ARTICLE
Growing up in a large family, I didn't get a whole lot of one-on-one parent time. But I remember like it was yesterday how I loved when once a year my dad would take me along to the race track. I'm talking about the horse track. I suppose its wasn't the most all-American place for father-son bonding, but I loved it. I loved the colors of the jockeys' uniforms, the beautiful sun beating down, the smell of food in the air from the concessions and the noise of the cheering crowd. I always got a kick out of all the characters from all walks of life that stood cheering for their horse or bemoaning their loss. My dad would shake his head at my propensity to pick the longshot. I always felt I'd find the horse whose day had come and that big win would take place. No matter how he'd show me how to read the race form and pick one of the favorites, I couldn't resist the underdog. Picking the favorite was easy, but the rewards wee minuscule compared to the genius of picking a winner nobody else recognized. To this day I can't resist supporting those who, against all odds, keep on trying. Like my friend, Lehigh Valley International Airport Executive Director Charles Everett, who always answered my text at 6 a.m. while he fought until he got out from under a mound of inherited debt to make our airport a better place. I cheer on my hard-working reporter friends in the rapidly changing world of news at The Morning Call, many who have worked hard to obtain journalism degrees with an emphasis on obtaining credible fact-based news, only to endure a world where high-profile egomaniacs are paid millions to entertain with little interest in anything but a "gotcha moment" and their self-serving TV ratings. I bet on our police who have the toughest of all jobs. They don't choose the events they respond to. They go when called, and today almost every call can be life-threatening. If they're allegedly "too aggressive," they're vilified. And if they're not aggressive enough, they're not doing their jobs and could have or should have done more. I pull for first-generation small business owners who come to this country with a dream and have little or no safety net. They expect nothing in the way of help from anyone and pound it out every day to succeed. I love our downtowns that despite big odds, keep reinventing themselves and survive. They survive through increasing demands for services despite a stagnant or decreasing tax base. They accept anyone and everyone. They supply housing from low-rent apartments to high-roller mansions and have made the world an exciting place of hope for almost all our first-generation arrivals. So how does a billionaire business person land in my underdog column? Maybe because most every national TV outlet can't bring themselves to say anything positive about him. Maybe because you can call him an "illegitimate president" and if he challenges that, he's the bad guy. Maybe it's because if you perform at his inauguration, you're targeted by those who disagree. Look, I'm not Donald Trump's PR person. While I like long shots who never give up, what I don't care for are haters. Knock off the hate, it's our country. We're in this together and win or lose, do what so many of us did eight years ago: Support your next president. Be diligent, be watchful — even be cynical — but, don't be hatin'! Read the original article here.