In this chapter, two friends who had not seen each other in years joined a wildlife rescue team to determine security of bald eagle fledglings in a vast natural recreation area. After the work was complete they went camping as a reward. What happened that evening in the rugged wilderness taught as much about nature, as it did about strength, precision and determination, in a man named Peter Churchfield. Who made a fortune while all those around him were losing theirs. Continuing the conversation from last time…
Bernie gave Peter a look of disbelief. “Really?”
I could see he was beginning to share my sense of pride.
“I have a tendency to hit walls,” Peter responded. “In what would seem like enough physical pain for any one person, I sustained subsequent injuries that required seventeen orthopedic operations.”
Bernie sucked air through his teeth. “Jesus!”
Peter replied, “I got through them all and feel very blessed.”
Night engulfed the clearing where we three now stood around the fire. Beyond the trees was pitch black, but above, a halo of stars twinkled.
“Peter, you worked hard and worked a lot,” I said. “You got no lucky streak, no lottery win, no reality show contract. Sounds like you understand elbow grease—as it applies to manufacturing and to sales. You didn’t expect something for nothing.”
Bernie brushed back his thinning hair with his flat hand. “That wasn’t how most of my friends made their money. I hung around people who got rich speciously. That’s why listening to you talk makes me uncomfortable. You took the high road; they took any road.
“The way I grew up,” Bernie continued, “if you were at the best schools or highest levels of business, there were always ways to cheat the system. I watched it happen. Even in the public sector, cheating the system is rampant. Those kinds of people add no benefit to creating jobs whatsoever!”
I saw the need to help everyone to take a breath. “Bernie, Peter’s strong financial sense came over time selling office copiers and printers, not from reading theory in college textbooks. It took decades for him to learn all he did and connect it spiritually to his imperfect personality and then create the perfect storm of his financial success. But it was his conservative values and his ability to quickly recover from adversity that kept him tracking. He believes it was his old-fashioned courage and unwavering honesty that supported his quiet success.
“In college, to supplement his meager scholarship, he took classes at night and found employment with a company that made diesel engines. After he graduated, Peter could have worked in an office, but he chose the factory floor so he could work as many hours as possible.”
Continued here next time.
Read the complete story in the book, The Quiet Rich: Ordinary People Reawakening an American Dream.
Kevin J. Palmer, Author
