invest your time, your money and your energy.

Wednesday, September 11th, 2013

Luck has been a major contributor to my financial success.  My net worth far exceeds the aggregate of my intelligence, efficiency, productivity and ambition.  My family has given more than 80% of its net worth to education.  It did so with the thought and belief that we could help raise the standard of living, even if by a little bit, of those around us.  But I have to tell you, it’s very discouraging to see what poor use is made of our financial support.  It depresses me to the point where I’d simply like to stop sending the checks and start building my bank accounts.  Yet for some reason, I keep putting our family’s money into an education system that seems destined to implode.

Tuesday. September 10, 2013

There must be someone, some group, some political and some economic conspiracy that spends all of its time trying to ruin your life, making it impossible for you to succeed financially, while at the same time refusing to educate your children, provide adequate healthcare for you and your family, and will fulfill its purpose only when we’re all dead and buried.  If those people or those groups exist, I haven’t been able to find them.  We are our own enemy.  All the damage we suffer is caused by us.  I’d like to see a plan adopted by all of our citizens who are just turning 21 that would lay out the solutions to our health, education and general well being over the next 20 years.

Complaining

Bitch, bitch, bitch—during the next two weeks do a quick analysis of how much time you spend each day complaining about how miserable your life is and accusing others of ruining your life.  I’ll bet at least 90% of your time is spent complaining and possibly 10% of your time is spent trying to make your life better.

Buzz Of Excitement

I went through my yearbooks from my four years at Las Vegas High School. I made a rough calculation that 90% of those who started, graduated.  I look at my fellow Las Vegas High School graduates--Dick Brian, Charlie Thompson, Cheryl Purdue, Carolyn Sparks, Bill Wortman, Bob Miller, Larry Ruvo—and even though it was 50 years ago that we left school, when we see each other, we still have the buzz of excitement from growing up and living in Las Vegas.  I don’t see that in Nevada High School graduates who finished school in the last twenty years.

Community

I know it’s much easier to understand the workings of your community when it has less than 25,000 residents.  When my family moved here in 1951, the population of Las Vegas was 21,000.  It was a town—though controversial with certain material flaws—that seemed to work together and made every effort to develop a common pride in the community.  Do you think that growth, by itself, has killed that closeness?  Or do you think times have simply changed so that everyone wants to be only part of himself and not part of any greater community?

Does It Frighten You?

I do interviews each noon of people who have serious effects on all of our lives.  I am shocked and dismayed when I get phone calls from viewers who say they couldn’t care less about what the county commission is doing or what the superintendent of schools is doing, and they don’t want to listen to anyone who talks about anything that is more important than the soap opera they watch.  That frightens me.  Does it frighten you?  Call me and we’ll discuss it.  My office number is 657-3142, and my home number is 222-2298.

Why Do You Think We Don’t Care?

Did you ever ask for directions from someone who claimed to be a resident of Las Vegas for thirty years but had no idea where to send you?  Even worse, these long term Las Vegas residents have no knowledge about any member of the county commission, the city commission, the lieutenant governor and even the governor.  I don’t understand this—all of these people affect every Nevadan’s life.  Why do you think we don’t care?

Curiosity

Curiosity may have killed the cat, but Americans these days have no fear of being injured in any way by being overly curious.  I’m no psychologist or psychiatrist or sociologist, but I have lived through an era where my fellow students, fellow lawyers, fellow businessmen and fellow educators were driven by curiosity.  I don’t know about you, but I think curiosity suffered a long, slow, painful death.