WEBVTT - A Good Name Is the Greatest Inheritance

0:00:10.160 --> 0:00:13.760
<v Speaker 1>This is Lee Habib and this is our American Stories,

0:00:13.760 --> 0:00:16.720
<v Speaker 1>and we tell stories about everything here on this show,

0:00:16.880 --> 0:00:19.520
<v Speaker 1>from the arts to sports and business to history and

0:00:19.600 --> 0:00:22.960
<v Speaker 1>everything in between, including your stories. Send them to our

0:00:23.120 --> 0:00:26.960
<v Speaker 1>American Stories dot com. They're some of our favorites. And

0:00:27.000 --> 0:00:30.760
<v Speaker 1>we love to bring you stories about families and about ethics,

0:00:31.040 --> 0:00:34.199
<v Speaker 1>and today we bring you a story about both. It's

0:00:34.240 --> 0:00:37.880
<v Speaker 1>the story of a father, Steve Raikman, and his son Mike.

0:00:38.720 --> 0:00:44.280
<v Speaker 1>Here's Robbie with the story. Mike Raikman owns a mortgage company.

0:00:45.400 --> 0:00:47.479
<v Speaker 1>Being in the real estate business. Runs in the family

0:00:47.560 --> 0:00:49.599
<v Speaker 1>from his father, Steve side.

0:00:50.080 --> 0:00:53.600
<v Speaker 2>He started off going to school to become a priest,

0:00:53.840 --> 0:00:57.840
<v Speaker 2>believe it or not, and luckily for me, he dropped out.

0:00:58.160 --> 0:01:00.240
<v Speaker 2>But he and my mom our high school sweethearts and

0:01:00.360 --> 0:01:03.520
<v Speaker 2>you had five kids together and basically took over his

0:01:03.640 --> 0:01:07.480
<v Speaker 2>father in law's business, which was basically a damage appraiser.

0:01:10.920 --> 0:01:16.080
<v Speaker 3>We were builders and consultants. We did some contracting, mostly

0:01:16.520 --> 0:01:22.960
<v Speaker 3>repairs of fire damage, and we did consulting to insurance companies.

0:01:23.360 --> 0:01:26.000
<v Speaker 3>We would have to write up the specifications for repair

0:01:26.120 --> 0:01:29.400
<v Speaker 3>and estimate the damage.

0:01:30.280 --> 0:01:31.520
<v Speaker 4>I was the young guy.

0:01:31.520 --> 0:01:35.400
<v Speaker 3>So I got to go to all the dangerous places.

0:01:36.040 --> 0:01:38.319
<v Speaker 3>I was shot out a few times. I had people

0:01:38.400 --> 0:01:41.080
<v Speaker 3>come after me with knives. I was young, so I

0:01:41.080 --> 0:01:47.760
<v Speaker 3>could run fast. One time I was in the South

0:01:47.800 --> 0:01:52.840
<v Speaker 3>Bronx and the local group of I guess it was

0:01:52.880 --> 0:01:58.080
<v Speaker 3>a gang, saw me go into this four story apartment house.

0:01:58.880 --> 0:02:01.680
<v Speaker 3>It had multiple fires in it. There's no one living

0:02:01.720 --> 0:02:04.320
<v Speaker 3>in it, and typically I would go up to the

0:02:04.400 --> 0:02:07.040
<v Speaker 3>roof to measure the building and then I'd work my

0:02:07.160 --> 0:02:10.840
<v Speaker 3>way down. So they thought it would be fun to

0:02:10.960 --> 0:02:13.560
<v Speaker 3>set the building on fire below me.

0:02:17.240 --> 0:02:19.680
<v Speaker 4>So I'm on the roof and I see the spell

0:02:19.760 --> 0:02:23.400
<v Speaker 4>coming up and I said, no, this is this is

0:02:23.600 --> 0:02:24.720
<v Speaker 4>just a pain in and neck.

0:02:25.560 --> 0:02:31.880
<v Speaker 3>So I had to jump across courtyards to the building

0:02:31.960 --> 0:02:34.639
<v Speaker 3>next to it, out and into the street and got

0:02:34.680 --> 0:02:37.919
<v Speaker 3>away from the gang. I wanted to either fry me

0:02:38.120 --> 0:02:41.000
<v Speaker 3>or beat me up or still steal whatever.

