A Legal Immigrant’s Story – Warnings and Wisdom for America – with Rimantas Jurevicius – [Ep. 272]

Linda J. Hansen:  Welcome. Thank you for tuning in to this episode of the Prosperity 101 Breakroom Economics® Podcast. My name is Linda J. Hansen, your host and the author of Prosperity 101, Job Security Through Business Prosperity, the Essential Guide to Understanding How Policy Affects Your Paycheck® and the creator of the Breakroom Economics® Online course. The book, the course, and the entire podcast library can be found on prosperity101.com. 

I seek to connect boardroom to breakroom and policy to paycheck. By empowering and encouraging employers to educate employees about the public policy issues that affect their jobs. My goal is to help people understand the foundations of prosperity, the policies of prosperity, and how to protect their prosperity by becoming informed, involved, and impactful®.

I believe this will lead to greater employee loyalty, engagement, and retention, and to an increased awareness of the blessings and responsibilities of living in a free society. Listen each week to hear from exciting guests and be sure to visit prosperity101.com.

Thank you so much for joining with us today. It is just a joy to have you in the audience and whether you're listening by audio or watching on Rumble or YouTube, we appreciate it so much that you have taken time to hear this podcast today. I think you'll be very interested in the topic, especially given what is happening in America and around the world.

We see peace deals being made, we see governments shifting, and we see people all around the world fighting for freedom. There is something within us that just desires freedom. That is how God made us, to desire freedom.

And that's one thing that's beautiful about America, is that our rights given to us by God are protected by our founding documents, by our constitution. America is special because our rights aren't given to us from the government. They are protected by the government.

And so now we're in a season and a time in history where we need to make sure those rights can be protected, not only for those of us in America, but really as we hope for freedom for people around the world. So I think you'll appreciate this episode with my special guest. But before we get into the interview, I want to say a special thank you to our prosperity partners, those who just give every month or from time to time to help us keep this podcast on the air.

So please, if you'd like to become a prosperity partner, go to prosperity101.com and hit the prosperity partner link, and we'd really appreciate your support. So please do so, and we can't thank you enough for that. So thank you to our prosperity partners.

And we have strategic partners, businesses that are like-minded, they want to be part of the freedom economy. Please visit our show notes and our website to be able to find the links to wonderful supportive businesses that can serve you, your family, and this nation well. Now with that being said, I do have a special guest, and he certainly understands the value of freedom.

Not only that, he understands the value of fighting for it, preserving it, and making sure we can pass freedom on to the next generation. My guest today is Rimantas Jurevicius. And I can't tell you how many times I have practiced pronouncing that name, because once you see the spelling, you'll understand.

But I just thank you so much, Rimantas, for being here. And Rimantas is someone who truly understands the life of an immigrant. He was from Lithuania, and for many of you, you may not even know where Lithuania is or know anything about it. But his story of coming to America so many years ago and how the freedom and prosperity offered in America changed his life and the life of his family. I just think it's so inspirational.

He has had an incredible career in business and athletics. I just think his life story is something that can speak so wisely to us at this time in history. So, Rimantas, thank you so much for joining with me today.

Rimantas Jurevicius: Good morning, Linda. I do appreciate having this opportunity to speak to you and to your audience. Indeed, this topic is very important.

I have lived my life where I am right now. And at this point, it gives me that special perspective to look at the life in Lithuania and the Soviet regime and life in the United States, because it is kind of divided in half. When I came to the United States, I immigrated at the age of 28.

So I wasn't a little boy and not knowing how life was lived through schooling and college service in the Soviet army. And also, very importantly, I was still back in Lithuania and Lithuania gained its independence in 1990.

And to give a little perspective about freedom, I have to tell a little story of my family. Again, when I was born, Lithuania was already occupied by the Soviet Union. But my parents and my grandparents were born in an independent country, so they had freedom.

My grandparents, for example, had a little farm. But when Stalin ruled the Soviet Union and they occupied Lithuania in 1940, that's a small Baltic country, under three million population, bordering with Poland on the west and Belarus on the south and Latvia on the north. So it's a small country, didn't have a lot of soldiers to fight for freedom, but we had a lot of spirit to do that.

