Developing a Work Ethic

Mom and Dad’s attic held boxes of things I had forgotten about years ago.

Going through them years later, I discovered one of the boxes had my old GRIT bag in it. When I first saw the ad to sell the GRIT newspaper, I just knew my fortune was set. I sent my name in, and in just a few short days, I was in the paper business and developing a work ethic. After buying a used bicycle for $15, I set out to make my fortune. In 1958, I think they sold for 20 cents a paper, and I kept a nickel.

My route was eight miles on mostly dirt roads, and come rain or snow, my papers were delivered. In the summer months, most customers would be sitting on their porch waiting for me to bring them their paper.

Selling the GRIT newspaper taught me about being responsible and trustworthy. A dollar per week may not seem like much today, but it bought my school clothes in 1958. Up until this year, we had hundreds of copies of GRIT that Mother kept.

One of my customers was a local store owner, who, seeing how I handled my paper route, asked me to help him in the store. While working in the store, I became friends with a store customer who later asked me to work at his service station in the city. So you see how one thing led to another as I was developing my work ethic.

Thank you, GRIT, for giving me the opportunity to sell your paper and be one of your newspaper carriers, and I really feel it helped me as much in life as anything I have done since.