Selling Oneself Cheap

Pat Conroy is an American author who wrote about his youth and passages growing up on the coast of South Carolina. You will recognize his titles: The Great Santini, The Lords of Discipline, The Prince of Tides and The Water is Wide. The latter was made into a movie and called, Conrack. The title is derived from the young black kids who so pronounced his name when he was teaching in their one room school house. TheFundamentals learned one of its key fundamentals when reading this wonderful story and it has to do with the title of today’s posting – selling out cheap.

Our recollection of an incident in the novel was one of Conroy’s students was a young black girl, leaving her childhood form and becoming a young woman. Conroy not only taught the three R’s, he opened the doors of the minds of these youngsters to an outside world. A world filled with uncertainty, conflict and the opportunity of challenge and growth. He wanted his kids to experience this not for his sake but for theirs. So he took them outside the one room schoolhouse, outside the short miles of their exposure, outside of the boundaries imposed on them. The aforementioned young girl did not show up for class one day. Finally, after not seeing her for a while, he went to her home and found her. She was spending time with an older man who offered her a life as a woman. Conroy said to her, don’t sell yourself so cheap. By the way, at the end the local bureaucrats disapproved of Conroy’s mind opening techniques. They fired him.  Pretty good lesson there too.

Don’t sell yourself cheap.

The responsibility for ourselves lies with us. There is always someone with a plan, an agenda, and a path that is being presented for someone else’s motives. It is our job to see through the motives and evaluate what is best for us. If we conclude we are worthless, then why not take the easy way out. Why not stand in lines for a small return while satisfying someone else’s agenda that is always wrapped in the beckoning cloth of a better life or an easier existence?

The city of Detroit voted in November 2008. 97% for Mr. Obama; 3% for Mr. McCain. The state of Michigan was 58 to 41. Mr. Obama is returning the favor and has turned the city of Detroit into a ward of the federal government. Much like the older man and the girl. Better life? Easier ways? Someone has been selling this snake oil for millennia.

The city of Detroit has sold itself cheap. We’ll see about the state. We’ll see about the country. The easy way out is neither easy nor the way out.   That is a fundamental.