Those stories are certainly inspiring. Here in Venezuela, a country that received many immigrants from all over the world, especially from Europeans involved in WWII, when people started to complain about the advantages these foreigners had and all their money and success, there was always a self-made man story to shut all those complaining voices.
Peoples have short memory and must always be reminded of the past. That’s why totalitarian governments invest so much in propaganda and in rewriting history. They erased the past and substitute it for one that is convenient for their ideologizing purposes.
There was always a story (before the chavista revolution), and I think all of us had witnessed one of these stories one way or another, of a turco (Turkish, we called Turkish any middle-easterner, the category was extended to Portuguese, Italians and basically any white foreigner) who arrived to our country with nothing, without even speaking the language. They started as peddlers, selling items for store owners; they would eat little to save money to buy more items to resell.
Little by little, they would stop walking around and start selling on a bike, then a motorcycle, and finally a car. They would go to the most remote places, and give people furniture on credit (at a time inflation was not a problem) and religiously go collecting every week or every month, patiently getting their money back, plus some interest.
That was the only way a farmer would be able to afford a mattress or a closet.
Next thing you know these turcos had their own stores, built their own buildings and became millionaires.
The narrative changed with the arrival of the left and all these people and their descendants were presented as exploiters, responsible for the poverty of the majority. For 20 years people were instilled the idea that the government should provide them with everything. That the riches of the country are supposed to be distributed equitably. That’s why some Venezuelans are having such a hard time now in other countries. They forgot how to work hard.
Turcos would tell us, when asked how they got their fortunes, that on Saturdays and Sundays, while we were in the beaches wasting the money we earned during the week, they were making money selling us all the beach items we demanded.
Thanks for telling us this. And even in our own country of South Africa, people got lazy, don't want to work and then expect lots. Buildings are becoming ran-shackled and no one cares.
You basically got the main idea of what I have in my next blog... But you can see what our immigrant guy did to grow rich.