Many years ago in Chicago there was an Italian family that owned a small successful Italian restaurant.
Every day the restaurant was packed because the food was extraordinary.
Each plate of food was filled and overflowing with original recipes that had been handed down from generations before.
The owners were Salvatore and Marian.
They had immigrated from Italy right after World War II.
When they arrived in America they were penniless and could speak very little English but they were so happy to be in the land of opportunity that they gave little thought about the lack of money.
Salvatore hunted and found work as a laborer for a construction company.
Over time he showed his ambition and willingness to go the extra mile so he was soon moved up to foreman of his crew and later to superintendent of several crews.
He enrolled in night school to learn English and several other courses that would help in their new life.
Salvatore and Marian set a goal to one day have their own restaurant.
Cooking Italian food was a passion to both of them and with the knowledge that Salvatore was getting from night school they knew they would be a success.
Several years later they were able to open a small hole in the wall restaurant.
It was an overnight success.
People came from miles around to eat their delicious food made with care from their old family recipes.
Soon they were able to open several restaurants and they were all successful.
Salvatore and Marian were very thankful and felt blessed that they had been accepted by their new country.
They were blessed with a handful of children and they had a very happy family.
Salvatore wanted his family to become a cornerstone in the community and pushed his children to be more educated than he and Marian were.
Nicholas the oldest son was sent to a nearby college and several years later he graduated with honors.
This was one of Salvatore and Marian's happiest and proudest days.
What a great country America was.
After graduation; Nicholas joined the family business because he saw great opportunity and thought that he could expand and improve the business with his education.
Shortly after joining the business Nicholas read in the paper that the nation was about to enter a recession.
Driving home he heard it again on the car radio and that evening the television was also saying what a disaster the nation's economy was going to be.
Everywhere he went the media was crying about the recession The next day he told his father about the recession.
Salvatore said "I have not heard of any recession.
Our restaurants are still running at capacity and everything is fine!" Nicholas said they needed to prepare for the recession.
They should cut the portion sizes on each service and maybe change the recipes to not use the expensive herbs and sauces.
After all you never know how bad the recession is going to be! After giving it some thought Salvatore finally relented and followed Nicholas' advice.
After all he did graduate with honors and he knew about such things.
Soon the recession did hit their restaurants because business declined and soon they had to close a couple of the restaurants.
Salvatore told all his friends how smart Nicholas was because the saw the coming recession and by preparing for it they were able to save their first original hole in the wall restaurant.
This single restaurant could not support everybody so Nicholas decided to move to another town and find another job.
Salvatore and Marian struggled for some time but they were not happy with the way the food tasted and the sizes of their servings.
After all; they wanted their food to taste like it did before changing.
The meals were original Italian recipes and they were meant to be hearty meals.
Amazingly; shortly after changing back to their original recipes and sizes the recession ended.
All of a sudden their restaurant was again overflowing with happy customers.
For Salvatore and the restaurant; the recession was over.
It took another year before the rest of the country got going again.
The question is kinda like what came first the chicken or the egg.
In this case was it the media crying about the recession or changing the original recipes and smaller portions that caused this restaurant's recession.
Salvatore and Marian survived the recession and lived a long happy life in their new country.
Nicholas lost several jobs but always got another because of his degree.
He finally landed a job with a large company where his education could do no harm