When Lithuania was occupied, of course, people had to just adjust to this life and unfortunate, but that was the case. And if people know some history of that part of the world, in 1939, Soviets and Nazi Germany actually made a secret agreement, Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, it's called, when they divided Europe. And by this secret agreement, Stalin and Hitler, they actually decided what part of Europe they're going to take over.

And Lithuania, unfortunately, was a part of Stalin's side. And that's how it happened. So all of that I didn't know growing up, because going to school, obviously, Soviets had their propaganda and they portrayed that time in the history slightly different.

I remember when I was already trying to understand things, I would go visit my grandparents and my grandmother would start talking about her life in the past and she would be very sad. And one time she was crying and I started asking her, why are you crying? What happened?

And she opened up and I started asking questions. When Stalin ruled the Soviet Union and Lithuania was occupied in 1948, they started massive deportations of Lithuanian citizens. First on the list were those farmers who resisted collectivization of a sober government.

And my mother's family, my grandparents had a little farm, so they were on the list. One of the days they just came to their house and they told them, you have a little time to get ready. You'll be going on a long trip.

And they didn't know what and why. So they took them to the train station and they forced them to board the train. But it wasn't a regular passenger train.

It was a cramped cattle car. And two weeks later, 5,000 miles after traveling 5,000 miles, they opened the doors and that was their new place of destination. They had to live there.

It was a place called Buryat Mongolia. It was Siberia. And that's how freedom was taken away from them.

Again, my grandparents especially, they lived in an independent country. My parents were still born in an independent country. And now they experienced that, how fragile that freedom is and how easy it is to lose sometimes.

So they lived there for six years. They prayed for the miracle to happen. And the miracle happened six years later when Stalin died.

So they were allowed to come back to Lithuania. But when they did, the farm was no longer theirs. Their farm was government property now. So they had to move to another city and start their new lives all over again. Again, all of this I learned from my parents, not from school. So it was a conflicting living in those times.

And the true history, but at the same time, it was portrayed completely different. So that was something that you had to deal with. And as a young man, of course, lucky for me, I was very active and sport became my escape.

I was very active. I was noticed by a coach at one of the local track and field events, cross-country running, who invited me to go to a sports school. It wasn't easy.

It wasn't pressured. It was actually my choice. So at 13 years old, I started my new life, became an adult, living in a different city, studying and going to school and training.

And when I was 15, I became a champion of Soviet Union, my age group, in 300-metre hurdles. That opened a door. And again, lucky for me that I had this passion for the sport.

And that allowed me kind of to focus on training and not to be involved in political affiliation, because at that time in Soviet Union, you had to belong to and become a member of the Communist Party to advance in your life, because you wouldn't be able to achieve high positions if you were not a member of that party. So in my case, it was a good thing that I was very much involved in sports. And that was my life.

When I graduated sports school or going to college, kind of similar situation like here, athletes have a little bit more attention from the colleges because they want you to be their member and go to their school because you would represent them. Of course, for me as an athlete, the Olympics was the goal to go to. And that's what I was actually striving for.

And everything looked good. And it was kind of looking like it's going that direction. Very early, again, like I was telling you, that I was noticed and achieved some nice, good wins in my track and field sport.

But something happened after my first year in college. By then, Soviets already invaded Afghanistan and they were fighting in Afghanistan. Imagine there is no Internet plus Soviet propaganda. We didn't know all the story about what was happening there. We just knew that we were involved, but in what capacity, how? We had no idea.

And so the Soviet government needed more soldiers and they changed the law. They changed the laws to make it mandatory for all 19-year-old men, no matter if you are in college, in trade school, working, have to go to army service. Until then, the law was that if you go to college, you can finish the college, your education, and then you take three months course and you're done with your obligation.

My year, it was the first year that had the changed law. And so imagine this time, that year when I turned 19, obviously, by law, I had to go service. And I was representing Lithuania at Soviet Olympics in Moscow at Olympic Stadium.

