My grandfather was an immigrant and lived the American Dream. But, he was an a**hole to everyone. He was abusive and valued work over everything else. My father took his work ethic but not his abusive behavior and always acted like working was an amazing thing to do. He always brought up my grandfather because he came here with nothing and worked hard. But, I never shared that mentality of working myself to the bone. “He didn't have two cents to rub together” my dad used always say.
Now he doesn't have two family members that want to see him. He has a handful of children and only one talks to him. He never cared about my grandmother until she was going to die. Now, he is alone because he valued money over everything else. He had money but it is running out. He gave the illusion that he was better off than he was. Recently, I've had struggles with what I want to do in life and it's nice when I talk to my father to tell him. “Grandpa is going to die broke and his whole family hates or dislikes him. I don't want to live like that, what is the point.” If you are going to be so obsessed with money why have a family?