There's no substitute for hard work

I had the fortune last week to speak to honor students at my alma mater, Gibson Southern High School near Ft. Branch IN. The first night I spoke to 6th through 12th graders and on the second night it was 1st through 5th graders. I must admit that I was a little nervous. I hadn't been in my high school gym since graduating 26 years ago this month, and there were a handful of my classmates there probably questioning if I was worth their time.

I took the opportunity to talk about the value of working hard, looking for opportunities to stand out from the crowd and getting outside one's "comfort zone" to learn something different. I told the 6th through 12th graders that their parents give them advice and responsibility based on many more years of experience; they, in turn, are best served listening to them and not questioning when they heard the dreaded word: "no."

That is a summary of my life experiences and I have my parents to thank. Both of mine were hard-working, dedicated and headstrong. My dad was a truck driver and my mother worked at home and later in a furniture factory. They put "first things first" and somewhere along the way, it rubbed off on me. Little did I know that their example was being engraved in me and how much the adage to "work hard" would play out in my life.

Today, many students don't have that example at home. Modern America's staggering divorce rates and other struggles leave us with many single-parent homes and lost opportunities to instill sustaining values in kids' minds. I, myself, split custody of my two teenage sons with their mother and I try to make up for that lost time by purposely looking for chances to make points and teach them lessons that will hopefully make them successful adults.

I've found hard work will overcome many obstacles. There are no shortcuts. The same goes for good parenting.