And so going from this overnight, then next day, I had to come back to Lithuania and go to a recruiting center to become a soldier. And of course, it was conflicting to me too, because I knew Lithuania was occupied by Soviet Union. So now I'm going to have to serve in the Soviet army, the one that occupied my country.

But that was the reality.

Linda J. Hansen: Yeah, heartbreaking. So just to clarify for the listeners, so you were qualified for the Olympics to be an athlete for Lithuania?

Rimantas Jurevicius: Well, Soviet Olympics. Yes, Soviet Olympics. They had a similar system where all sports were represented, made up of 15 republics.

So that was the whole Soviet Union. But there are 15 republics. Lithuania was part of those 15.

So every four years, they would have their own Olympics. So I represented Lithuania at the Soviet Olympics. And of course, my goal was to become Olympian, like these days, to represent the country.

At that time, I would have to qualify to become a member of the Soviet Union team to represent the Soviet Union at Olympics. And that was my goal. And I was striving towards that.

But to reach that goal, of course, you had to go through those steps to qualify for this first. I'm talking about this moment because it was a kind of defining moment too in my life, the army service. I want to tell listeners a little bit about it to kind of give you a perspective about what the Soviet Union was and why it eventually actually failed.

So all of a sudden, my life changed. By all means, I should have continued training and it should be formal. Somehow my name didn't make the list. The lucky ones that were on the list not to go actually just had to be official on the paper, but not to go to service. But in my case, I had to. Paperwork was messed up or something.

And so I went to boot camp and then helicopter mechanics school. And then I was transferred to Siberia. Kind of interesting enough that now it was my time to experience Siberia. My mother was 10 years old when she was deported with her family. For six years, she had to live there. And now it's my time to experience Siberia.

And interesting enough, too, that the helicopter division that I had to serve was heavily participating in the war in Afghanistan. Soldiers and mechanics from that division would be flown once a month to Afghanistan in the war zone actually to service the helicopters. So the first night I remember arriving there and luckily I had a Latvian friend who already was serving there.

So he would explain to me everything about that, including the possibility of being transferred to Afghanistan. And they said that they usually do that at night. So when you sleep and you're being told that you have to get up and go.

And so I was prepared for that. But of course, I was just praying, saying that please keep me safe because I wanted this to be over and eventually go back to training. So the service in the Soviet Army was quite an experience.

And there is a story that I wrote about 15 different republics represented in that army. But there are over 100 nationalities that came with all different religions. And there were unwritten rules. I call it tribalism rules that were actually very heavily present. Whoever had majority, they were in charge. And there is a Russian word called dead or Sheena.

It was a very much strong word and very much in place when I was in service. What would that mean? That those who served longer than you, they had the power over you.

They would tell you what to do to the point where to go to fix the beds and bring the food and kind of intimidate you and all of that. So that night, I remember my Lithuanian friend was telling me, you're going to have to make a choice between dignity, stand up for yourself, fight for yourself, or to let them take life over you. And maybe you're not going to be beaten, but you'll lose that dignity.

So I made a choice. Dignity. And it wasn't easy, but a lot of fighting and intimidation. But eventually, it did come out the way that I was lucky to survive. And I was lucky that looking back now, I'm thinking maybe I needed that experience to appreciate what we have. And you don't appreciate when you don't have that or you don't experience that.

So in my life, that was a big turning point.

Linda J. Hansen: That's so important that you brought that up, the dignity, standing for what you believed, standing for that. And your story is remarkable in the sense that where you started to grow up and you were really a product of propaganda because of how you were educated and things. But the truth did come out through the stories of your family and what they personally endured and your own life.

You could see how freedom was limited for you. Now, we don't have a lot of time left for the interview because there's just so much to cover. And I want people to follow up with you.

You've written a book, and I want to make sure they have information to hear the whole story. But you came to the United States as a young man, and you really didn't have anything. You didn't know what your future would hold.

