December 26, 2025
We Are Alive and Well
We wanted to end this week’s issue with this…
Last week, we attended the Jaguars/Jets game in Jacksonville. Tens of thousands of people, as integrated as the teams on the field. You can’t go to anything in Florida that isn’t. We’re a United Nations of people.
We had a great time. So did the crowd. They flew a C130 gunship over the stadium during the National Anthem, everyone rose and men took off their hats. Just a good time.
And then later in the week, we went with friends to the Pentatonix concert, the Grammy winning a cappella group. 19,000 people in a sold-out Kia Center in Orlando, the group on stage as integrated as the audience. Here was the vibe. Just look at the crowd!
I think it is worth remembering that while our daily focus can be darted back and forth by the reporting of evil deeds and terrible language presented constantly by the media, the reality of the world is much different. We are actually more American than ethnic, but we often don’t realize that because people want us to believe we’re not. All of course for their own selfish purposes.
At both venues, in all attended by 60,000 people, the only police presence was directing traffic.
The week before, I was at the Miami Homestead Speedway, racing fast cars. There were perhaps a hundred crew members, guides, officials, and participants all working in good-natured fun to get those tremendous machines in your hands and onto the track. Here is a picture of my driving instructor.
In Miami, Jon Bach. Besides racing motorcycles and teaching motorcar racing, he is a former United States Archery Champion and helps coach the US Olympic Team. He is a downhill skier. Jon did and does all of that while blind in one eye from an auto accident when he was a kid. Jon is 60 years old. Pure American grit and determination and attitude with a constantly upbeat sense of style. It’s a privilege to work with him.
We are alive and well as a people and as a country. As Michael and I travel seemingly everywhere, this simple thought comes back to us time and again.
I refuse to believe otherwise because Americans are constantly showing me that the truth is quite different.
And so, even in the middle of my sometimes despair and incredulity to what I see and hear, I hold fast to the idea that we’re fine and going to be fine.
Not that there won’t be bumps and we’ll get our share of hard moments, but as Americans, we are not unique in that experience. Our nation’s history shows that clearly.
We’ve got the holiday week in front of us, lots of time for channel surfing. I STRONGLY encourage you to watch the new Ken Burns series on the American Revolution. I didn’t think his work on the Civil War could be surpassed.
I was wrong.
Happy Holidays everybody.
Tony and Rylie
Thoughts, questions, or reflections? I’d love to hear them. You can reach me anytime at anthony@workingprofit.com
