The month of May is strawberry season in North Carolina. Lots of them and they are delicious.
This morning, 22 October, when I went to the barn to do chores, I noticed we had our first frost of the season. As I was opening a gate to go out into the horse pasture, I noticed in our little strawberry patch, one, lone, small, red strawberry. I picked it and before eating it, a thought occurred to me. That little berry was tough enough to bloom and mature in spite of the season and the cold.
That is sort of a metaphor for life. If you are tough enough you can bloom and mature in spite of abnormal, adverse conditions.
Tens of millions of Americans are currently disadvantaged and I’m sure many of them feel desperate to improve their lives. Well, maybe this is the time to do just that, for a couple reasons:
One, the Bureau of Labor Statistics announced this week that there are now 6.7 million job openings, the highest ever recorded, and far exceeding the number of unemployed Americans.
Secondly, a disproportionate number of the disadvantaged are African Americans. Currently, African American unemployment is the lowest since records have been kept.
The upcoming election may actually be a national referendum on the two political partys’ philosophies; big government vs less government intrusion, stifling regulations vs private sector innovation, government HAND-OUTS vs a HELPING-HAND.
Don’t under-estimate American grit. Given a chance there are a lot of out-of-season “strawberries” out there that are just tough enough to bloom in spite of the odds and be all they can be/should be.
Go vote.
Marv Covault