0:02:42.080 --> 0:02:46.840
<v Speaker 4>That was just work. That's what we did every day.

0:02:49.040 --> 0:02:51.400
<v Speaker 1>But what creates the kind of man that puts himself

0:02:51.440 --> 0:02:52.200
<v Speaker 1>on the line like that.

0:02:53.200 --> 0:02:56.680
<v Speaker 3>I was born and raised in Long Island. We lived

0:02:56.800 --> 0:03:02.760
<v Speaker 3>in a small house with my mother's parents, and there

0:03:02.840 --> 0:03:08.720
<v Speaker 3>was my sister and my parents. My father was a

0:03:08.840 --> 0:03:15.280
<v Speaker 3>very strong Irish Catholic. I must have been around five

0:03:15.360 --> 0:03:19.680
<v Speaker 3>or six, and we were sitting at the dinner table,

0:03:19.840 --> 0:03:25.360
<v Speaker 3>all six of us would always eat together, and I

0:03:25.560 --> 0:03:30.680
<v Speaker 3>was making fun of the garbage man, and he pulls

0:03:30.760 --> 0:03:35.840
<v Speaker 3>me out of the dining room, and he furrows his

0:03:35.920 --> 0:03:42.600
<v Speaker 3>eyebrows and says, never ever make fun of any person

0:03:43.080 --> 0:03:47.280
<v Speaker 3>that does an honest day's work for an honest day's pay.

0:03:49.040 --> 0:03:52.080
<v Speaker 3>I don't care what his color, what his speech is.

0:03:53.320 --> 0:03:58.000
<v Speaker 3>An honest man is to be respected. And that always

0:03:58.040 --> 0:04:03.640
<v Speaker 3>stood with me. My father once said to me, I'm

0:04:03.680 --> 0:04:08.200
<v Speaker 3>giving you my name. There's nothing wrong with it. Make

0:04:08.240 --> 0:04:12.160
<v Speaker 3>sure you pass it on as clean as I gave

0:04:12.200 --> 0:04:15.440
<v Speaker 3>it to you. It's Matt meant a lot, you know.

0:04:15.680 --> 0:04:18.800
<v Speaker 3>He always said this one thing. You have two hands,

0:04:18.839 --> 0:04:22.240
<v Speaker 3>and one is to work and one is to help

0:04:22.279 --> 0:04:29.280
<v Speaker 3>your neighbor. That's basically the way my value system was

0:04:29.320 --> 0:04:31.200
<v Speaker 3>structured from a young man.

0:04:33.600 --> 0:04:36.520
<v Speaker 1>Steve's father also instilled in him a father's duty to

0:04:36.600 --> 0:04:37.120
<v Speaker 1>his family.

0:04:37.760 --> 0:04:42.359
<v Speaker 3>When I got out of college, I worked for a

0:04:42.360 --> 0:04:44.960
<v Speaker 3>few years as a school teacher. But back then the

0:04:45.120 --> 0:04:49.680
<v Speaker 3>school populations were dropping, and although I a tenure, I

0:04:49.800 --> 0:04:52.520
<v Speaker 3>had to wait at the end of every school year

0:04:52.600 --> 0:04:57.600
<v Speaker 3>to see if someone would retire or die. And I

0:04:58.240 --> 0:05:01.200
<v Speaker 3>by this time, my second child was on the way,

0:05:01.240 --> 0:05:07.000
<v Speaker 3>and this was no way to support a family being

0:05:07.160 --> 0:05:08.600
<v Speaker 3>questioning if you have a job.

0:05:09.440 --> 0:05:12.920
<v Speaker 4>So I got a.

0:05:12.920 --> 0:05:16.440
<v Speaker 3>Job offer from a firm which I worked for in

0:05:16.480 --> 0:05:17.200
<v Speaker 3>the summertime.

0:05:18.960 --> 0:05:22.440
<v Speaker 4>My boss there was a guy named Bob Lang, and I.

0:05:22.400 --> 0:05:25.919
<v Speaker 3>Always used to like to say that if he walked

0:05:26.000 --> 0:05:28.120
<v Speaker 3>up to a payphone and there was a dime in

0:05:28.200 --> 0:05:34.000
<v Speaker 3>the coin return, he'd put it back in the phone.

