There were several Mexicans who were replacing my roof over several days. After the third day, they were sitting in the shade of the sole tree in our front yard. We were all killing time waiting for their boss to show up since the job was complete. I brought them a couple beers since it was nearly 100 degrees that day. We started off with small talk. I always enjoy talking to people of other nationalities. I don't know if they were illegals or legally here. I didn't ask. It wasn't important to me.
We eventually got into talking about the economy and politics. Another favorite topic for me with people from other countries and backgrounds. We talked about how American's are greedy. How they all want office jobs and want to sit around and do nothing all day long but click on a keyboard, checking their Facebook and MySpace pages, while getting paid a ridiculous hourly rate. We talked about how hardworking Hispanics are much more appreciative to have a job working on a roof in the 120 degree heat while wearing jeans on so you don't scrape your knees. We talked about how the Hispanic workers get all of the construction jobs not necessarily because they work harder, but because they COMPLAIN LESS. Having run a construction business for nearly a decade, we were in complete agreement and here I am, once the CEO of a company that employed mostly white Americans. I understood and was in complete AGREEMENT how completely LAZY and Americans, especially upper class Americans, had become. Capitalism: A Love Story, illustrates the problems with businesses in America today.
We continued to discuss things. We talked about how I wanted to move to Texas. I continued to tell them about how inexpensive properties in Dallas and Fort Worth were. Our home is two stories, about 2400 square feet and a much larger than average sized yard. I explained to them how the same house in Texas, with a pool and hot tub and tons of stone work, like an outdoor fireplace, would cost less than mine. Then the Mexican, who spoke the most English between the three amigos, said, “One Day...” I looked at him and said, “Si, one day......” To this day, the phrase, “One Day...” still means all of the things that you still have not obtained yet, you can still work hard over time to obtain. This Mexican completely summed up in two words, exactly what I agreed with them all along. I was an “Outsider” just like them, I disagreed with mainstream American's points of views.
My son is at the age where he knows his alphabet, he knows how to write it, he just doesn't know how to spell anything. He is constantly putting letters together, but they never end up spelling anything. He always wants me to sto write his friends names. Today my son asked me how do you spell, "One day... I am moving to Texas." It choked me up, he is just shy of being 5 years old and not only did he have his own, "One day...", he had the same one as me. I didn't realize that a four year old already had such big dreams and visions.