Chain Reaction:

Changing the Social Landscape for Good (second installment)

Let us, for the sake of this written-based conversation, define “job.” A job is the result of a need being fulfilled in society. The actual activity of the job is secondary in value to the education received from the experience of helping another person, or people. Thus, jobs are made, not “given.”

For you, the human being, growth is ordained. Without growth, untold internal pain is born within you. Growth occurs when you translate your time, talent and energy into providing a service to your family, community, and, eventually, greater society. Through service - meeting the demand of the challenge; choosing to solve a problem - you, the individual, learn something you did not know about who and what you are.

The following statement is controversial, however, in the light of the fundamentals, it is true. Those living in poverty in America are doing so by choice. After all, we live in the belly of empire. Hundreds of military bases around the world maintain our lifestyle. Difficult as life here can be, the barriers towards success in the United States pale in comparison to the challenges faced by humans globally.

Thanks to great advancements in the public consciousness, even the extremely poor inside the United States enjoy low-cost phone service, access to the internet and a thin safety net. Meager though these services are, they are sufficient to aid someone with fierce determination to access more resources, while creating relationships of exchange with their neighbors.

All conditions are maintained at the level of choice. The life of the citizen, man and woman, is the history of the nation. If murder dominates the land, it is because the citizens are murderous. Change the inner condition of the people and the society will change. Develop the people and you will develop the nation.

Like any failure, the experience of poverty, is not an end goal. It is a singular life event the average person can overcome. A philosopher and motivational speaker, Earl Nightingale, once defined success as “the progressive realization of a worthy goal.”

That’s a powerful definition. Nightingale, a man who taught so many how to transmute clear mental pictures into personal growth, financed dreams and influential reputations, did not associate money, or power, to his concept of success.

One of Nightingale’s students, Denis Waitley, went into greater detail, in his 1983 book, Seeds of Greatness. “[By success, my mentor, Nightingale] means that when we are working or moving towards something we want to accomplish, especially when that something brings us respect and dignity as members of the human race, we are succeeding.”

The beautiful Statue of Liberty (with the chains around its ankles) stands begging those who suffer in foreign lands to capitalize on our claim. Every election cycle local and national politicians remind us that the United States is the place for dreamers; for those with a vision. No citizen born and raised here should starve from a lack of resources or exhibit stunted personal growth because they lacked the opportunity to pursue their dreams!

This is aptly demonstrated by our foreign-born brothers and sisters. Most immigrants arrive through our airports possessing only their labor and a determined idea. They may not even know how to speak English or translate their skills developed in the Mother Country into an “American job.” They may choose - yes, it is a choice - to live in substandard housing conditions and survive on a meager diet, in many ways, no different than their previous experience. (Which is a shame that such spaces exist inside the ‘greatest country on earth.’)

I make this claim, while fully acknowledging the barriers that do exist.

“I’ll be the first to admit that racism, sexism, classism, homophobia, and prejudice are still much closer to the surface than many would like to admit,” hip hop legend, Russell Simmons, published those words in 2008, when news articles criticizing the Barack Obama Administration validated his words.

“But never let those obstacles obscure the fact that we do live in a country where hard work can elevate us to the greatest heights,” Simmons wrote. “I can’t say that to most people in the world. For million and million of people overseas, no matter how hard they work the opportunities just aren’t there. They’re going to work harder than most Americans and they’ll still going to have to live on less than a dollar a day for the rest of their lives. At home, there’s no opportunity. Despite the continuing classism and racism, they want to come here.”

- Russell Simmons, GlobalGrind (January 21, 2008)

Please take a few minutes and allow your imagination to digest that paragraph. No matter how oppressed you might feel right now, by debt or public policy, under even this flag of empire, you have a fighting chance. The message contained in the first Rocky movie retains its luster. Make the choice! Choose a clear direction to focus your time, talent and energy towards and the results will eventually come in.

You and I have dreams – a series of specific experiences we wish to see come into physical reality. We desire the experience of fulfillment; of manifesting in the flesh the images our inner voice tells us is possible. Making those ideas flesh is our special job, no one except us can accomplish it. The great talent deposited within us is not for vanity.

The author Thomas Wolfe share with us this wisdom, “If we have a talent and cannot use it, we have failed. It we have a talent and use only half of it, we have partly failed. If we have a talent and learn somehow to use all of it, we have gloriously succeeded, and won a satisfaction and a triumph few individuals ever know.”

Every motivational speaker, personal mentor or self-help book will tell you exactly what Thomas Wolfe is trying to convey. Life is not about the pursuit of material objects (toys) or great achievements (titles). Our ultimate goal is not to create a spectacular resume. Instead, your life is the pursuit of one opportunity after another to express your inner creativity until you contribute a masterpiece that inspires the world.

If this is true – if you were born to create a masterpiece – what prevents American citizens from taking full advantage of their birthrights? In one word, the answer is: belief!

MAKE A LIST OF REASONS WHY YOU SHOULD SUCCEED? (Start with what you know is under your direct control right now and extend to the influence you have over your inner circle of friends and families.)

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

I conclude this second installment with an affirmation. May it resonate within your subconscious and inspire a vision/dream to arise within you.

MY SUCCESS IS A CHOICE OF MY PERSONAL GROWTH. I CHOOSE TO GO ON ADVENTURE TODAY. I AM EQUAL TO THE CHALLENGES BEFORE ME AND THE CHALLENGES BEFORE ME STIMULATE MY CONSCIOUSNESS TO

SEE THE GOOD THAT LIES WITHIN ME AND RELEASE MY GENIUS TO IMPROVE MY LIVED EXPERIENCE.

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