Around our house when a series of bad luck or a petty controversy arises, we have a saying “This too shall pass,” and praise God, it always has. I must believe this also applies to our country as we are ploughing some rough seas just now.

The reason I believe this is true is because there are enough “Godly” people here that God will continue to bless us. However, this will only happen if enough of us work to make it happen. For this to take place, we must pause and think about how truly blessed we are as a people. To be sure, there is more opportunity here for personal success than any other place on earth. At this point I need to remind you that Americans need a hand-up and not a hand-out. What I am really talking about is attitude, and this is something on which we can all work.

I think back to my first job, driving a sales route for List Laundry in Pine Bluff, Arkansas. After the first few weeks the owner, Chester List, came by my truck and wanted to look inside to see how many clothes I had picked up. He must have been impressed as conditions improved in his company for me. Since they still taught American history in school back when I was there, I had learned the price of freedom and that this produced real opportunity. When it comes to opportunity I have this attitude: Give me opportunity and then get out of my way. That has been my attitude ever since my early days in the American labor market.

After I dropped out of college and moved to our state’s capital city, Little Rock, I had a positive optimistic attitude, and it has served me well. My first job was in the stock room for a major printer, taking paper to the printing presses. After a few months I was given a raise and promoted into the plant to run the machines, even ran the 60-inch cutting machine on the night shift by myself. Next, I used this experience to get a printing sales job for another printer on straight commission. I went from $125 a month draw to $25,000 a year on straight commission. Because the man who hired me, Bert Parke, was very civic minded, I got involved in the Chamber of Commerce, the United Way, served on the Quorum Court and was also a member of a large church in the community. 

Then I took the Dale Carnegie Course, and two years later the instructor invited me to go into business with him to distribute the Earl Nightingale Attitude Motivation Courses produced on cassette tapes. I was very successful and led the nation in sales for these courses. From there to a daily radio program, syndicated newspaper column, and writing 11 books.

I only share this to amplify my journey of “give me opportunity and then get out of my way.” Friends, this is the kind of country we have, unlike any other in the world. Along the way I learned that 85 percent of our success is due to attitude and only 15 percent to skill and knowledge. Our new book, “Keep Your Fork,” that I co-authored with my wife Janis spells it out. If we are to continue to be a great nation, we must return to God. The way we do this is to begin to have revivals in churches across the country. This will take some time, but we can do it, and this will preserve the greatest nation in the history of the world for generations to come.

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(Jim Davidson is an author, public speaker, syndicated columnist, and Founder of the Bookcase for Every Child project. Since its inception in the Log Cabin Democrat in 1995, Jim’s column has been self-syndicated in over 375 newspapers in 35 states. For a personalized copy of “Your Future Begins Today” send $20, which includes postage and handling, to Jim Davidson, 2 Bentley Drive, Conway, AR 72034.)