- Jun 11, 2015
- 1,174
- 48
The only fact I know for certain is that he didn't earn his job the same way most of us have to.
While there is a lot of inherited wealth in this country, one of the things I've learned about many self-made successes is that they *won't* give lots of cash to their children to set them up with cozy adult lifestyles. They KNOW that trial builds character. We can say that infidelity (which he has admitted to) is a different kind of character trait than work ethic, but it's still about character.
If he and his young wife had been traveling small town to small town throughout the South, trying to find work with a baby on the way, and if he'd managed to find a place where he was able to coach junior high and high school in back-to-back seasons during the school year, while selling shoes during the off-season, things might have been different. If he'd spent years at the high school level, while his wife worked to build her practice in some small, out-of-the-way town....if they'd had to get a small, personal loan - "just this once Mom, I swear, please don't tell Dad" - from his mom to keep the electricity on....if she'd called her dad to ask for a couple cases of baby formula, because child #2 turned out to be a big eater...if they'd ever gone through any sort of real struggle TOGETHER, he probably would've had a lot less interest in stepping out on his wife.
But no. They gave a 23-year-old kid with very little experience a job paying $175,000/year - plus a country club membership - in a town where the median income is $25,000.
It's my opinion that the University did a tremendous disservice to this young man by hiring him and that a more conservative approach to their selection would have been warranted. As for Mr. Summitt, I cannot blame him for taking advantage of what he was gifted, but this does serve as a cautionary tale against giving kids too much.
When you do not earn it, you don't appreciate it nearly as much. And yes, the same goes for ANY sort of gifted entitlement.
LOL an entitlement rant?? Hah ha. Yeah poor people never get in relationships like this.