We have all seen President Obama’s ‘The Life of Julia’ and understand the editorial beauty of designing a life on paper that few if any will achieve. Another promise by a politician of the easy life which will never unfold. On the other hand is the reality of pride and self-reliance which has actually made America the great country it is today. At this time in our country’s history, we are in danger of losing that pride and self-reliance that fueled our parents, grand-parents and the generations before them to achieve their American Dream. Here is the story and achievements of one such woman…
The Life of Josephine
When Josephine is five years old, her mother dies unexpectedly leaving behind sixteen children including a new born baby. Josephine is raised by her father and her older sisters who take on not only her care but her education. In spite of the hole in her heart from the loss of her mother, Josephines childhood is happy one thanks to her loving father and brothers and sisters.
Josephine marries Louis-Phillipe at age 25. Children start to come and they are born at home. Louis-Phillipe pays off doctor bills through hard work, entailment’s and labor.
Josephine and Louis-Phillipe leave off farming and head for a new life on the coast. With six children in tow, they arrive at a relative’s house where they lodge temporarily. Louis-Phillipe takes a job as a longshoreman despite the fact that he is only 4’11”. Josephine secures housing for her family, once in a converted chicken coop, for a time in a Church hall, and finally in a rental house where Josephine misleads the landlord as to how many children she has. When the landlord makes an unexpected visit, he is impressed by the way Josephine maintains the home and her children. He allows them to stay.
Josephine sends her oldest son, Roger, to a Catholic school run by nuns. The school is in the heart of their little french community, but the nuns teach in English so that the children will learn the language. Roger doesn’t speak English, so he is sent back a grade. He is bullied and teased and learns how to take and give a punch. One particular kid teases him so much he eventually becomes his best friend and brother-in-law. Roger learns to speak English and develops a lifelong admiration for the sisters.
Louis Phillipe takes Roger down to the river on his days off and together they salvage wood which they use to build a house. Once finished, they sell the house and with the proceeds are able to buy another on a three acre property. Josephine maintains a garden for the family and keeps chickens and a cow that she milks herself. Louis-Phillipe fixes up and adds on to the house bit by bit as their finances allow.
Josephine gives birth to her 9th child. The baby is sick and must stay in the hospital. Josephine pumps milk at home and 12-year-old Roger takes the bottle to the hospital for his baby sister. Baby Genevieve passes away, Josephine and Louis-Phillipe bury their daughter.
Roger graduates high school and takes a job at the mill. He and his brothers and sisters work and contribute their paychecks to the family. One daughter shows an aptitude for college and with the family’s pooled resources they pay for her university education and she gets her teaching degree. Roger gets married, and when his first son is about to be born, he is laid off. It’s Christmas, so Roger sells Christmas trees to get by. Roger buys a backhoe and starts hiring himself out to construction companies. Eventually he starts his own company; working dawn to dusk six days a week begins to pay off. It is a good year when Roger is able to present his parents and his younger siblings with a color T.V. for Christmas.
Louis-Phillipe passes away when Josephine is 65. She lives on Louis-Phillipe’s longshoreman pension and her own Social Security. She sells off portions of her property to add to her income.
Children grown, Josephine uses her savings to travel. She keeps herself busy and attends daily Mass. Children and grandchildren fill the house for Sunday dinners. At Christmas, every grandchild gets a present, and no birthday passes without a small check from Grandma Josephine. Josephine buries another child, watches her grandchildren marry, and becomes a great-grandmother many times over. Her birthday celebrations are joyful events.
Josephine is getting old and the little house which has grown from two bedrooms to five is too big for her. Once set on the outskirts of town, the neighborhood has built up around it and it is now on a busy street. Josephine moves to a small apartment.
Josephine passes away at 89 with her surviving 9 children by her side. Her descendants number 99 when they gather to mourn and to celebrate the life of their revered matriarch. Amazingly, Josephine is able to leave something for each of her children and grandchildren. All of this accomplished without ever having received a welfare check.
Josephine is not a composite, nor is she fictional. Her blood runs in my veins. The number of her descendants is now over 150 and growing, and they still possess an enviable esprit de coeur. It is the Josephines of the world that we have to thank for forging great nations and showing us how to achieve lofty goals. Cradle to grave government dependents like the fictional Julia that we met this week would never board a rickety ship to an unknown land or trek across the country in a covered wagon to start a new life. Julias don’t toil and struggle for what they want, they are insulted even at the suggestion. They don’t leave rich legacies like the Josephines of the world, nor do they inspire or compel others to try and do better for themselves.
God help those who think we should aspire to become a nation of Julias.
J.C., May 4, 2012, Pasadena Ca.
President Obama wants to give you his version of an American Dream. I want my children and my grandchildren to learn about pride and self-reliance in order to have their own American Dream and this November I will be casting my vote for Josephine and not for Julia. What about you?
