This is an iHeart podcast. Guaranteed human. Liberty has never been just a word to we Americans. It has guided every one of our endeavors for the past 250 years, and now it takes form in a new way. The 2026 Semi-Quincentennial Coin and Metal Program from the United States Mint.
It celebrates the founding ideals that have long shaped our coinage. Available one year only, this historic collection features new coin designs, limited edition releases, and reissues. Shop new official coins at usmint.gov forward slash semi-q. That's usmint.gov/slash S-E-M-I-Q. This July 4th, come celebrate at America's Block Party, hosted by America 250.
America's Block Party is a can't-miss 4th of July concert happening at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. Experience music performances from major artists, patriotic tributes, and the kickoff to Giving Forth, helping to make July 4th the largest day of giving in American history. It's more than just fireworks. Learn more about this landmark celebration at America250.org. I turned off news altogether.
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She starts dating Howard Hughes. And in fact, she helps him design a faster plane.
So she finds the fastest bird and the fastest fish and sketches out a drawing of what the two would look like as a plane. And that becomes the plane that we know today. And he calls her a genius. Check out our new episode, Spotlighting Groundbreaking Innovators like Hedi Lamar and Billie Jean King. Presented by the Hyundai Ionic 5.
Goodbye. Um And we're back with our American stories. Up next, one of our regular contributors, Dennis Peterson, with a story entitled Big Lessons. a little boy. Here's Dennis.
Daddy, a self-employed brickmason, realized the importance of following principles of good labor-management relations. From the time we were big enough to cause trouble for our mother at home until we left for college, he insisted that my brother and I go to work with him. It was on the job that he began teaching us those common sense principles of labor and management. I certainly did not enjoy the work at the time, but it taught me many valuable lessons, and I frequently recall them.
Okay. One principle daddy taught us was to use our time wisely. Wasting time on the job was stealing from the employer. Using time wisely helps not only the boss, but also the employee. Uh Another lesson that daddy taught me was never to be found sitting down on the job.
If I completed an assigned task and was caught loafing around, he quickly gave me another assignment. I remember cleaning out his cluttered tool box countless times when there was nothing to do. As a kid, I was often tempted to do as little as possible and to waste time. Why should I go out of my way to find more work? But Daddy didn't pay my brother and me by the hour.
Instead, he paid us by piecework. The more bricks or blocks we helped him lay, the more money we earned. I remember working for twenty five cents per hundred bricks carried. Being only a little kid, I could carry only three bricks at a time. but I kept an almost hourly account of the money I was making.
I counted how many bricks I carried, and compared that number with how many Daddy was laying. It made me work harder and helped Daddy complete his jobs faster. Samuel Smiles wrote in Thrift It is the idler above all others who is undignified and dishonourable. No idle or thriftless person ever became great. It is among those who never lost a moment that we find the men who moved and advanced the world.
Daddy also taught us to be loyal and obedient. Workers today are transient creatures. Few of us stay at the same job for any great length of time. A constant shifting of jobs often results in a lack of loyalty. Daddy worked as a full-time self-employed mason for more than 30 years.
Most of that time he worked for the same few contractors, who usually kept him as busy as he wanted to be without expanding his company. He was consistent in his pricing, attendance, and work quality. And he taught us boys by his example the importance of loyalty to customers and clients. During that same time, however, he had many different employees in addition to Dale and me. Although many of them were good workers, others were simply job hoppers.
They wanted good pay for little effort. They did not want to show up for work on time. and they wanted to quit early. The workers who worked for Daddy longest were also the most respectful, most obedient, and most diligent. Their years of work gained them not only a good income, but also a good reputation.
John Ruskin once said The highest reward for man's toil is not what he gets for it. but what he becomes by it. Daddy also taught us that to do an honest day's work for an honest day's pay was good. But honesty in labor goes far beyond hard work in return for a wage. It encompasses producing a high quality product.
being truthful in advertising, and desiring to do one's best. Um Yeah. I vividly remember daddy's teaching me to rod joints. He emphasized the importance of getting them smooth and straight. He warned against rotting them before they had had a chance to dry, and of letting them get too hard.
Despite these admonitions, I sometimes tried to finish early. making an unsightly mess on the bricks. Or I procrastinated, making dark, ugly marks in the joints. It took a while for me, childlike as I was, to realize that my ineptness and procrastination or hastiness. could affect Daddy's reputation as a mason.
Daddy didn't want us to be satisfied with good enough for government work. He wanted us to do the best of which we were capable. Not just good enough to get by. Samuel Smiles pointed out the danger of having the wrong attitude toward quality. when he wrote in Thrift.
