From a football fan standpoint it pains me to give anyone associated with Clemson credit for anything seeing as I’m a die-hard Georgia Tech fan. But Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney’s life story is a wonderful example of the payoff for hard work, commitment, and perseverance. In short, his life embodies the American Dream.

He sums up what used to be the predominate belief by most Americans before the age of dependency in which we currently live:

It’s about the decisions we make in life. No, we don’t control who our parents are. We don’t control what color we are. We don’t control what home we are born into. But we control our attitude, we control our work ethic, we control our drive and our commitment.

That’s it! It’s that simple folks. That is the essence of American exceptionalism.