Looking back at the campaign, wasn’t it just so much fun? Wow! Didn’t the outcome leave you with a speechless avalanche of positive emotions? Confidence? Pride? Inspiration? Joy? Gratitude? Relief? Freedom? Completion? Connectedness? Honor? Appreciation? While you’re on that high, I want you to ask yourself a question: Now what? To find answers, I have [...]
Looking back at the campaign, wasn’t it just so much fun? Wow!
Didn’t the outcome leave you with a speechless avalanche of positive emotions? Confidence? Pride? Inspiration? Joy? Gratitude? Relief? Freedom? Completion? Connectedness? Honor? Appreciation?
While you’re on that high, I want you to ask yourself a question:
To find answers, I have a suggestion.
Pick one thing, just one thing, that you’ve been meaning to do. In deciding which one thing, give preference to something that you don’t quite think you can do or something you wish you could do but you’re kinda scared to do it.
Now, schedule some time, say 30 minutes. Write it down.
When that time arrives, put down everything. Put everything aside. No phone calls. No pets. No music. No coffee. No television.
Close your eyes, and picture it DONE. How does that feel?
If you’re having trouble picturing how that’s going to feel, then remember how you felt at 11:01 p.m. E.S.T. when Senator Barack Obama won the 2008 Presidential Election.
File those feelings away. Put them in the bank. Draw on them any time. They’ll always be there for you. They’ll always be appreciating. They won’t go away.
Now identify and focus upon the very first step towards completion of your one thing. NOT the whole series of steps, just the very first step.
Next, and this is crucial, carefully follow the rules below:
Rule #1) Go one more step;
Rule #2) Repeat Rule #1.
If you have to do so, talk to yourself. Encourage yourself. “Go one more step.” “Go one more step.” “Go one more step.”
Better yet, get others to encourage you. “You can do it.” “You can do it.”
Remember those feelings you put in the bank. Use them now. Don’t think about anything else. Don’t do anything else.
You could call these the Rules for Action in Spite of Fear and/or Apathy. They’re also just the Rules of Life.
But you’ll notice that they also apply to tight rope walking. In tight rope walking, looking too far ahead, or backward, or up, or down (or taking phone calls) could spell immediate disaster.
Remember these rules. The Rules of Life and Tight Rope Walking.
If you follow them, you will make history now.
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The future demands for the newly elected will be enormous. How fast can fast be? Many promises during the heat of political battle will be scrutinized to see if ALL said will be done. The complexity between Wall Street and Main Street is calling for equality. I hope it doesn’t revert to some type of socialism with those who work to earn and then are forced to share that which has been gained to those who do not or ever will be productive on their own. The world is shrinking rapidly. I blink my eyes and when they open I see quickly all other continents in disarray. I believe we are “lemmings”, not realizing that we destroy ourselves. So where is the answer for the common ground…if there ever be one?…bill
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Hey Everyone,
Just a thought– I heard Collun Powell ( a great leader) say that repirations have not been repaid by voting in Barack Obama.
I just want to say on behalf of all Americans: I truly believe we voted Barack into office not because he is black but because we think he can do the job.
Remember he is OUR president, and we are proud of him!
All races picked him– we came together. I hope leaders like Collun Powell see that and move beyond race to a higher energy.
It could be a new, awesome era in America because I think Barack comes from a higher energy. I don’t agree with alot of his policies because I am a small gov advocate. But his approach is awesome.
John Finn
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Exactly!
That is part of my point.
John
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Claude,
I am confident that Obama will be the greatest President ever!!! President-Elect showed the world that he was the best candidate for the job. Although I understand the historical aspect of electing President Obama, he never 1 time mentioned the obvious which I believe is a message in itself. As Americans we must strive to be the best at all times. My take away and message to all: Proper preparation will defeat all obstacles.
Peter
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Claude,
As always you’re persuasive in your presentation. The road back for our nation will be painful. We will all need to make sacrifices. But for the first time in my lifetime, it seems most of our country is united and willing to do “whatever it takes” to rebuild what the current administration has destroyed in the past eight years.
Opportunity is on our doorstep. And to quote Charles Lindbergh, “Nothing worthwhile was ever gained without sacrifice.” It’s time for us to all join hands, lock arms and go about the work of restoring the glory to our great nation. All we ever need remember is “Yes, we can!”