Navy Gentleman
The difference between a citizenry that accept responsibility and ones that won't is stark.
And the results are start too. I don't want to live in a collapsed USSR style of life.
The Josephine in my life was my mother, Carmen but she……..
had only four children because when she was 36…….
her husband died (1948) leaving behind his 7, 5, 4 and 2 year old children.
Being poor was really not that bad because, thanks to our Josephine,…….
we maintained our family unity and dignity.
Self reliance is more than the American dream, it's a dream that humankind has sought since the beginning of time, and that's what made The United States such a great nation, it was built by people striving for self reliance.
Hmmm, are you the same bashley who was cast into the Breitbart scrutinizer wilderness some months back? Either way, welcome to a more civil and conservative forum.
Yes the same thank you.
You mean there's no Totalitarian Utopia?
Glad to see you out and about bash.
Thanks Petro, maybe the problem with liberals, socialists, progressive, whatever you want to call them is that utopia is what they seek, and Petro you and I both know that doesn't exist except for those that provide it for themselves. You can't ask for or expect utopia, you have to create it for yourself.
Utopia has always been a bait and switch proposition……
The utopia dangled in front of the masses by the state doesn't exist. It's a promise that's never kept because it's a lie to begin with.
The utopia that does exist, can only be reached by hard work and self-reliance.
The problem is that hard work and self-reliance is never used in describing a utopia…..
Not when it's being described by a politician anyway….
That must be why, when it comes to honesty, most politicians rank below used car salesman….
At least with a used car salesman you can leave and find a better one. Seems we're stuck with same thing over and over again with politicians….
Have you read Mark Levin's "Ameritopia"? Good book. You have to slog through summaries of Plato's Republic and the like, but you can see that as much as mankind has wanted to be self-reliant, there have also been people who want utopia, but probably what they really want is to be the elite ruling over that utopia.
As Deus said above – it's a bait and switch. Utopia, whether it goes by socialism, fascism, communism, does not perform as advertised. It is advertised as "heaven on earth", but it devolves into tyranny and death.
Yeah loved it, after Liberty and Tyranny I read it as soon as it came out.
I'm reading Jonah Goldberg's "The Tyranny of Cliches" right now. Always enlightening as was his "Liberal Fascism".
Thanks for posting this a a main feature. It tells the story of humanity at its best.
My parents were raised dirt poor. Daddy was a fur trapper and sheep shearer. Mom got a job with an insurance company until we came along. Dad changed to a sheep rancher and Mom eventually became a Real Estate Broker. They showed us how to make a life where there is breath. They did not go crawling to the govt to make ends meet. I do remember the govt getting in the way. They made money too expensive to borrow for ranch operations so profits went to interest instead of a barn roof. I am sure that the govt took a portion of my parents' hard earned money and gave it to that idiotic Julia.
Nicely written Navy, thank you.
Self reliance, individual accountability, morality in general. 3 things Liberals/Progressives abhor.
a story I can relate to….
Thank you Navy Gentleman. Many here will understand that Josephine, not Julia, runs in our veins, and are thankful for it.
Josephine births happy, striving people, who become TEA party Grandmas & Grandpas, volunteers for their communities, candy stripers for hospital patients, visitors for shut in veterans….
Julia has removed our volunteers from our communities… it is beneath her.
Hallie Lonnigan, good music for this thread. (this is Katy Creek Band, I wish Tom Russell's version was up, could not find it.)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WIGVDdxHSgg
Josephine sounds an awful like people in my family, including people who were not American. My mother's family made a life for themselves in England after the war – Polish refugees. And never went on the dole, not even when their unions went on strike. My grandmother would work another job, or stay home with my mom and uncle, and my grandfather would find work elsewhere.
My father's parents were the same – a coal miner/carpenter and a seamstress. My grandmother even worked well into her 70s whenever she needed extra money. No moss grew under her feet!
And yes, that is what this country is about – self-reliance. If people like Julia were the first to come here, we'd be a Third World country right now, and likely still a colony of Great Britain or some other European nation.
No, this country was founded by adventurers, freedom lovers, independent, self-reliant people. And that is why America IS GREAT!
Julia is a communist drone.
Boy howdy!
My Grandpa (on my mother's side) drank himself to death when my mother was 7, leaving my Grandma with 7 children to raise.
Even when all the children were grown Grandma still lived out her life for her grandchildren- making herself available when ever needed for sitting duties or emergencies.
Yeah, Josephine is not only the American dream, it's the American way of life. It's what seperates us from becoming the third world nations because we couldn't even produce our own dignity.
Thanks for sharing, NavyGent…
Josephine was undoubtedly given her name by her parents. Julia was given her name by Obama. Cradle to grave welfare means cradle to grave control. They'll name ya, rear ya, educate ya, pick a job for ya, tell ya where to live and tell ya to just be happy.