Knowledge, experience, integrity, quality, "one-time right"

Well said David and I totally agree. To those of us Boomers, the word entitlement was never used because our generation learned very early that we had to earn our own way in this world.

We didn't expect to be given anything, and we were taught to both respect and week-out those with experience and wisdom to help us work our way up. I've heard too many times in my adult life (and even used the term to describe myself) that I have a "degree in the school of hard knocks". It's something to be proud of, because it is a testament to our core values of hard work and knowledge producing results.

We all fully understand that the epitome of being a "seasoned" professional is working hard to earn respect from proving yourself over time. That builds trust and with trust, YOU (WE) have now become those with the experience and wisdom to pass along to the next generation.

Unfortunately, somewhere along the way, my take is that all of these amazing qualities passed down from generation to generation were thrown out the window and corporate greed took over. Knowledge, experience, integrity, quality, "one-time right", and being "the best" were all replaced with simply being "the richest".

I think the biggest stumbling block for many of us is that in our "dream of dreams", most of us continue to have the expectation that most companies out there are looking for "our" core values, when the truth is most likely the opposite. It is both sad and frustrating, but unfortunately most often very true.

As David pointed out, I totally agree that it is despicable what this country has become. I truly worry about the future for my adult children, for my new granddaughter born yesterday, and for all the future generations in this country.

Now when I say "God Bless America", I think mostly about the America of the past, for I am uncertain that the America of the present has earned the right to be blessed for much of anything.

My friends, hopefully enough of our strong old-fashioned values will rub off on this generation so that the American dream (OUR American dream!) can live on long after we are all gone. We can all only hope and pray for the best.

And yes, I said PRAY! If I have offended anyone here by saying that, you should leave this discussion right now because I for one am SO sick of being told that I have to be "politically correct" and "be sensitive" to everyone, that I could just PUKE! That's not the America I grew up in!