Hello, My Name Is Bob: The Story of a Common Man

PREFACE

Hello, my name is Bob.
Well, really, it's Robert, but no one calls me that.
Except business acquaintances and salesmen that didn't know me very well.
My mother called me that when I was in trouble.
The IRS always called me Robert.
I'm a common man. I've never had any special talent (I used to think I did, but reality took care of that). I never went to college. I was married at twenty, and when I was twenty-one my wife and I opened a small restaurant. We spent more than forty years in that business. We were moderately successful, not because of entrepreneurial skill or progressive promotions, but because of plain old hard work and perseverance.
Why, then, do I aspire to write a book? Because I believe there are millions like me.
We love our families, and we want the best for them.
We believe in working for our living, and we enjoy the satisfaction of a job well done.
We don't like handouts, because they destroy our initiative and set a bad example for our kids.
We're patriotic. We still get a lump in our throats when Old Glory passes by.
We want to support our government, but we expect our government to respect us as individuals, and not intrude on the freedoms granted to us by our Founding Fathers.
We honor honesty and integrity, and we hope to be such an example to our children and grandchildren.
Outdated? Naive? Perhaps, but aren't those the principles that our country was founded on? Aren't those the principles that made our country great? I believe in them, and I believe there are millions like me. Richard Nixon called us The Silent Majority. Jerry Falwell named us The Moral Majority. Whatever the name, we are, and people need to know how we feel.
I am deeply concerned for the moral strength of our nation. For thirty years we have followed a conscious path away from morality and character. Our young people have been bombarded by profane, adulterous role models in television, movies, and professional athletics. The courts have intruded upon our schools, stripping away the authority of the teachers and administrators. The teaching of morality has been abandoned in our classrooms, but the teaching of immorality has been taught zealously on our television sets.
And the family! We must realize that the moral strength of our country comes from the family. In today's twisted society we can learn the difference between right and wrong only from the family. Only in the family can we acquire the love, nurturing, and stability that a young child so desperately needs. These values and strengths have deteriorated so fast. In our forty plus years in business we have dealt with hundreds, perhaps thousands of young people. I have seen them, as a group segment of the work force, gradually regress from mannerly, hard working, family oriented kids to ill mannered, obnoxious, dishonest young people who care very little about the quality of their work. I believe this can only be attributed to the deterioration of the home, and the values that are taught there.
I must emphasize that these are the thoughts and impressions of a common man. There is nothing scientific about this narrative, no polls or textbook references. I draw only from the experience of a lifetime among people, a lively interest in current events, and a comparison of the times of my youth and the world we live in today.
As you read my story, my thoughts, my philosophies, I doubt that you will agree with everything I say. In fact, I would not expect you to, but perhaps we will find a chord of agreement. Perhaps we share the same work ethic, the same moral ethic, and the same patriotic pride. Perhaps, together, we can call our nation back to morality and a pride of accomplishment. Perhaps we can elevate the family to the honorable position it must have if our country is to thrive. Perhaps we can still be the nation that God wants us to be.