ATHOL DICKSON

American Success Story

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How to Go From Janitor to Corporate Executive
Future Corporate Executive?

“When you mop that floor, you make sure it shines and you make sure they know a Montañez did it.” When Richard Montañez went to work as a janitor at a Pepsico factory in 1976, those were his father’s words. According to Montañez, “I took that and have been living that statement ever since. It doesn’t matter who I work for, I work for my last name.”

That’s just one of many wise insights in this report about Montañez’s recent commencement address to the graduating class at Chaffey College, a two year community college in Rancho Cucamonga, California. Speaking to graduates receiving associate degrees and occupational certificates, Montañez shared the story of his rise from a factory janitor to PepsiCo’s director of multicultural sales and marketing across North America. 

Among his other pearls of wisdom:

  • When people tell him he started at the bottom: “No, I started at the beginning.”
  • Moral of a story about being marginalized in grade school because of his ethnicity: “Graduates, remember, you were not created to fit in. You were created to stand out.”
  • Although he dropped out of high school: “I do have a Ph.D.. I’ve been poor, hungry and determined.”

In addition to personal pride and hard work, Richard Montañez used his head and heart to succeed. School was difficult because he never heard English in his parent’s Spanish speaking household. He dropped out of high school. But as an adult he learned to read and write in English. And although he was “only” a janitor, when he had a good idea (Montañez invented Pepsico’s “Flamin’ Hot Cheetos” recipe) he had the courage to suggest it directly to the company’s CEO.

Would they let Richard Montañez speak at U.C. Berkeley?

Montañez’s rags-to-riches story is proof that the American dream still exists today for those willing to take risks and work hard, regardless of one’s roots. “He comes from a modest upbringing; his father and grandfather worked in the vineyards of what was then known as Guasti, near Ontario International Airport. He is one of 11 children, the eldest male.” He had no “privilege” growing up, white or otherwise, yet today he’s on the boards of some of America’s most influential institutions, including the Southern Christian Leadership Conference where he is the first Latino ever to hold that position.

The “can-do” gumption and common sense advice in Montañez’s address to the graduating class of a two year community college stands in stark contrast to the pampered mindset of “safe spaces” and “trigger warnings” so prevalent in our major universities, where faculty and students would rather riot than listen to ideas that make them uncomfortable. Young people desperately need to hear from more people like Richard Montañez. What a pity it is when they won’t allow it.

 

 

When Motives Don’t Matter

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Trump's Motives Don't Matter - Muslim Ban
Sometimes Even Fools Are Right

File this one under “even a broken clock is right twice a day.” Many on both ends of the political spectrum have concerns about the legality of President Trump’s executive order suspending immigration from seven countries with mostly Muslim populations. The most serious challenge rests on the fact that he clearly promised to ban “Muslims” from entering the US when he was campaigning for office. Over at Politico, they put it this way:

“I’d argue that even Muslims not on U.S. soil are protected [by the US Constitution]. Recent case law suggests that no act by a government official—no matter to whom it applies—can be based on disapproval of a race, ethnicity or religion. In other words, when it comes to Equal Protection, it’s the motive of the government and its agents that matters.”

Any government action motivated by discrimination against a person’s religious belief is morally wrong, not to mention unconstitutional, and not to mention foolish. After all, if President Trump were to ban Muslims today based on his alleged bigotry against them, what would stop him from banning Baptists tomorrow, based on the actions of those nasty people from the so-called Westboro “Baptist” Church?

But  a government employee’s personal motive doesn’t always matter, not even the President’s.

Many people believe FDR was personally prejudiced against Asians because of his WWII decision to imprison all Japanese-Americans while leaving citizens of German or Italian descent at liberty. Even the lefties over at the Huffington Post think FDR was a bigot. If they’re right, and if Politico is also right, wouldn’t that mean FDR’s declaration of war against Japan was discriminatory?

Stuff and nonsense, of course.

Sometimes ugly personal motives and righteous public policy align. And in a situation when we know that 100% of Islamic terrorists are self professed Muslims, it is illogical to assert that a more stringent visa application vetting process for foreign Muslims is discriminatory simply because Trump may be personally bigoted against Muslims. That’s doubly true when his policy is focused on a short list of countries with governments which are barely holding onto their own power, and are much too unstable to participate in a reasonably diligent immigration vetting process on their end. Given those facts, which are not about the practice of religion, Trump’s personal motive has nothing to do with the public purpose of the policy, which is sound and reasonable to anyone with common sense.

