I grew up in a tiny Baltimore row house in a faraway mountain area。 My parents provided the necessities of life。but they couldn’t give much more。
If I asked my father for a pair of jeans, he would say, “If you want them, make the money and buy them yourself 。” He wasn’t being mean; he just couldn’t afford them。
From age 12 on, I did part-time jobs after school。
When I graduated from high school, I joined the navy。 Soon I was in a boot camp at Parris Island, S。
C。, where I learned that life in the navy centered around completing daily
tasks 。 These could be anything from cleaning the camp to conducting mock(模拟的) battles。
Completing these tasks successfully required discipline, team-work and responsibility。 It didn’t
matter whether you were black, white or Asian; everyone worked together for the good of the company。
I went on to graduate from the U。S。 Naval Academy and later became an officer in the navy。 The part of my job I enjoyed most was the comseling(咨询) meeting I held with the family members of the men and women in my charge , trying to help them deal with the long periods of separation 。
These proved popular and word of them spread。 Before long I was being asked to give encouraging speeches to business groups, educators and keds across the country。
But I consider the boot camp my first real job , and my life is still guided by the
important lessons I hearned there。 It taught me discipline, friendship and the pride related to setting a task every day and working hard to achieve it。
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我在遥远的山城巴尔的摩市的一栋小排房里长大。我父母提供了生活的必需品;除此之外,他们再也无能为力了。如果我要父亲给我买一条牛仔裤,他会说,“如果你想要牛仔裤,你自己挣钱买吧。
”他不是不想买,而是买不起。自12岁以起,在放学后,我就打临工了。
高中毕业后,我到海军服役。 不久我就来到了位于南卡罗莱纳州帕里什岛的海军新兵训练营地。在新兵训练营地,我了解了海军生活一切以完成日常任务为中心。
这些任务可能是从打扫营地到进行模拟战斗训练等任何事务。要成功地完成这些任务要求有纪律,团队精神和责任心。不管你是黑人,白人,还是亚洲人,都没有关系;人人都为连队利益而共同战斗。
我继续进入海军学院学习,毕业后,成为一名海军军官。
在我的工作中,我最喜欢的工作就是由我主持召开的我部家属咨询会议,尽力帮助他们处理长期分居问题。这些工作证明是很受欢迎的;并且广为传颂。不久,我应邀到全国各地向企业集团,教育工作者和学生进行励志演讲。
但是,我仍然把新兵训练营看作我的首要的真正的工作,并且,我的生活依然以我在那里学到的重要的知识为指导。 它教给了我与每天规定一项任务以及努力工作完成该项任务相关的纪律,友谊和自豪。