THE GREATEST GIFT I EVER RECEIVED

During this holiday season when we exchange gifts, I can’t help but marvel at what a wonderful country we are privileged to live in. I’ve received a lot of great gifts during my lifetime, but in 1936 I received the greatest gift of all: A chance to become an American.

America the Wonderful is truly the land of opportunity. The Nazis allowed my parents to leave Germany with only 10 silver dollars and some personal belongings. When we arrived in New York we were practically penniless. The distant relatives who sponsored us did give us a little money so that we could get started with our new lives.

My father had worked for Karstadt, Europe’s largest department store chain at the time. He was the store manager of Karstadt in Braunschweig and he was the shoe buyer for the whole chain. I think it was in 1935 when the Nazis forced Karstadt to fire my father because he was a Jew.

My father never obtained a cushy job in this country. Because he could not speak any English, the only job he could get was running an elevator in a New York building. But he was thankful to get that job. And once he was able to speak English he got jobs selling shoes in Ardmore, Oklahoma and Marshall, Texas (where I graduated from high school). Eventually he managed a shoe store in Galveston.

My father never made a lot of money. He was able to buy a small house in Galveston and a cheap car. My parents were thankful for the opportunity America gave them. We were sure a lot better of then our fellow Jews in those Nazi concentration camps. My parents didn’t complain and whine about their lot in life. And thankfully, they didn’t have a Jessee Jackson or an Al Sharpton playing the race card and victimhood spiel for them.

As for me and my sister (she was born in the U.S.), we were blessed with caring parents. Unlike the situation Walter Williams described in his article “Black Education” [my blog, “Schools of Education Should Be Shut Down” (12-23-09)], our parents encouraged us to do well in school and to get a college education. As a matter of fact, my father beat the crap out of me if I didn’t make good grades. And that worked too.

Although I never experienced any anti-Semitism in Ardmore or in Marshall, I was well aware of the hatred some Americans had for Jews. I remember a sign in front of a New York apartment complex that read, “No Jews or Dogs Allowed.” Why then have Jews done so much better than blacks? Partly because we can blend in with whites, but mostly because Jewish parents have always stressed that if you have a good education you will be able to succeed in the face of discrimination.

After I got out of the army at the end of WWII, I was able to go to college thanks to the GI Bill. My parents helped my sister with her college education and she became a schoolteacher after she graduated. Our schooling provided us with opportunities that are not available to the uneducated.

I never made much money as a cop and I didn’t make a lot more as a college professor either. So what! I’m just thankful to live in this wonderful country of ours and will never forget the greatest gift I ever received: A chance to become an American.