Autobiography - The Galindo Group

Ram Galindo THE MAKING OF AN AMERICAN Page 183
You will know the answers to many things that are mystery to me
today. However, I am convinced that the social evolution determined
by the familial duty of helping our offspring be better than we are,
will remain the most powerful legacy we can pass from generation to
generation. This parental duty is discharged from the time we bring a
new life to this world until we die. It is not easy. Sometimes life’s
other demands make it the most difficult of all our duties. However, it
can be discharged with little money but lots of dedication and
focused time. Our family’s most profound contribution to our society
is, in my judgment, not the many leadership roles our members have
assumed, but the evolutionary force we create in making this a better
world for everyone. For as we carve a better space for ourselves, we
drag many others in our wake.
In your own hearts look for and find the strength, the power, the
ability, the inner resources handed to you by your ancestors. I have
done so throughout my life. It is the best legacy my own parents left
me. It propels me to be the best I can be. It is the best legacy I can
endow you with. I will never know if the fortune I leave will reach any
of you. Perhaps it will be greatly magnified by some worthy heir;
perhaps it will be frittered away by events or some unworthy heir. I
do know though, that when you read this you will hear my call urging
you to be the best you can be. Then look inwardly for the “chikara”
(as my brother the Bolivian ambassador to Japan would call it) you
need to handle your circumstances. Be a good steward of the
family’s wealth or your part thereof. Read “My Creed”. Listen to the
theme song of a popular 1970’s musical called “Man of La Mancha”
labeled “The Impossible Dream”. It is also the theme of my life.
I was not yet 18 when I left the comfort and security of my parents
home in far away Cochabamba, Bolivia. Even then I subconsciously
knew that the location of my roots was not determined by my place
of birth but rather by where the social compact I believed in
prevailed. At the time my concepts were amorphous, but in only a
few years I adopted the United States of America as my true and final
home. Texas is my land and my ashes will become part of my land. I
got involved in the financing of the political process because I
consider part of my duty to insure that you, the recipients of this
letter, will inherit a country like the one I adopted. In it, even today,
we can still rely on limited government under the rule of law, with
freedom, justice, and equal opportunity for all. I don’t dare predict
how much our institutions will have changed by the time you open
this letter, but if they are aimed at preserving the social compact I
Autobiography.doc 183 of 239