0:05:33.320 --> 0:05:36.159
<v Speaker 4>And wouldn't use it because he was that honest. And

0:05:36.240 --> 0:05:41.279
<v Speaker 4>that was that was throughout our little office.

0:05:42.920 --> 0:05:49.040
<v Speaker 3>Unfortunately, sometimes I had some unscrupulous people who would come

0:05:49.320 --> 0:05:54.320
<v Speaker 3>and or for bribes, say oh, you know what, I

0:05:54.360 --> 0:05:57.960
<v Speaker 3>could really use sixty thousand dollars on this.

0:05:58.800 --> 0:06:02.160
<v Speaker 4>And the damages maybe worth ten thousand.

0:06:03.440 --> 0:06:07.640
<v Speaker 3>My standard reply to that was, well, if you give

0:06:07.760 --> 0:06:10.360
<v Speaker 3>me two hundred and fifty thousand dollars, I'll get you

0:06:10.360 --> 0:06:13.560
<v Speaker 3>your sixty. And they'd look at you and I said, well,

0:06:13.600 --> 0:06:15.720
<v Speaker 3>because I'd be out of a job right away and

0:06:15.800 --> 0:06:20.200
<v Speaker 3>possibly in jail, and someone has to take care of

0:06:20.240 --> 0:06:20.799
<v Speaker 3>my family.

0:06:23.320 --> 0:06:26.400
<v Speaker 1>And you're listening to Steve Rakeman, you'll be hearing from

0:06:26.440 --> 0:06:29.560
<v Speaker 1>his son Mike too, But listening to Steve talk about

0:06:29.600 --> 0:06:31.640
<v Speaker 1>his dad and what a profound experience to have at

0:06:31.640 --> 0:06:35.080
<v Speaker 1>the age of six making fun of the local garbage

0:06:35.120 --> 0:06:37.400
<v Speaker 1>man and the father just pulling you out and saying,

0:06:37.440 --> 0:06:40.520
<v Speaker 1>never ever make fun of any person who does an

0:06:40.520 --> 0:06:44.599
<v Speaker 1>honest day's work for an honest day's pay. Ever, and

0:06:44.640 --> 0:06:47.719
<v Speaker 1>you can bet that young man never did. I'm giving

0:06:47.720 --> 0:06:50.520
<v Speaker 1>you my name, there's nothing wrong with it. Pass it

0:06:50.560 --> 0:06:53.599
<v Speaker 1>along as clean as I gave it to you. What

0:06:53.640 --> 0:06:55.839
<v Speaker 1>words of wisdom, And know this it came from his

0:06:55.960 --> 0:06:58.240
<v Speaker 1>half of coupering. These are the kind of things that

0:06:58.440 --> 0:07:01.120
<v Speaker 1>get instilled in young people through their faith, and then

0:07:01.200 --> 0:07:04.640
<v Speaker 1>outcame these principles by which to live. And we talk

0:07:04.680 --> 0:07:07.040
<v Speaker 1>a lot about faith and how it animates good people's

0:07:07.040 --> 0:07:09.400
<v Speaker 1>lives in this great country. When we come back, more

0:07:09.440 --> 0:07:13.160
<v Speaker 1>of Mike and Steve Raikman's story here on our American

0:07:13.240 --> 0:07:31.520
<v Speaker 1>Story Folks, if you love the great American stories we

0:07:31.600 --> 0:07:34.640
<v Speaker 1>tell and love America like we do, we're asking you

0:07:34.680 --> 0:07:37.080
<v Speaker 1>to become a part of the Our American Stories family.

0:07:37.520 --> 0:07:39.840
<v Speaker 1>If you agree that America is a good and great country,

0:07:39.880 --> 0:07:43.360
<v Speaker 1>please make a donation. A monthly gift of seventeen dollars

0:07:43.400 --> 0:07:46.560
<v Speaker 1>and seventy six cents is fast becoming a favorite option

0:07:46.680 --> 0:07:49.920
<v Speaker 1>for supporters. Go to our American Stories dot com now

0:07:50.160 --> 0:07:52.240
<v Speaker 1>and go to the donate button and help us keep

0:07:52.280 --> 0:08:08.720
<v Speaker 1>the great American stories coming. That's our American Stories dot Com.