Might this explain how Donald Trump, a man so clearly filled with foolishness in so many ways, might nonetheless be getting so much right?

This is as good a place as any to mention that I think Donald Trump is a classic example of a Biblical truth. Sometimes God works through people who neither know Him, nor love Him. God does that many times in the Hebrew scriptures, using pagan countries like Babylon and Assyria to discipline Israel and Judah. For example, in one place he calls the ruthless Assyrians the “rod of my anger,” clearly stating that they are tools for his use, in spite of the fact that they oppose everything He stands for. And God sometimes accomplishes his plans through people who seem foolish by our standards. For example, Paul wrote this in connection with his own mission to tell the world about Jesus Christ:

But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. God chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things—and the things that are not—to nullify the things that are, so that no one may boast before him.   (1 Cor. 1:27-29)

Might this explain how Donald Trump, a man so clearly filled with foolishness in so many ways, might nonetheless be getting so much right? Might it explain how anybody gets anything right, since we all make fools of ourselves from time to time?

It’s certainly my theory, and I’m sticking with it.

Tolerance For (Almost) Everyone

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The Big Bag Theory
The show is very funny. The actress, not so much.

Although I’m not a fan of network television, I do enjoy “The Big Bang Theory.” It’s a consistently funny show, which reminds me of such all time greats as “Cheers”, “Seinfeld”, and “Malcolm In the Middle”.

So I was interested when I saw an article entitled “Mayim Bialik: Hollywood is not friendly to people of faith.” Mayim Bialik plays Amy, the geeky girlfriend of Sheldon, played by Jim Parsons, star of The Big Bang Theory. (That’s Bialik in the upper right of the photo.)

In the article Bialik says, “I think in general it’s never going to be trendy to be observant or religious in Hollywood circles.” She also discusses being attacked with anti-Semitic comments on her blog simply because she said “I’ve gone to Israel” to visit a friend.

Christians have long believed the entertainment industry discriminates against us because of our beliefs, but this was the first time I’d heard of a Jew with the same complaint. Wanting to learn more, I went over to Bialik’s blog. Imagine my surprise to discover a post there, in which Bialik bashes a store merely for playing Christian music.

In the post Bialik announces she was “dumbfounded” to realize the music in the background was (gasp!) “singing about Jesus Christ.” When Bialik confronted the manager, who apparently did not share her concern, she “was shocked. I couldn’t stop my mouth from saying the words, ‘I don’t want to shop here,’ and I stumbled out the door.”

This, in a blog which also includes a post about the LGBTQ community which is presented with the hope that it “will inspire respectful conversation” and “build bridges to community and understanding for us all.” Community and understanding for all except Christians, apparently.

In addition to her acting career, Mayim Bialik is a neuroscientist, who wrote a dissertation called “Hypothalamic regulation in relation to maladaptive, obsessive-compulsive, affiliative, and satiety behaviors in Prader-Willi syndrome” (PhD Diss., UCLA, 2007). So Dr. Bialik is not an ignorant woman, or a woman unfamiliar with logic or deductive reasoning. This makes it all the more puzzling that she would complain on the one hand about antisemitism and a generally anti-religious atmosphere in Hollywood, while simultaneously complaining about a store simply because it plays Christian music.

This makes it all the more puzzling that she would complain on the one hand about antisemitism and a generally anti-religious atmosphere in Hollywood, while simultaneously complaining about a store simply because it plays Christian music.

As a Jew and an intelligent person, how can Mayim Bialik not understand that intolerance breeds intolerance? How can she expect the store owners to be silent about their faith, while simultaneously complaining about the Hollywood elite in who want her to keep her Judaism to herself? Does she really expect her fans to sympathize with bashing a store for playing Christian music, and also respect her Judaism? The hypocrisy is breathtaking. Yet this kind of doublethink is popping up everywhere, it seems.

I just left this comment on Bialik’s post:

“I get a little creeped out in home decor shops that sell statues of Buddha or Hindu gods, and I do notice when a Jewish restaurateur or shop owner puts a mezuzah on their door jamb. But so what? If you truly want a pluralistic society, you have to get comfortable with people being who they truly are. Otherwise, you’re just giving lip service to ideas like tolerance and diversity, when what you really want is a world where everyone is just like you.”

It’s too bad I had to write those words to an intelligent woman who is a member of one of history’s most persecuted minorities. Honestly, sometimes it seems like the world has gone insane.