Loading ...Let me tell you my story :
I was born in Canada and schooled there through high school , then was accepted into the college of engineering of a good university in the Western USA as a foreign student . My widowed mother helped , but I pretty much had to earn my way by returning to Canada to work each time my funds were depleted . On one of those ‘work years’ , all I could find was door to door encyclopedia sales . After a week of training , and an evening as bag man ( assistant ) to a senior salesman , I was on my own . On the second or third door the next evening , a gentleman answered the door and said he’d already bought the encyclopedia which his kids never used . My parents had purchased encyclopedia , and I loved poring through them as a child , so I asked if I could come in and give him some ideas of how to get his family interested . He agreed , but after a couple of minutes stopped me , saying “ Tell me your story – you strike me as being more intelligent than the average door to door type .” It turned out that he was vice-president of a valve engineering company , and hired me as junior draftsman the following day with the understanding that I would be returning to my studies within a year .
I finally finished my five-year degree ten years after starting , but came out as an aero-space / mech. eng. just after we’d put a man on the moon . No work for new aero-space guys ! However, in my senior year I had been contacted by the Canadian Consulate in the USA , asking that I submit my CV , which I did . Out of the blue , I received an offer from AECL ( Atomic Energy of Canada , Ltd.) – not in aero-space , but in valve development for power plants . After five years , I was ready for new challenges , and answered an ad for a valve engineer in Europe for a (US) nuke power plant designer . Because of my bilingual and valve skills I was hired , and after three years was transferred to the USA on a temporary visa to work for the parent company . They wanted my skills permanently , so my position was advertised for three months . If a US citizen answered the ads and had my skills , I would not get a green card . I did , and after several years was eligible for naturalization , which I wanted , but was being sent regularly on multi week and sometimes several month assignments in and outside of the country . Naturalization requires a series of interviews on short notice , so I had to delay my application until decades later when I was retired . As a result , I was a taxpayer for almost three decades before I could vote .
I took an oath to uphold the Constitution , which I honor – and have done so even before I became a citizen . I wish all of our elected officials and government employees had the same commitment and ethics !
To have those whose first act within the boundaries of the USA was to break the law , demanding their ‘rights’ , needless to say , drives me straight up the wall !
Apologies for the lengthy story .
BTW – seeing leftist college professors disrespectful of the Constitution and free markets also drives me up the wall . My parental home harbored several escapees from behind the Iron Curtain for several years as I was growing up . Those folks respected freedom , and had some horrific stories to tell of life under Communism .