God Helps Those who Help Themselves

One day, when I was five or six, it occurred to me my family is rich. I was riding in the car, on my way to school.

"George," I said to my driver, "Are we rich?"

"You are master Biff."

"How is that, George?"

"Your father is rich."

I pondered what that meant. After I got home from the academy that day, at dinner, I asked my father.

"Daddy, are we rich?"

"Yes," he said, "we have been very blessed. God helps those who help themselves."

"Why, Daddy?"

"Biff, I worked my butt off my whole life. I worked smarter and harder than anyone else, and that's how we got where we are today."

Later, I learned Daddy got his money from his father, who got his money from grandfather, who got it from the ancestor who's portrait hangs in the third floor hallway.

Ancestor is said to have used another man's patent. When the other man sued, after ancestor had made our fortune, ancestor settled out of court for a huge sum. In the report to stockholders, he said legal expenses are just part of the cost of doing business.

I guess they are.

And I guess God really does help those who help themselves.