0:08:08.880 --> 0:08:11.080
<v Speaker 1>And we're back with our American Stories and with the

0:08:11.120 --> 0:08:14.520
<v Speaker 1>story of Mike and Steve Raikman. We heard from Steve

0:08:14.560 --> 0:08:17.680
<v Speaker 1>about how his father instilled in him the virtues and

0:08:17.880 --> 0:08:20.480
<v Speaker 1>values to stand up to monsters and to just do

0:08:20.560 --> 0:08:23.640
<v Speaker 1>the right thing. Now we'll hear from Steve's son, Mike,

0:08:24.080 --> 0:08:26.600
<v Speaker 1>and how Steve did his best to do the same.

0:08:27.360 --> 0:08:27.920
<v Speaker 1>Here's Mike.

0:08:31.280 --> 0:08:33.040
<v Speaker 2>Well, once I got to a certain age that kind

0:08:33.040 --> 0:08:35.520
<v Speaker 2>of like really sort of understand things and what was

0:08:35.559 --> 0:08:38.040
<v Speaker 2>going on, it was clear to me that my dad

0:08:38.080 --> 0:08:41.600
<v Speaker 2>was a man principal. There was right and there was wrong,

0:08:41.880 --> 0:08:44.840
<v Speaker 2>and there was really nothing in between. That there was

0:08:44.840 --> 0:08:48.240
<v Speaker 2>no gray area. He would tell me, he said, you know,

0:08:48.800 --> 0:08:51.960
<v Speaker 2>we would live and again quotes a much better life

0:08:52.320 --> 0:08:55.040
<v Speaker 2>from a financial standpoint. When I was growing up as

0:08:55.080 --> 0:08:56.840
<v Speaker 2>one of five kids, you know, he could have taken

0:08:56.880 --> 0:09:00.319
<v Speaker 2>all that money, and you know, as aif ten year

0:09:00.320 --> 0:09:02.120
<v Speaker 2>old kid, I was like, well why not. I could

0:09:02.120 --> 0:09:03.800
<v Speaker 2>have got to you know, the Air Jordan's I could

0:09:03.800 --> 0:09:06.200
<v Speaker 2>have got you know this that the other thing, all

0:09:06.240 --> 0:09:09.440
<v Speaker 2>the stuff that I always wanted. But it was plain

0:09:09.480 --> 0:09:13.839
<v Speaker 2>and simple. He's like, it's wrong, it's illegal. There's no

0:09:14.160 --> 0:09:18.320
<v Speaker 2>ifens or butts about it. And the time that you

0:09:18.400 --> 0:09:20.240
<v Speaker 2>do it first, the first or or it could be

0:09:20.280 --> 0:09:23.000
<v Speaker 2>the only time that you do it. That's it. Now

0:09:23.120 --> 0:09:24.800
<v Speaker 2>you got to target on your back. You always got

0:09:24.800 --> 0:09:28.360
<v Speaker 2>to look behind you when you walk. It took me

0:09:28.360 --> 0:09:30.840
<v Speaker 2>a little while to kind of like let that all

0:09:30.880 --> 0:09:35.000
<v Speaker 2>sink in, but it was very eye opening and connected

0:09:35.000 --> 0:09:37.360
<v Speaker 2>a lot of the dots of what my dad had

0:09:37.400 --> 0:09:41.640
<v Speaker 2>taught me. Since you're from a very young age going forward,

0:09:44.200 --> 0:09:47.520
<v Speaker 2>he would tell me stories. You would speak a lot

0:09:47.559 --> 0:09:51.559
<v Speaker 2>about mafia guys, so a lot of his when he

0:09:51.559 --> 0:09:54.000
<v Speaker 2>would go to claims and losses and stuff like that.

0:09:54.520 --> 0:09:57.000
<v Speaker 2>He'd be in you know, Brooklyn and the Bronx stuff

0:09:57.040 --> 0:09:59.440
<v Speaker 2>like that, where he would go in and the building

0:09:59.520 --> 0:10:02.360
<v Speaker 2>owner would be there when he got there, sitting at

0:10:02.360 --> 0:10:04.800
<v Speaker 2>a table. Tell my dad to come sit next to him,

0:10:05.080 --> 0:10:08.079
<v Speaker 2>and he'd have a gun on the table, try and

0:10:08.120 --> 0:10:09.920
<v Speaker 2>intimidate him and tell him like, this is what's got

0:10:10.000 --> 0:10:10.400
<v Speaker 2>to happen.