But because this is the land of the American dream, the land of hope and opportunity, or it always has been, and that is what we're trying to preserve. And that is definitely why I do what I do and try to help business owners explain these truths to their employees. Because like you were, many of them have been, I don't like to use the word victims, but maybe I'll say projects, projects of propaganda.

From our media to what's been taught in the public schools, everything and what's been in our universities has been such propaganda. I mean, it's not to, I don't want to throw the baby out with the bathwater. There's been some good, of course, but we can see by what's happening in America today that many people have been misled into thinking that socialism or communism are the way to go.

We can see right now there's a flood of popularity for a candidate in New York City for a mayor who is an avowed socialist. And this will not help America prosper, nor the citizens to prosper. And you have seen this firsthand.

So I'd like you just briefly, if you could, you came to America, you got a job in Wisconsin, started mopping floors. You eventually led to leading that company, retiring from that company.And now you work as a business consultant and strategist and things, and your rise professionally really couldn't have happened anywhere else.

And that's a beautiful story. People need to understand that. And then I'd like you to give words of wisdom to people here in America who might be taking their freedom for granted.

Rimantas Jurevicius: Yes, absolutely. Exactly, Linda, how you described that. Even back in Lithuania and the Soviet regime, we knew this special country existed.

And when we Lithuanians eventually were able to fight for our freedom and become independent, we were the first ones to declare independence in 1990. And then that started the process of the breakup of the Soviet Union. Even then, we were, of course, appreciative of every country recognizing us as independent, but there was one country that we waited for.

And we knew that most importantly. And there was a reason for that. That was the United States of America. We then called it America, just simply. And we knew that this is where the beacon of freedom and democracy is. And we knew how important it is.

And we knew that that's the one that can help us to preserve what we're fighting for. My circumstances happened to be that I met somebody who is an American citizen and my wife, Lithuanian, but she was born here in the United States. And we decided to have our lives together here, of course.

And yes, as you said, it started. I had no knowledge of English. I had very basics where I could say maybe what my name is and how old I am, maybe.

And that was it. So the job that after all the proper documentation had to go through, of course, through immigration services with getting a job permit and applying for the green card. And then eventually became a citizen of this great nation.

Linda J. Hansen: Thank you for doing so legally.

Rimantas Jurevicius: Yes, yes. Legally and went and passed the test and became a citizen in 2000. So the job that actually happened to be that it was the closest to where we live because we didn't have two cars. We got only one car. My wife was working and I had to find something that I could walk to work. And I will remember that.

And it's in the story that I mentioned to you, I think, to the job interview. My wife was my interpreter. I did not understand what they were asking me, the questions. I was just smiling and hoping for that opportunity. Well, they gave me that opportunity. And as I mentioned, I started from the very beginning and didn't know about the business or anything.

But I wanted to learn everything I can because I knew, well, first of all, as an immigrant, I think it's important to bring this up. I knew that the only way to succeed in a new country, and actually it doesn't matter what country you immigrate to, but it's a respect and follow the law of the land that gave you an opportunity to call it home, learn the language, embrace the culture and become a contributor to the society. So that's the formula in my head.

I had that that's the only way to actually succeed. And I followed that in my own life that I knew that I need to learn as fast as I can. And I would ask my wife to help me and we would have English days only. Even so, she spoke Lithuanian. We could have just spoken Lithuanian. But I knew that for my own good, I needed to do that.

Fast forward, when I had the opportunity to help other immigrants, legal immigrants who won green cards and they were able to come to the United States, there were some Lithuanians, there were some Polish that I was able to help and I would do the same. I would speak to them in English because I was telling them, this is for you, not for me, for you to integrate into this society, and that's what you have to do.

So that story about growing up here and then taking all this in and exploring the new life. I'll tell you one thing. After almost one year of living here in the United States, I was able to go back to visit my parents in Lithuania and my family, my friends would ask me what this America is like.

The first thing and the only thing would come out of me right away, I would say, this is a land of opportunities. And I am a good example of that. Nobody knew who I was. Nobody knew my past. It didn't matter. It mattered to what I do now.