Thanks for always giving us pause to consider the bigger picture.
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Where does it end Claude?
Should I be compensated because my grandfather and great grandfather were extremely mistreated by the mining companies?
Was I directly harmed by the mines’ and the governement’s practices at the time? I just don’t think it is fair for you to pay me back for injustices to my great grandfather. And is it fair to force my friends who recently moved here from Lebanon and Vietnam to pay me for injustices to my great grandfather?
I see this as a good idea that can lose it’s intenetion over the years when lawyers and gold diggers get their hands on it. There will be outrageous claims by many about stuff that happened in 1734 to their family that they expect to be paid for and the lawyers will end up with most of it.
And which family suffered the most? How can we proove it?
Just wait until the UN gets involved!
And while we are splitting hairs concentrating on each case, we are not concentrated on the present, high energy— we are draining ourselves.
It always amazes me how the Democrats will bring up past events like this but when they are investigated they will say “well that was in the past. We need to move on…”
I truly believe we have a chance for higher existance with a man that has those ideals. We need to help Barack and not find out he can help us.
John Finn
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Hello,
I certainly am not suggesting that my grand father had it worse (not even close) to what generations of African and African Americans had to suffer.
You almost make my point. First off, they are dead (my kin) and they suffered (although my great grand father did set himself up so that the mine left him alone, but that is another story), but how does paying me solve anything? The mine made money just like the plantation owners and the gov looked the other way. The slaves paid with their lives (many miners did too being shot and beaten).
My point is how do we repay someone for a lost life? By making sure it doesn’t happen again. There are slaves now and child labor now. These people have lost their lives. There are many who are tortured and murdered today so that we can have oil and food on our tables. THis is where our money should go.
I’m just concerned that we will take a step in the wrong direction by focusing on low energy stuff. You are right we came together. I think we support Barrack Obama (I used to abreviate his name to B.O. then I said yikes!! “BO”) and stay together. Reprarations may divide us.
BTW– should GErmany and Mercedes-Benz pay back holocaust survivors? I don’t know the answer to that one either.
I will check out that movie “The Great Debaters” Thanks!
JF
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Hey John,
The fact is that Germany did and does pay reparations to the entire state of Israel to compensate for the slave labor and persecution of Jews, and to pay for the property of Jews that was stolen by the Nazis.
And, in effect, we are paying reparations to Native Americans as compensation for their wanton slaughter, the taking of their land, etc. Native Americans (and anyone who can prove ancestry through remote blood relation to a tribe) are entitled, for example, to get free college education. Few people argue about the economic fairness or justification for this.
I’m not a “reparations expert” but I have some thoughts about it.
Again with all due respect to your grandfather (and by extension all European immigrant “grandfathers”), there’s just a vast and quantum level difference between the economic impact on people and descendants of people who were mistreated, lost compensation, or even died during labor disputes (like in the Battle of Homestead), or in work-related accidents (mining, steel making, Triangle Shirt Factory fire, etc.) … and people who were used for slavery.
In terms of economic impact, slaves were unpaid, their families were ripped apart and therefore they couldn’t pass on wealth or knowledge of how to even accumulate wealth. Wealth-accumulation itself was outlawed. One’s ability to self-sustain or even own businesses was outlawed. Property ownership was outlawed. They couldn’t vote. They risked death if discovered as being able to read … and this before we even get to the human suffering and indignity endured during the slavery era.
And even factoring in the mistreatment of your own grandfather, which I’m sure was terrible and impacted your family beyond just his own generation, still that doesn’t compare with the singular and uniquely devastating economic experience that slaves suffered … because your grandfather worked by choice, for a wage.
Beyond slavery, we also have to understand the profound economic impact of the post-Reconstruction era of Jim Crow, which, as Stephano pointed out, lasted into modern times. Just in purely economic terms, neither your grandfather, nor his friends and neighbors, were driven off their land, had their businesses torched, had their crops destroyed, were prevented from joining unions or work pools, etc. And again, we’re not even mentioning that wage-earning heads of households were arbitrarily and summarily lynched and massacred in the streets in return for attempting to stand up for their themselves and their families.
Your grandfather’s psyche and wallet didn’t remotely experience these economic factors even in his worst nightmares.