0:10:10.679 --> 0:10:12.600
<v Speaker 5>He kind of didn't really necessarily know what he was

0:10:12.640 --> 0:10:13.240
<v Speaker 5>walking into.

0:10:14.000 --> 0:10:15.480
<v Speaker 2>And I'm like, well, Dad, if you're doing that, you

0:10:15.520 --> 0:10:16.760
<v Speaker 2>might as well take in the cash too.

0:10:17.200 --> 0:10:17.600
<v Speaker 1>Come on.

0:10:18.280 --> 0:10:22.320
<v Speaker 2>It was interesting stuff. And I went to work with

0:10:22.440 --> 0:10:26.160
<v Speaker 2>him maybe once or twice. And I think had he

0:10:26.280 --> 0:10:28.600
<v Speaker 2>told my mom ahead of time where he was taking me,

0:10:28.679 --> 0:10:31.000
<v Speaker 2>she probably would have tried to kill him, because we

0:10:31.040 --> 0:10:34.120
<v Speaker 2>went to some really nasty areas. As a fifteen year

0:10:34.120 --> 0:10:35.920
<v Speaker 2>old kid, I probably should not have been there. But

0:10:36.840 --> 0:10:38.880
<v Speaker 2>here I am today, unscathed from that.

0:10:38.960 --> 0:10:39.440
<v Speaker 3>At least.

0:10:42.520 --> 0:10:45.280
<v Speaker 2>You know, when I screwed up and I knew that

0:10:45.360 --> 0:10:47.040
<v Speaker 2>I was going to have to face the music from

0:10:47.040 --> 0:10:50.439
<v Speaker 2>my dad, it wasn't I wasn't fearing like, oh, he's

0:10:50.440 --> 0:10:52.520
<v Speaker 2>gonna he's gonna slap me. It was the I was

0:10:52.600 --> 0:10:56.439
<v Speaker 2>fearing disappointing him because I know that he taught me

0:10:56.520 --> 0:10:59.720
<v Speaker 2>better than that. I know that, Yeah, listen, we're all

0:10:59.760 --> 0:11:02.840
<v Speaker 2>gonna make mistakes, we're all going to you know, none

0:11:02.840 --> 0:11:04.800
<v Speaker 2>of us are perfect by any stretch of the imagination.

0:11:05.320 --> 0:11:08.000
<v Speaker 2>But it was I know I should have known better,

0:11:08.040 --> 0:11:11.240
<v Speaker 2>and I let you down because you taught me to

0:11:11.280 --> 0:11:17.400
<v Speaker 2>be better than what I was. Got to a really

0:11:17.440 --> 0:11:21.400
<v Speaker 2>bad car accident when I was drunk in college. This

0:11:21.600 --> 0:11:25.760
<v Speaker 2>was pre cell phone era, and my parents were visiting

0:11:25.800 --> 0:11:28.959
<v Speaker 2>my other brother in college, and I couldn't get a

0:11:29.000 --> 0:11:30.600
<v Speaker 2>hold of them. And it happened on like a Friday

0:11:30.679 --> 0:11:34.280
<v Speaker 2>night or something. It I couldn't I had to sit

0:11:34.320 --> 0:11:36.960
<v Speaker 2>there for forty eight hours until I could even tell

0:11:37.000 --> 0:11:41.000
<v Speaker 2>my parents what had happened. So the anxiety from that

0:11:41.200 --> 0:11:44.800
<v Speaker 2>to say, I made these bad decisions, I did this,

0:11:44.960 --> 0:11:47.400
<v Speaker 2>Now I'm going to be in trouble, et cetera, et cetera.

0:11:48.160 --> 0:11:50.719
<v Speaker 2>Finally got them on the phone, and you know, they

0:11:50.880 --> 0:11:52.880
<v Speaker 2>want to make sure I was okay, you know I

0:11:53.000 --> 0:11:55.080
<v Speaker 2>wasn't hurt in any way, stuff like that.

0:11:57.080 --> 0:11:58.880
<v Speaker 5>Later that week, I had the first time I had

0:11:58.880 --> 0:12:00.640
<v Speaker 5>to go to over it.

