Work hard and you will be rewarded. That is today’s message.

My Grandparents generation was and is the greatest generation of all time. They suffered through the Great Depression and through hard work, they overcame. They fought in WWII and through hard work, they won.

My parents generation is part of the baby boomers. They were born during or after WWII and many fought in the Vietnam war. Through hard work, they over came the gas shortages, rocky stock markets, housing declines, etc.

My generation is part of the Gen X generation and I honestly don’t know of any major struggles that we have had, other than the Persian Gulf War and then a few other wars and 9/11. But somewhere in the later part of my generation and into the next generation, I have seen a shift in the values of hard work. There is less of a need to get your hands dirty and do a job, but instead there is a perception that people will give you things, because people feel that they are entitled to it.

Kids, hard work will not kill you. It might hurt you, it might give you back pains, it might tire you out, but what I hope that hard work will do is give you a vision of what you want to do with your life. I want to provide my boys with the opportunities that I did not have. I want them to experience things, that I did not as a kid.

What I’m realizing more and more, is that there is another shift in thought process and perception of hard work. I have a feeling that kids today will have a different way of doing this than we did. I think that there will be more trade jobs that are going to studied in school, as the demand will be very high. I think that less kids will goto college, but will focus on things that they have a passion for. I think that you’ll see more and more people, helping others, because it is the right thing to do. I think that you’ll see a change from less outsourcing of jobs to foreign countries, to more people looking to to work hard.

These are my hopes for my kids as they grow older and plan their careers. I hope that they will work hard and work in a career that brings them joy and fulfills them.

Hard work will not be the end of any of us, but doing hard work, for something that we love doing, is rewarding.