For some reason, today, I remembered a wonderful story that my father told me. My father was born way back in 1937. He was born in Israel before it was Israel, and he is gifted with an exceptional memory (unlike my own).
He grew up poor in Tel Aviv, but he says, although they were poor, there were families poorer still. For example, there was the family down the street that ran a juice stand to survive.
Somehow, this poor family managed to send their two sons to America. The two brothers landed with $25 and hope. They were the Nakash brothers. If you know the history of the Nakash brothers, you know that, in the 1970s and 1980s, they became wealthy because they came up with the idea of designer jeans. Their brand was Jordache, which was the original designer jean brand.
Before that, jeans were just considered rough work wear. Part of their genius was turning an inexpensive, everday item into a coveted piece of fashion, which they did through some ingenious advertising on local television networks in New York.
They became more and more successful. Eventually, they were worth millions. Now, their family is worth billions. Being good sons, they wrote back to Mom, who was still tirelessly working the juice stand back in Tel Aviv, getting old, and they asked her to come to America with them.
She refused. She said it was nice that things were going well, but, after all, she had better keep the juice stand going just in case. You never know in this life. As a refugee from Syria, I am sure she had learned life was difficult and maybe she was happy her sons were doing well, but success can be fleeting and a mother wants to know her sons can always count on her.
Well, this put the Nakash brothers in a bind. The only way to get their mother to stop working at the juice stand was to ostentatiously go to retrieve her. They went back to Tel Aviv and rented a limo. They went to the juice stand in the limo to get their Mom.
At first, their mother was angry. "What are you boys doing throwing around your money as though you were millionaires? It is wasteful and crazy!"
"But, Mom," they said. "We are millionaires!" She finally understood. That is what it took for her to realize that the juice stand was no longer needed.
Now, the Nakash family has diversified and has many business interests, but I love this story. It is a literal rags to riches story. I can't find the part about the juice stand anywhere on the internet, but I know Dad's memory. If any details are inaccurate, it is only because I did not transcribe his memories accurately since he told me this story a few years ago. I should ask him again.
What I love about this story is that it shows that if you give people the opportunity, they can do amazing things. This is something that I think crypto gives us to some extent, but which is missing for many people in the world today.
There are many very exceptional, intelligent people who are simply trapped by poverty with no means of escape. That reminds me of something Trevor Noah wrote in his excellent autobiographical book "Born a Crime." He said that a friend of his who used to make pirated versions of music stopped doing that and sold him the necessary equipment at a price he could afford. Then, young Noah was able to make money. It wasn't quite an honest living, something Noah feels some guilt over, but it was what got him out of poverty and allowed him to pursue his dream of being a stand up comedian.
What Noah said was that everyone needs some sort of break so that they can actually make it. The Nakash brothers had very little, but they were able to come to America, they were allowed to do business, and they prospered in a big way. Then they had to convince Momma it was okay to close the juice stand. I wish every person could have some sort of opportunity to succeed in this life. That would be amazing.