0:12:00.880 --> 0:12:04.160
<v Speaker 2>So the drive up from where my parents live on

0:12:04.160 --> 0:12:06.720
<v Speaker 2>Long Island up to Upstate New York by college when

0:12:06.760 --> 0:12:08.880
<v Speaker 2>it was about six hours, so I knew my dad

0:12:08.920 --> 0:12:11.560
<v Speaker 2>was getting on the road at like six am. He

0:12:11.600 --> 0:12:13.920
<v Speaker 2>was gonna be there by noon, and you know, so

0:12:14.080 --> 0:12:17.480
<v Speaker 2>I knew, you know where what time about he was

0:12:17.520 --> 0:12:22.680
<v Speaker 2>going to arrive in my apartment. I was dreading this,

0:12:23.480 --> 0:12:28.560
<v Speaker 2>dreading this like I can't even tell you. I was like, oh, man,

0:12:28.840 --> 0:12:32.520
<v Speaker 2>I messed up so badly. You've gave me so many lectures.

0:12:32.559 --> 0:12:34.439
<v Speaker 2>When I got my car to go to college about

0:12:34.760 --> 0:12:39.760
<v Speaker 2>this exact thing, and sure enough, knock on the door,

0:12:41.040 --> 0:12:44.800
<v Speaker 2>I open it. I got a crack in the face

0:12:45.880 --> 0:12:47.600
<v Speaker 2>and then probably one of the biggest hugs I've ever

0:12:47.600 --> 0:12:50.560
<v Speaker 2>got from him in my life, because it was like,

0:12:51.240 --> 0:12:53.760
<v Speaker 2>you're an idiot, boom, but you're my son, and I

0:12:53.800 --> 0:12:54.559
<v Speaker 2>love you.

0:12:54.559 --> 0:12:56.440
<v Speaker 5>You're my idiot, and we're going to get through this

0:12:56.440 --> 0:12:59.960
<v Speaker 5>and fix it. I always had a good.

0:13:00.080 --> 0:13:03.600
<v Speaker 2>Issue with my dad, and at that point, you know what,

0:13:03.760 --> 0:13:06.520
<v Speaker 2>one funny outcome of it was that I wasn't allowed

0:13:06.520 --> 0:13:08.800
<v Speaker 2>to drive a car for about a year and a half,

0:13:08.960 --> 0:13:12.280
<v Speaker 2>So anytime I wanted to come home from school, basically

0:13:12.320 --> 0:13:14.800
<v Speaker 2>my dad have to drive up, pick me up, and

0:13:14.800 --> 0:13:16.840
<v Speaker 2>then we drive back. So I would get to spend

0:13:16.880 --> 0:13:19.680
<v Speaker 2>those six six and a half hours in the car

0:13:19.720 --> 0:13:22.120
<v Speaker 2>with him, driving from up state New York back down

0:13:22.120 --> 0:13:24.040
<v Speaker 2>to Long Island, whether it was coming home for Christmas,

0:13:24.120 --> 0:13:27.000
<v Speaker 2>coming home for Thanksgiving, or just for the summer. And

0:13:27.040 --> 0:13:29.000
<v Speaker 2>he would do up and back the same day. I mean,

0:13:29.000 --> 0:13:31.559
<v Speaker 2>we maybe stop for a sandwich. So he's in the

0:13:31.600 --> 0:13:34.600
<v Speaker 2>car twelve thirteen hours and I'm in there, you know,

0:13:34.760 --> 0:13:37.120
<v Speaker 2>just just the way down with them or the way up,

0:13:37.200 --> 0:13:39.400
<v Speaker 2>depending which way we were going. We still would talk

0:13:39.400 --> 0:13:41.800
<v Speaker 2>about although it was a lot of driving, and maybe

0:13:41.840 --> 0:13:43.880
<v Speaker 2>at the time, you know, it's like, oh, I just

0:13:43.920 --> 0:13:46.560
<v Speaker 2>want to get home, but it just was nice to

0:13:46.600 --> 0:13:51.600
<v Speaker 2>have six hours of, you know, just dad sontime. Now,

0:13:51.640 --> 0:13:55.560
<v Speaker 2>having kids on my own, I can understand that your

0:13:55.600 --> 0:13:58.800
<v Speaker 2>time when you have siblings, you're one on one time

0:13:58.840 --> 0:14:01.360
<v Speaker 2>with your pa parents or one of your parents, is

0:14:01.400 --> 0:14:03.959
<v Speaker 2>a lot different than when you're competing for their attention

0:14:04.160 --> 0:14:07.080
<v Speaker 2>or they're competing for your attention with all your other siblings.

