Extraordinary Story of a Boy with Character

This story, originally written by Walter D. Edmonds in 1943, is one that every young person should listen to . . . we live in an age and time where hard work and dedication is a thing of the distant past. It is no longer encouraged or rewarded in our educational systems or in the workplace. These have become places where mediocrity is the norm, who you know is more important that what you can do, and truth is debatable. These have become more valuable that honesty, integrity and hard work. This straightforward tale of a boy, having been left as the oldest of the children in a family whose father who had a reputation of being lazy, went to meet with the Judge to collect one dollar in payment for a calf, will stick with me for a long time. The Judge saw a spark of something in John Haskell that he had never seen in John Haskell's father, and he cared enough to light that little spark until it grew into a flame. In doing so, the Judge propagated a healthy and new generation of Haskells that could hold their head up in the town. Proof positive that we all DO have choices . . . we can become what is easiest to become, we can follow generational curses, or we can take the higher road . . . This is the very first book that I have read/listened to by Walter D. Edmonds, but it surely will not be my last.