Another person for whom I have much regard is Walter E. Williams.  The themes of common sense and the ability to recognize truth that I so admire in the writings of Thomas Sowell are evident in pieces by Williams.  Just last week in a column titled, “Things to Think About”,  Williams presented a simple road map young people could use to avoid poverty.  The road map is simple as it has only four steps.  Perhaps the use of stops would be preferred to steps as Williams refers to this as a road map.  In his column, Williams didn’t claim that by following his map, a young person would one day find themselves  healthy, wealthy, and wise.  No, not at all.  Williams only claimed that it was a way to “avoid poverty”.   Most would agree, however that avoiding poverty would be a wonderful goal for all.  Anyone that would have been a high school student as recently as fifty years ago would recognize all four stops in the William’s road map of life.  Stops seared into their brains by all responsible adults in their life.  How would I know?  Because as I write this, I was sixteen years of age fifty years ago.

Are you ready for the road map?  Here it is, with all credit due to Walter E. Williams:

1).  “complete high school;

2).  get a job, any kind of job;

3).  get married before having children;

4).  be a law abiding citizen.”