He lost his father when he was five years old, and dropped out of school at the age of fourteen to start a life of wandering.
He did odd jobs on farms and worked as a tram conductor, but both were very unhappy.
At 16 he lied about his age and enlisted in the army, but military life didn't go well either. After his service, he opened a blacksmith's store, but it soon went out of business.
Then he became a locomotive stoker for the Southern Railroad. It was a job he loved, so he thought he had finally found his place.
At 18 he got married, only to be given notice of his dismissal the same day he learned his wife was pregnant.
Then one day, while he was out running around, busy looking for a job, his wife sold all their possessions and was never seen again.
Then the Great Depression began. He, however, didn't give up because he kept failing and kept trying to find a way to get ahead.
He studied law by correspondence, but then had to give it up because he had to make ends meet.
He sold insurance and tires.
He operated a ferry and a gas station.
But in the end those all failed.
Some people told him, "Resign yourself to your fate, you'll never make it.
One day he was hiding alone in the grass in the countryside, plotting a kidnapping.
Despite the fact that his life had been in shambles, he had never before entertained the cold-hearted idea of kidnapping. However, as he waited for his target to come within range, he began to hate himself y.
In the end, the kidnapping failed, as he still hadn't been able to break through the uneasiness of his conscience.
Later, he became the chef of a restaurant. But soon, a newly built highway ran right through that restaurant, and he had no choice but to lose his job once again.
Then he reached retirement age. Time flew by, and a lifetime passed, and he still had nothing.
He was not the first, nor the last, to have nothing to be proud of in his old age. Perhaps the happy bird, or whatever bird, always flapped its wings at the unreachable.
He had always been at peace, except for the attempted kidnapping, but he was only trying to reclaim his daughter from his runaway wife. However, mother and daughter have since returned to him.
He wouldn't have realized he was getting old if it hadn't been for the day the mailman delivered his first Social Security check belonging to him. It was as if this insurance check was saying to him, in the course of your life, you've missed when it was your turn to bat, and now, without having to bat anymore, it's time to give up and retire. This pension check is like saying to him over and over again, "You're old! Old! ...... "That day, something in him stirred, and he awakened once again.
He said, "Bah!" But he took the $105 check anyway and used it to start his brand-new business.
And today, his business is thriving. And he, too, has finally made it big at the age of 88.
The man who began his journey to greatness at the end of his life was Harlend Sanders, the founder of KFC. The brand new business he started with his share of Social Security money was none other than the world-famous KFC Hometown Chicken.