The kind of work ethic that made America great

In his Sunday piece for the Mount Pleasant Morning Sun, Dennis Lennox describes how a simple shoe shine at an airport led to a chance encounter with a man who personifies the phrase “picking yourself up by your own bootstraps.”

The owner of the shoe shine stand at Flint’s Bishop Airport, Joe, is a 64-year-old who has an inspiring autobiography about his rise from poverty.

Here’s a taste of Lennox’s piece:

"Joe showed me the American Dream is alive and well despite all the doom and gloom from the naysayers, the career politicians, the rabid partisan ideologues and the talking heads on television. "His is the story shared by countless others past and present, born without much means, who through hard work and an entrepreneurial, go get ‘em attitude made something of themselves in a society that has always championed equal opportunity – not outcome – for all.”

You can read more here.