0:14:07.760 --> 0:14:10.360
<v Speaker 5>And we were, you know.

0:14:10.320 --> 0:14:11.640
<v Speaker 2>For better or for worse, I had six and a

0:14:11.679 --> 0:14:13.760
<v Speaker 2>half hours to kill in the car with my dad.

0:14:18.200 --> 0:14:22.119
<v Speaker 2>So you know, I'm a mortgage banker. We arrange residential

0:14:22.120 --> 0:14:24.040
<v Speaker 2>home mortgages for people looking to buy or.

0:14:24.000 --> 0:14:24.960
<v Speaker 5>Refinance a house.

0:14:25.440 --> 0:14:28.800
<v Speaker 2>And you know, I could easily, you know, had made

0:14:28.960 --> 0:14:32.040
<v Speaker 2>fraudulent documents in order to qualify someone for a loan

0:14:32.280 --> 0:14:34.240
<v Speaker 2>that they may not really be able to pay back,

0:14:34.280 --> 0:14:36.560
<v Speaker 2>but the customer wanted or I want to buy this house,

0:14:36.840 --> 0:14:39.360
<v Speaker 2>so I could wipe something out, change your number here,

0:14:39.560 --> 0:14:41.760
<v Speaker 2>change a comma there, and all of a sudden they

0:14:41.840 --> 0:14:44.640
<v Speaker 2>qualify for it, which basically it's going to catch up

0:14:44.680 --> 0:14:45.880
<v Speaker 2>to them sooner or later that they're not going to

0:14:45.920 --> 0:14:47.760
<v Speaker 2>be able to afford this place all for the sake

0:14:47.800 --> 0:14:50.520
<v Speaker 2>of a commission check. That's certainly not something that I

0:14:50.560 --> 0:14:53.520
<v Speaker 2>ever did or wanted to do. And you know, I

0:14:53.600 --> 0:14:56.160
<v Speaker 2>like to thank my father for instilling those values into

0:14:56.160 --> 0:14:58.040
<v Speaker 2>me as a young kid, because I saw so many

0:14:58.080 --> 0:15:01.400
<v Speaker 2>people go the their way that they wanted to make

0:15:01.440 --> 0:15:04.440
<v Speaker 2>the quick buck and they didn't care at whose expense

0:15:04.480 --> 0:15:07.840
<v Speaker 2>it was. And then eventually it was a lost loss

0:15:07.880 --> 0:15:12.520
<v Speaker 2>because whoever they did that for that person, they were

0:15:12.520 --> 0:15:14.000
<v Speaker 2>going to put that they were putting that person into

0:15:14.040 --> 0:15:17.000
<v Speaker 2>a worse situation. In addition to that, eventually they were

0:15:17.000 --> 0:15:18.360
<v Speaker 2>gonna get it was gonna catch up to them. They

0:15:18.360 --> 0:15:24.440
<v Speaker 2>were going to lose their license as well. And throughout

0:15:24.600 --> 0:15:26.400
<v Speaker 2>two thousand and five, six seven eight, during like what

0:15:26.400 --> 0:15:28.480
<v Speaker 2>they would call a wild while West of mortgages, where

0:15:28.800 --> 0:15:32.000
<v Speaker 2>people were doing things they shouldn't do, and eventually it

0:15:32.080 --> 0:15:34.360
<v Speaker 2>all caught up to them and they would get, you know,

0:15:35.400 --> 0:15:37.080
<v Speaker 2>bar from the industry. They would never be able to

0:15:37.080 --> 0:15:40.360
<v Speaker 2>work in mortgages again. And you know, like myself, a

0:15:40.400 --> 0:15:42.680
<v Speaker 2>lot of the other guys that work here didn't partake

0:15:42.680 --> 0:15:44.400
<v Speaker 2>in any of that, and that's why we're still here

0:15:44.440 --> 0:15:47.960
<v Speaker 2>today with healthy licenses that we don't have to fear

0:15:48.080 --> 0:15:56.640
<v Speaker 2>overever having revoked or anything like that. We have a

