The profile I chose to analyze was Bill Seward. He ran a small
bar/restaurant that his father handed down to him. The down was dying around
him, at one point being the only business in town still standing. We need to remember
the importance of keeping a family business going. The culture and spirit of
that business makes up the lifeblood of any town, not just a small town. I have
traveled all over the country, and whatever town in a town I try to find a
local place to eat. That’s how you immerse in the culture. The theme of holding onto your culture is the
strongest theme out there. Without these mom and pap locations, franchises and
corporations overrun us. In a way this steals our American Identity, the thing
that has built this country and what makes it so strong. This story reminds me
of the person I chose to interview for my essay two project. He is a member of
a fourth generation restaurant. They struggle against large corporations
everyday much like Bill Seward. They are fighting to keep their place relevant in
an every changing world. To me this is a shame. We need to hold onto these
places and keep them in our future.
The biggest values I saw in Holding On, were the idea of finding what you love and hold onto
that. Too many people hate what they do. If you look at anyone in this book you
will see people doing what they are passionate about and having very few
regrets. The next value I saw was the idea of holding onto our past. Several
profiles we read about involved professions that are a dying breed. Such as the
grain loader and the door-to-door salesman. These jobs, and jobs like them
built this nation and it is a shame that people look down upon these jobs and
forget about them. I understand that we live in an every changing nation. But I
implore you to find what you’re passionate about and find something that’s fading
from this country and try your best to hold onto it.
I always try and eat at local, family owned restaurants too. I love the character that these places have. I'd rather spend my money at Buns in Delaware than Applebees anyday! It is very fun to find these types of places while traveling out of town.
ReplyDeleteI couldn't agree with you more about finding what you love to do and holding on to that. I've always said one of my main goals in life is to never work a day in my life, because I want to be loving what I do so much that it won't seem as if it is work. I also like the ideas you brought in about Seward's profile. It's awesome that you get to travel a lot and stop at random little restaurants to eat at. Someday I'd like to do that myself!
ReplyDeleteHey Corey thanks for the interesting insight! That is very interesting when you are talking about local businesses and restaurants I always like trying new places and most of the time they have amazing food or products and very nice people with a cool history.
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ReplyDeleteGreat work Mr. Cory. Loved reading this post. I believe too that the theme love comes to mind almost every time I read one of these stories. See love is something that isn't said often about many things especially people. That being said I believe that every time in this book when we realize that they are holding on to something they are also expressing the love that they have for this hobby or person. This was one of the better posts that I had the opportunity to read so i applaud you for that. Great work and tell your brother I said hi.
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