Who is Pat Barry you ask? Good question; because before this morning I didn't know who he was either. Pat Barry is a UFC fighter....one who I'd never heard of before, who recently won a fight I guess. Anyway, I guess he was about to be evicted from his apartment, he was flat broke. Then he fought and won a total of $120,000....not too shabby. That's not why I like him though.
I like him because of his attitude towards hard work and not asking for help/bailouts/handouts etc. I don't know the whole story about how he got to the point of bankruptcy, whether it was poor money management or whatever, the point is that he realized his mistakes and wanted to turn things around and work to get HIMSELF out of trouble. He didn't collect unemployment, he didn't seek others to help him out, he didn't expect someone else to make it their problem as well. [Unlike so much of this country thinks is okay to do nowadays.] Here's a quote from an interview in which he says he never asked anyone for money or help:
"I could ask someone but then at the same time, how hard are you going to work for something if every time you get in trouble somebody catches you? I did something to put myself in this position I have to work my way out of it."
I like him for that reason. For owning up and working hard to take care of himself. It makes me sick when I hear stories of people making no effort to actually get a job because they're able to collect unemployment, food stamps, welfare, whatever. Granted there are those who truly do need it, but when people go and pick up applications with no intentions of actually applying for a job, simply so they can keep collecting money from taxpayers really pisses me off. And that is one HUGE problem with our society today.
It may sound silly, but I think a lot of it can be boiled down to child sports. Nowadays "everyone is a winner" or "you will still get a trophy even if you lose" -- STOP IT! NO, not everyone is a winner. There are winners and losers, and the sooner you start understanding that concept, the sooner you'll begin to work harder for success and not expect things to be okay even if you don't work. I don't care if it's a bunch of 5 year olds playing 'bunch ball' soccer or not! If they're taught that they don't really have to work to receive the same trophy or recognition as the team who works harder and wins, that's setting them up to be failures at more than just sports. Like I said, that may sound silly but I really do believe it's true. Wake up coaches.
You see it all to often these days, people thinking they can cruise through life without having to work, and if they make a few bad decisions that put them in a tough spot, all of a sudden they think it's someone else's job/problem to help them out. No. Man up, and get the job done yourself. Even for this reason alone, I like you Pat Barry.
Rant over.
1 comment:
This blog post is so well written and you've pointed out a massive problem in today's society. So many think they are entitled to handouts and government help is expected. I agree partly with your point on youth sports, but I believe much more stems from who you are and where you came from. People are the product of their upbringing. Parents today need to instill the value of hard work and fiscal responsibility. However, even if you didn't get those values as a child, nothing says you can't be mature enough to put your past in the past and move on and make something of yourself. I don't know anything about this guy, but I admire the fact that he admitted that he got himself into that position and wanted to get himself out. That is very admirable. Great post Robert!
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