Influences come in many forms

Thanks to Mr. Doug Beyerlein for getting it right in his Friday letter, “Parents, teachers, jobs all helped me.” The original letter writer completely missed the point in his narrow interpretation of what President Obama meant when he said “You didn’t build that,” or paraphrasing, if you’re a success today you didn’t do it on your own.

Apparently more than one person interpreted Obama as meaning that it is, or was, the “government” that helped you build success. This is true, but only in a minimal way and not in all cases. Student loans, small business loans, and the like may have helped, but the list of support is far greater for most everyone and does not include the government. My own college education costs were supplemented with GI Bill benefits from serving during the Vietnam era, though that educational support was only a part of who I am or what I did or do.

We all stand on the shoulders of someone else, whether it’s family, educators, mentors, banks, bosses, colleagues, etc., in short all those who had a hand in our lives. Likewise we have had a hand in helping others in some way we likely couldn’t identify. You might claim success in your own business for the work you’ve done, but you did it with a lot of input and support from outside yourself.

Michael Dahlstrom

Everett