And so in that business, the plant managers and managers, they noticed they started advancing me in positions. And eventually, like you mentioned, 32 years later, when I retired from this company, that conference room where I had my first job interview became my office. It wasn't my office back then. I ran the company when I retired.

Linda J. Hansen: I'm sorry, I didn't mean to interrupt. It's such a beautiful story. And it mirrors that of so many immigrants who came, especially during those years before you and during those years.

It's such a contrast to what we see recently, where so many immigrants want to come to just have a free handout or to be able to have their way paid. And this is just such a contrast to what has been sold to the American people now as what is compassionate immigration. But compassionate immigration is actually helping people become their best advocate, helping people develop their skills and become a vibrant member of society and being able to achieve their American dream and not be dependent on someone else and not be dependent on government.

And so that contrast is really clear. And just we have one closing question.

Rimantas Jurevicius: Sure.

Linda J. Hansen: What would you say to employers who would like to help their employees or even to parents who would like to help their children understand why it is so important for us to reject the socialist, communist, Marxist ideologies that are so permeating? Why should we reject that? And how can we protect our future, especially as employers educate employees or parents educate their children?

Rimantas Jurevicius: Well, I think the best thing in my case is, and that's what I'm trying to do, with the opportunities to speak and to express my view and my example of, if you remember, I mentioned that, I'm in that situation where half of my life I lived under communist regime and half of my life in the capitalist system. And I see the difference. And there is no question, shouldn't be no question, like, which one is better?

And I give you perspective. Back in a socialist communist system, what wasn't mentioned officially, there was a saying that, oh, all people have to be equal. Okay, but there was one thing that they didn't mention, that those who had access to the, I call it part of distribution, or those who were able to or had to be in a position to decide how this equality is achieved and who is gonna get the first, that created a completely new class of the citizens.

And they live by different rules. So it's impossible.

Linda J. Hansen: Like now.

Rimantas Jurevicius: Yes, yes, it's impossible to disconnect those two, that saying that, oh, everybody's equal, but no. And in that system, not everybody was equal. You needed, as I mentioned in the beginning, you needed to be a member of communist party to achieve higher positions in your life.

So that was important. And for people to understand that, when the government explodes and becomes bigger and bigger and bigger, simply there won't be enough people producing the product that we need to live. So many people distribute all of that, but there will be time when it won't be enough to distribute, when to distribute anymore.

Linda J. Hansen: So- Like Margaret Thatcher said, the problem with socialism is eventually you run out of other people's money.

Rimantas Jurevicius: Exactly, exactly. That's the point that I'm trying to make too. So I think, unfortunately, that this utopian idea that it's perfect, it's so pro-people. No, it's not. There is a reason why the United States is still prospering and the Soviet Union failed. Just think about it.

Why did the Soviet Union fail? Well, my view about that is the Soviet Union was made by force, whereas the United States was made by will. And the system was incapable in the Soviet Union to provide for the people.

Very basic things, the long lines, waiting to buy a product that is necessary on a daily basis. All of that was normal, food rationing. I lived through that. I know when you are allowed to buy 200 grams of butter a month, that was actually the norm. We looked at it, we had to deal with that. But again, that created, interestingly enough, a situation where in that society, they were using capitalism systems, ways to go about it.

For example, people would see what we have shortage of. So they would come up with ways to make this product. I can give the example of jackets for the winter, for example, there was a shortage.

People in cold republics, they didn't have enough. So those who were smart enough and figured this out, they would come up with the ways to find somebody who can sew, buy the material, do this at home, and then sell it at the flea market. And that's exactly what capitalism is.

You allow the market to dictate what you need. So again, we should not break what is not broken. We have a system that, of course, nothing is perfect, but to go to the point where, and that was my worry about, when I came to United States, I thought no matter what government, who's gonna win the presidency, we're still gonna have the basics untouched, because that's the beauty of this country.