It will do is a common phrase of those who neglect little things. It always means stopping short of the right thing. It is a makeshift. It is a failure and defeat. Um The old Newport New Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Company, Prior to being taken over by Tenneco, tried to combat the it will do mentality.
Their slogan was We shall build good ships here At a profit if we can at a loss if we must. but always good ships. As if these lessons weren't enough to keep us young boys busy, Daddy also worked to develop in us patience and delayed gratification. We grew up in an instant age. We had instant coffee, instant tea, instant potatoes, instant winners.
and instant pain relief. Like every one else of that generation, we had so much stuff that was instant that we were sorely tempted not to tolerate waiting for anything. Daddy had to pay his other workers every week. but since Dale and I were his children, he could delay paying us, and he did. In fact, he typically didn't pay us for work during the summer until just before time for us to return to school in the fall.
Even when he finally did pay us, he insisted that we save a portion of our earnings. What we didn't save we were to use for our school needs. For example, clothes and supplies. Uh If we wanted something that cost more than we could afford, He taught us to save our pennies patiently until we had enough to buy it. Often, we discovered that by the time we'd saved that amount, that we really didn't want that thing after all.
Although Daddy paid his regular employees promptly, We witnessed his practicing patience when contractors were negligent in paying him. Mm-hmm.
Sometimes he waited several weeks for a paycheck to come for a job he had completed. Finally, he would have to call and pester the person to get his payment. He gave the other guy the benefit of the doubt. Daddy was a man of his word. but I never recall his ever threatening an employee as an incentive for his working properly.
He never yelled at them. He established a standard he expected them to maintain in their work, and he worked patiently with them to get them to that standard. If they weren't making progress in that direction, He simply let them go. No threats. He preferred a more positive approach.
With us boys, he gave instructions. He set his expectations. and he expected us to meet them. no idle threats or yelling. These lessons he taught us were simple.
yet they were profound simply because so few people live by them to day. Mm. I'm glad he taught them to us because they shaped us into who we are today. We've not applied them perfectly or even consistently. but our weaknesses and failures do not change the validity of the arguments.
And they are lessons that the next generation would be better for learning and practicing. And thanks to Robbie for the production on that piece, and a special thanks. to Dennis Peterson. For contributing the storytelling about his father, big lessons for a little boy, and what an ingenious thing for the dad to do: bring the kids to work. Give them jobs and give them hard jobs.
And teaching them about labor and management, both sides of the coin, is really important. And my goodness, that That idea that an honest day's work for an honest day's pay is good. Wow, what a terrific lesson for life. And also... That his dad taught him to, well, work for their money by paying by piecework.
And not by the hour. By the way, the light bulb went off in the kid's head. We'll get paid more if we're productive, and we'll pay less if we slow walk this. Great lessons, lessons only parents can tell. And parents, if not, well, the outer world will teach some lessons to the kids, and they may not be yours.
That is Peterson's story, his father's story, here. on our American story. Liberty has never been just a word to we Americans. It has guided every one of our endeavors for the past 250 years. And now it takes form in a new way.
The 2026 Semi-Quincentennial Coin and Metal Program from the United States Mint. It celebrates the founding ideals that have long shaped our coinage. Available one year only, this historic collection features new coin designs, limited edition releases, and reissues. Shop new official coins at usmint.gov forward slash semi-q. That's usmint.gov/slash S-E-M-I-Q.
This July 4th, come celebrate at America's Block Party, hosted by America 250. America's Block Party is a can't-miss 4th of July concert happening at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. Experience music performances from major artists, patriotic tributes, and the kickoff to Giving Forth, helping to make July 4th the largest day of giving in American history. It's more than just fireworks. Learn more about this landmark celebration at America250.org.
Hi, it's Karen in Georgia from My Favorite Murder. We cruised around LA in the Hyundai Ionic 5 and dove into the fascinating life of actress and inventor Hedy Lamar. Want the full story? Take a listen. She starts dating Howard Hughes.
And in fact, she helps him design a faster plane.
So she finds the fastest bird and the fastest fish and sketches out a drawing of what the two would look like as a plane. And that becomes the plane that we know today. And he calls her a genius. Check out our new episode, Spotlighting Groundbreaking Innovators like Hedi Lamar and Billie Jean King. Presented by the Hyundai Ionic 5.
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The sound of a seatbelt. It's one of the most important sounds in our car. It means everyone is ready and everyone is safe. The more our kids see us put on our seatbelts, the more natural it is for them to put theirs on too. Make it a priority.
Buckle up every time. Hear the sound? Make it a habit. Paid for by Nitza.
