6 MARCH 26 - APRIL 1, 2014
WWW.UPANDCOMINGWEEKLY.COM
As I campaign to represent the people of Cumberland County as County
Commissioner, I feel it is important to explain
how I learned my work ethics and values using
them to continuously strive for success in life.
I cannot express the importance of persistence
better than Calvin Coolidge, our 30th President
of the United States, in his quote "Nothing in
the world can take the place of persistence.
Talent will not; nothing is more common than
unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will
not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb.
Education will not; the world is full of educated
derelicts. Persistence and determination alone
are omnipotent. The slogan 'press on' has
solved and always will solve the problems of the
human race."
My work ethic, values and appreciation of the
value of the dollar were learned during my high
school years while living at the Drumm Farm
Institute in Independence, Mo., a 360 acre farm
where boys from broken homes could go and
live until they graduated from high school at
that time. While I was there, from 1965-69, the
Drumm Farm consisted of 50 boys ages 6-18
years of age.
I was sent to Drumm Farm to live due to
a couple events in my early life. When I was
10 years old, my mother and younger brother
had sudden tragic deaths, which left my father
to raise me as a single parent while still serving in the Army. My father
retired from the Army in 1964 but soon after became very ill. He had to be
hospitalized for an extended period of time. It was then that I went to the
Drumm Farm to live — thanks to the help of the
sisters at the elementary school I attended.
At the Drumm Farm, we were 90 percent
self-sustaining. We slaughtered our own meat,
raised our own vegetables, had dairy cows for
milk, gathered eggs from our chickens and cut
and baled hay for the livestock. Each boy had
his own chores he was responsible for in the
morning and evening, before and after school.
We were rotated among the different chores to
learn all the different aspects of farm life. We
also learned domestic skills such as washing,
ironing clothes, cooking and setting tables. We
were taught all the skills we would need to know
to function on our own in society.
I remember receiving a $2-a-month allowance
as a high school freshman and $3 a month as a
sophomore. This was money we could spend on
ourselves (usually treats) when the house parents
would take our list and go to the grocery store
to buy on a Saturday evening. We did not have
cars and had little money so not much dating
occurred with the Drumm boys on weekends.
My time at Drumm Farm Institute is where my
work ethics, values, and respect for others were
formed,
and I
believe
I am a better man because of my
time there.
JOHN CZAJKOWSKI
Candidate
Cumberland County Commissioner (At
Large) COMMENTS? Editor@upand-
comingweekly.com. 910.484.6200.
My Learned Work Ethic and Values
by JOHN CZAJKOWSKI
John Czajkowski Candidate for Cumberland County
Commissioner (At Large).