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Now, anyone who knows me, knows that one of my passions is culinary arts. So I watch a lot of shows related to that interest. One such show is Gordon Ramsay's "Kitchen Nightmares." Why? Because, if you really watch it, and absorb it, you realize that this show is, most the time, about fixing more than just a failing restaurant.
Now, I know how show-biz works, Ramsay is probably the most successful restaurateur on the planet, and deity among chefs, but he's not a psychologist. Great motivator, but not a psychologist. I'm sure he has a huge stable of advisers for the show, but still...
The 'Kitchen Nightmare' episodes that I enjoy the most are the ones where he goes into a family owned establishment and inevitably comes to figure out that the reason the restaurant is broken is that the family is broken. After he's able to fix the family and it's relationships, and get all of the family members to drop their differences and realize that they're all in it together, it's miraculous to see the changes that happen when the family members all start pulling together in the same direction again. Not only does that turn around a failing business, but it repairs the damaged relationships that caused the failing business in the first place.
The other ones that will bring tears to your eyes are the small "mom-and-pop" places that are on the ropes. A failing restaurant, owned by a guy and his wife, on its last leg. Without fail, Gordon interviews the guy first, and finds out most the time that he's determined to make it work, but has no idea how. He's just as scared and confused as his wife is, but he's just not letting on. And, most of the time, its obviously a situation where if the business fails, the marriage is sure to follow.
Now, my point. In both of the above-mentioned scenarios, when Gordon goes to interview the wives and moms, almost without exception, the first words out of their mouths are: "This place is our future...and its our children's future! If this place goes down...we lose everything, and so will our next generation."
This show isn't just about fixing restaurants, it's also about fixing families, marriages and relationships. As one wife put it so succinctly, speaking through tears, she said; "People like us put everything we have on the line for a dream." Going into business for yourself is not for the faint-of-heart. Otherwise, everyone would do it. But its the life-blood of this nation. That's what makes America great. It IS the land of opportunity. The most moving and touching successes of "Kitchen Nightmares" are the ones where families are repaired, marriages are saved and children regain their futures. Not to mention seeing a business on the brink of bankruptcy turn 180 degrees and become a successful, profitable venture. It takes a tremendous amount of dedication and extremely hard work to do that. Free Enterprise doesn't come for free.
But something occurred to me as I was watching one of those episodes the other night. Under our new president's economic plan, these families are now going to be punished for their success, and taxed right out of existence. So much for the miraculous turn toward success that they worked so very hard to achieve. So much for their futures, and their children's futures. So much for the land of opportunity. It was heartbreaking to make the realization.
As Neil Boortz put it, and I can only paraphrase because I don't have a photographic memory, but it went something like this: "This nation has shown that it can forgive just about anyone. We can forgive violent criminals, we can forgive white-collar felons, we can forgive wife-beaters and even child-molesters, but the one thing this country has shown, time and time again, that it CANNOT forgive, is success!" Welcome to the next four years, folks... this is a tragedy.