I agree that modern immigrants shouldn’t necessarily have to pay directly for the economic “sins” that America committed before their time. But then again, why not? What if that’s just part of the price of admission to this great country? People come to this country by choice. When today’s German citizens (some of whom are Turks, Africans, etc.) pay taxes, part of that goes to pay reparations.
In practical terms, I have no idea how such reparations could be paid … there’s no country of African Americans — like Israel — and no tribes or tribal provenance — like Native Americans — to pay. So I agree with Stephano reparations could have an “adverse selection problem”, and that there would be a likelihood of exploitation. Do you pay all black people? All people with some proof they have black ancestors? What about people like Barack Obama, who’s father was a first-generation African, and so therefore his ancestors did not experience slavery at all — should they be compensated? I’m sure that there are “experts” pondering these kinds of arguments and possibilities.
Yet, I don’t agree that just because reparations might have an adverse selection problem that that is enough reason to rule them out completely. I do agree with Stephano that some kind of allowance, leveling, or other economically compensatory arrangement — whether in the form of direct reparations, or indirect — seems in the cards. It’s certainly justified, whether practical or not. But in any case, giving individuals money is probably not only impractical, but doing that alone or collectively isn’t even enough, as Obama himself has pointed out. We first have to get our heads around that part of it, so that, as a start, in any case, people can begin to understand why affirmative action is not about randomly giving people undeserved preference. And so that African Americans can begin to understand why there’s such a disconnect to these views among descendants of European immigrants. Obama began to do that with his Philly speech on race, and that was a good start. Let’s see where it goes from here.
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I am so proud I am about to burst. Remember how your mom or grandma
had 2 pictures up in the house one was of Dr.M L king and the other was
of Jesus. I am putting up a photo of Barack Obama! My husband Shelley and I were out on the front lawn like it was new years eve. My nine year old
son Alex was outside with his sister Helena she had a whistle he was
blowing his trumpet to celebrate. Yes we did!!!
Peace & Blessings
Letitia
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joy and pride will be what i think and am happy about for our president elect and his family, i am not a man of many words thanks again for allowing to share my thoughts with you..
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Hey John, thanks for your comment. I want to point out that in a certain way, slavery and reparations have nothing whatsoever to do with race.
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John, to complete that thought, I would say that if reparations are justified then so be it, but if we decide to award reparations and then people get upset because they think it has to do with race, then they are mistaken. If reparations are awarded it would be because generations of a certain group of people and their descendants were the unfair victims of systematic government condoned economic injustice. Then too, there may be some punitive, mental, and emotional anguish involved as well. But these have nothing to do with race, because I would want any person who suffered injustices and anguish like those to be fairly compensated.
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Well, Carolyn, by the way you don’t have to apply these rules to your biggest most daunting goal … just start where it’s comfortable but where you can push yourself a little bit. But if you do pick your biggest most gigantic thing, then make sure you start from the very first step! That will start the momentum you need.
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Firstly, I would like to point out that you are comparing apples and oranges with your example. I mean absolutely no disrespect to your grandfather or your great grandfather as I am sure that they indeed were injustly made to suffer by said mining companies. My problem with it is that that suffering caused by their employers was in no way the same thing as the hundreds of years and many more generations of black people that were crushed and molested on a fundamental level (even questioning their basic status as human beings and thus whether or not they should’ve been given a priviledge to life (not even a right) 24 hours a day/7 days a week from birth to death of not only themselves but also their children and their children and so on up to about 40 years ago. So again, while I’m sure your grandfather (or possibly even your dad depending on how old you are) did indeed have it bad, I’m sure there was a black man that wished with all his heart that he only had it that bad.
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But anyway, on to my main point. I would agree with you that paying out money to decendants of those that suffered doesnt make sense for many reasons, such as what you pointed out (paying for injustices that were not directly incurred by the receipients). I also agree that people will try to exploit any such program on a regular basis and I also agree that there’s little to no way of being sure who was actually affected by said injustices and to what extent. So yes, there is a huge moral hazard issue that I believe should be avoided. I think there should be things done to “level the playing field” certainly, just not something with such an adverse selection problem as reparations. So in conclusion, I agree with your conclusion 100%, I just disagree with the logic you used to get there. May I recommend the 2007 movie “The Great Debaters”. It’s a high quality film that really points out the apples and oranges problem that I’m talking about.
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