0:15:56.680 --> 0:15:58.280
<v Speaker 2>lot of younger guys that work here too that we

0:15:58.440 --> 0:16:01.440
<v Speaker 2>mentor as well and can kind of, you know, trickle

0:16:01.520 --> 0:16:03.800
<v Speaker 2>down all those same things that were instilled in us

0:16:04.080 --> 0:16:06.680
<v Speaker 2>as young people and have gone through this and saw

0:16:06.680 --> 0:16:10.560
<v Speaker 2>it in the industry as well. It's it's not something

0:16:10.600 --> 0:16:14.440
<v Speaker 2>that we would do here. And you know, you're basically

0:16:14.480 --> 0:16:17.000
<v Speaker 2>jeopardizing things for the whole company as well.

0:16:17.120 --> 0:16:18.000
<v Speaker 5>You got to also be.

0:16:18.000 --> 0:16:21.280
<v Speaker 2>Able to answer to the man upstairs, so that that

0:16:21.280 --> 0:16:24.640
<v Speaker 2>certainly plays a role in everything as well. And you know,

0:16:25.120 --> 0:16:28.440
<v Speaker 2>when you have that is the focal point of your business,

0:16:28.640 --> 0:16:33.600
<v Speaker 2>you're gonna land in good hands. My dad sends me

0:16:33.600 --> 0:16:36.040
<v Speaker 2>at a young age, God blessed you with two hands.

0:16:36.160 --> 0:16:38.000
<v Speaker 2>Wanted to take care of yourself and your family, and

0:16:38.040 --> 0:16:41.600
<v Speaker 2>the other one is to help other people. And I

0:16:41.680 --> 0:16:45.080
<v Speaker 2>actually told him that that. I remember him telling me

0:16:45.360 --> 0:16:49.000
<v Speaker 2>a couple of years ago. And my dad is not

0:16:49.040 --> 0:16:50.560
<v Speaker 2>a crier, but I saw him he got like a

0:16:50.600 --> 0:16:54.480
<v Speaker 2>little emotional because his father passed away when he was

0:16:54.560 --> 0:16:57.120
<v Speaker 2>like fourteen or fifteen years old, and it was something

0:16:57.120 --> 0:16:59.080
<v Speaker 2>that his dad told him, and he didn't think that

0:16:59.120 --> 0:17:00.800
<v Speaker 2>I remembered him tell him that story when I was

0:17:00.800 --> 0:17:03.680
<v Speaker 2>a kid, but you still do. I definitely remember it.

0:17:03.680 --> 0:17:05.320
<v Speaker 2>It's something I passed on to my kids as well.

0:17:10.040 --> 0:17:13.040
<v Speaker 1>And a great job on the storytelling by Robbie. And

0:17:13.160 --> 0:17:16.040
<v Speaker 1>thanks so much to Steve and Mike Raichman for sharing

0:17:16.080 --> 0:17:19.800
<v Speaker 1>their father's son's stories. Steve talking about his father, the

0:17:19.880 --> 0:17:22.720
<v Speaker 1>values and principles that got passed along to him, Steve

0:17:22.880 --> 0:17:25.560
<v Speaker 1>then passing those along to his son Mike, and Mike

0:17:25.960 --> 0:17:29.679
<v Speaker 1>sharing those principles and values as well, and ethics. In

0:17:29.720 --> 0:17:32.560
<v Speaker 1>the end, my dad was a man of principle. There

0:17:32.600 --> 0:17:34.119
<v Speaker 1>is a right and the wrong. And if you're listening

0:17:34.119 --> 0:17:36.359
<v Speaker 1>and you're a guy, well, can your son say that

0:17:36.400 --> 0:17:38.320
<v Speaker 1>about you or your daughter? When I screwed up, I

0:17:38.359 --> 0:17:41.760
<v Speaker 1>wasn't fearing he would slap me. I feared disappointing him.

0:17:42.240 --> 0:17:45.600
<v Speaker 1>And every dad, every mom knows the discipline and love. Well,

0:17:45.640 --> 0:17:48.040
<v Speaker 1>there are two sides of the same coin. A beautiful

0:17:48.040 --> 0:17:52.440
<v Speaker 1>story about fathers and sons, about love, about discipline, about God.

0:17:52.920 --> 0:17:55.000
<v Speaker 1>Here on our American stories