4th Saturday of Seven

In 7th grade, my world as I knew it came to a screeching halt. After 10+ years in a neighborhood where all the kids had assumed the privilege of running between each others yards and where kick-the-can tournaments had been held for countless summers, my dad announced that we were building a new home. The main reason was because the little gray home we had built in 1987 was bursting at the seams since my little brother had been born. I shed many tears during the process, some warranted, some, slightly dramatic, but none so much as the night we pulled away from the gray house with the beautiful bay window for the last time.

Our new home was beautiful. It was larger and more expensive than the first, and it was surrounded by other larger and more expensive homes. The idea hadn't phased me much, but at the dinner table, all of us in the family who were old enough would report being told by a coworker or a classmate or two, "Good luck on snob hill."

Such statements caused me to approach our new neighborhood with some apprehension. However, it truly all dissolved when we received the warmest of welcomes at our arrival. There were in this neighborhood, as in the first, good neighbors. In the eight years I lived there until I married, I can name many people from that area who had a hand in shaping me for the better during impressionable growing up years. Hard times hit our family and people from that neighborhood rallied around us during dark hours. I was also moved to see the way some of the families in that area used the wealth they had acquired in their medical practices and law firms and small businesses to quietly but generously bless the lives of others.

I am not saying my experience will be the case in every upscale neighborhood, but I am saying that in many instances, wealth does not equal arrogance. In many instances, individuals who possess wealth also possess the virtues of hard work, persistence, the determination to forge through difficult times, and ultimately the ability to be successful. And many remember to help others.

This is the case with Mitt Romney.

There have been several attempts during this campaign to associate Mitt Romney's success in the business arena with greed and to try to disconnect him from the American people, when actually, he is a true representation of an individual pursuing and attaining the American dream. These attempts to create a gap between the rich and the poor are unnerving and unAmerican. 

This is what Ann Romney had to say about it:

 "It amazes me to see his history of success actually being attacked. 

Are those really the values that made our country great? 

As [moms].. do we want to raise our children to be afraid of success?

Do we send our children out in the world with the advice, 'Try to do... okay?'"

Read the whole speech here.
Watch it here.

I am voting for Mitt Romney because he is a successful businessman. He was the CEO of a business consulting firm that took struggling companies and turned them around. And they were successful at it. That means he understands what is good for businesses. And he understands how to take things that are in trouble and turn them around.

Is it time to vote YET?

At the height of his success at the firm he was asked to take over the 2002 Winter Olympics, without compensation, and he left. And he decided he wouldn't go back after three years and try to pick up the reins again. He would leave it to those who had stayed behind.   

Yes, wealth can corrupt men and women.  But I have seen through the example of my neighbors what it can do in the hands of good people. I love how Ann Romney describes their experience of choosing to share what they have with others, "It's given us the deep satisfaction of being able to help others in ways that we could never have imagined."

I repeat, to take people who have used their knowledge and resources and through ingenuity and hard work have made better lives for themselves, their families, and others, and cast them as villains in the story of America is unAmerican. I am voting for Mitt Romney because he is a successful businessman who understands how to take organizations that are in trouble and get them thriving again. 
 
I will continue to share a reason I am voting for Mitt Rommey each Saturday until the election. If you don't agree with me, that's okay. I have friends who are very dear to me who don't see politics the way I do. But if you feel good about it, please use your reach to share these posts through email, Facebook, and Pinterest.

How will you make a difference in this election?

This is Mr. Collado after registering to vote this week. While I ran around my little gray house playing kick-the-can, he was living in one-bedroom apartments with his mom and sisters. He often expresses gratitude for the opportunities America has provided him, and what it has provided his mom who worked so hard to keep them fed and clothed. Today he has a bachelor's degree, works as an MRI technologist, and we purchased our first home a year ago. Needless to say, I am very proud of him.

P.S. There is a presidential debate this Tuesday. Watch it. More information here.