And when I saw four years ago for the first time I started worrying that we may start breaking the foundation of what this country was built upon. And that was my biggest worry. And to this day, actually, I don't want us to go back to this utopian idea and think that that's gonna solve all the problems.

No, it's not. It's proven. There was a reason why 15 republics of the Soviet Union eventually became independent and they rejected the socialist communist system. So there was a reason for that. People wanted to be free and wanted to decide how to live.

Linda J. Hansen: It's so true. People want to be free. And I just appreciate the fact that you fought for freedom, that you chose freedom, that you, at a point in your young life, you chose dignity.

You chose dignity over just going along with the crowd or allowing yourself to be led and victimized. Thank you for that, for your boldness, but also now for your boldness in speaking out and trying to warn upcoming generations about what they may have to endure if we don't wake up and protect the freedom here in America. So before we close, this will be the close, but could you please tell people your website?

You've written a book. We want to make sure that people can get your book. Tell them the title of your book and how to contact you and get your book.

Rimantas Jurevicius: Yes, thank you very much, Linda, for this opportunity. After I retired and I thought this was a perfect timing for me to reflect and to kind of leave my legacy about my way, because again, for that particular reason, to appreciate what we have here, don't break it, because I came from that other side and that's what I wanted to portray in the book. Of course, it's my personal story about me growing up and becoming an athlete and then coming to this country and succeeding and actually getting to the point where I can say I live the American dream.

So my book is called, if you don't mind, I'm gonna bring this up. Okay. My book is called My Story, 60 years of my life.

Linda J. Hansen: Here we go, hold it up a little higher so people can see it, there you go, okay.

Rimantas Jurevicius: 60 years of my life with hurdles from Lithuania to the USA. And on the backside is my very important message about how I view the American dream. In my view, the American dream is not the level of the wealth we were able to achieve, but the opportunity to the path to do so we have.

It is up to us to take it and make our lives to be the journey towards that dream. And that's the essence of the book. And the website is rimantasjurevicius.com

Information, it's available on Amazon, Barnes & Noble and all many other platforms. I would appreciate if you would be interested to know a little bit more in detail about my life back in Lithuania under the Soviet regime and coming to the United States, becoming a proud citizen of this great nation.

Linda J. Hansen: Well, that's perfect. And I'm just going to ask you to spell out your name, just spell out your website name. I know that people probably won't be writing it down but they may be able to stop, look, whatever but please spell it out so they can get the web address clearly.

Rimantas Jurevicius

Okay. The first name is R-I-M-A-N-T-A-S last name J-U-R-E-V-I-C-I-U-S.com. And the information will be there.

And then one more thing, Linda, right before we go, when I was invited to TEDx talk a few months ago and on my birthday, I received a card from my 29 year old son. Part of it said, happy birthday, dad. Thank you for everything you did for me in my life. I wouldn't be who I am without you. Thank you. I live an American dream.

Those were his words. And for me, with all the titles that I have achieved in life, this was the biggest gift to know that I influenced somebody, at least one person who said that he lives the American dream. That means that I did something good in my life.

And I wish for all of the listeners and the viewers to hear these words or to say them to someone because the American dream also is the idea for all of us who want nothing more but freedom and opportunity.

Linda J. Hansen: That's perfect. So thank you so much, Rimantas. I just look forward to hearing more about your journey as you move forward and speak to more people.

But thank you for bringing this warning to Americans but also the words of wisdom and hope that when we protect freedom we can all have that flourishing and American dream which means so many different things to so many different people. But it's basically the freedom to pursue the life we desire. So thank you so much.

Rimantas Jurevicius: Thank you, Linda. I appreciate that opportunity. Thank you.

Linda J. Hansen: Thank you. Thank you again for listening to the Prosperity101® podcast. If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe, share and leave a great review. Don't forget to visit prosperity101.com to access the entire podcast library, to order my newest book, Job Security Through Business Prosperity, the Essential Guide to Understanding How Policy Affects Your Paycheck®, or to enroll you or your employees in the Breakroom Economics® online course.

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Please contact us today at prosperity101.com to let us know how we can serve you. Thank you.