"The rich get richer and the poor get poorer."

As I watch the status of our economy with great wonderment for the future (I leave the concern for the future to the incessant worriers), I am reminded of Dad's extension of a common saying. Likely in tough economic times we have all heard someone say: "The rich get richer, and the poor get poorer." This is meant to draw attention to the chasm being created between the rich and the poor, and the supposed elimination of the middle class. Well, Dad had a bit more to say than simply: "The rich get richer, and the poor get poorer." He would always add: "because the rich keep doing the things that got them rich, and the poor keep doing the things that keep them poor." Now Dad always made it clear that it was never his intention to minimize the plight of the true poverty stricken, and always encouraged and set the example for us to help those people. However, his intention - which was communicated quite effectively, I might add - was to draw attention to the able but unwilling. Most often, those that complain about the "The rich getting richer, and the poor getting poorer," are those that have had tremendous opportunity provided to them by their families, their companies, their communities and most especially their country, but have failed to make good choices, and have effectively taken two steps back. Frankly, those people too often blame others: their parents, their politicians, their neighbors, rather than looking at the path that they have made, and now are traveling.

I am reminded of the poem by Robert Frost: "The Road Not Taken". From Dad's lessons on the rich and the poor, I believe this poem is the best example of what he was trying to teach: If you do like everyone else, you will end up like everyone else. Make the hard choices, seize the opportunities provided, and work hard to accomplish and earn what they have to offer. That is really how the rich get richer.