Flavius Aetius
Boston, MA
December 26th, 2010
11:56 am
There is an excellent essay on leadership and on being alone with one's
thoughts. It was referenced by the New York Times. It is located at
http://www.theamericanscholar.org....
I am a child of baby boomers, born in 1978, about to celebrate my 32nd
birthday in two days. I have a graduate degree and a bachelor's degree.
I had to work 30-40hrs / week either in a restaurant or for a catering
service serving food to a largely ungrateful landmass of baby boomers or
taught as a assistant instructor or research assistant. Once, I served
the Dalai Lama. That was pretty awesome. I had Pell Grants and a
half-scholarship to Tulane. Moral of story: my parents are in no way
trust fund people. From Boston, yes. Own a house, yes. Trust fund? Nope
and nothing wrong with that, or with people who have trust funds.
I am now an inner city public school teacher and entrepreneur with an
emerging business. I have a fiancee from another country. I am living a
dream. I know that my life makes a difference. And that is a as large a
social problem we in America have as any of the hit top ten (education,
immigration, welfare, racism, sexism, yaddah, yaddah): One of our
largest and most insidious social problems is that individuals think
that we are on a one-way track to hell.
Let me tell you: We are not. I am in Spain right now and there is 20%
unemployment here. It is not as easy for entrepreneurs to get companies
up and running. IN Europe, unless you already have money, the investors
won't even look at you twice. Here in the US, our investors will fund an
idea that has merit. Are you PROMISED fulfillment of your dream in
America? NO! Maybe that is the greatest myth of all that we live: that
we will all be rock gods and superstars and if anything less, then "my
life stinks.... wahhhhh...."
Something and someone is always rising and falling in the USA, every
single day.
What I wonder is how possibility, optimism, and belief in one's self,
family, and country has become an anathema to so many back home.
I cannot take it anymore, at 32 years old, pretending to be kind and
understanding of all the wimps who would rather complain than create
something. Here's the deal: When you complain, you get to be "right" and
nothing transforms in the world or in your life. That's it. Works the
same way for organizations, nations, schools, etc.
The American Dream is not dead. It's just that it's fashionable to be a
doomsayer and a nay-sayer. We call this "being realistic". Ever known
some eternal pessimist who starts all his sentences with "Well, just to
be realistic...." Listen, buddy, I like you, but if you haven't looked
around lately, "reality" is not working so well for millions of people....
Doomsaying and cynicism or whiny nostalgia gets you ratings on TV and
you get hits o your website. People have an innate need to confirm that
they have a grasp on the reality around them and thus have control over
it.... Trust me... You don't have control over 95% of the things that
happen and that's a good thing.
Frank Rich, you seem like a nice man, but, really enough of the Baby
Boomer "pining for the fjords" like Monty Python's dead parrot in that
skit that many folks know and love.
You, whoever you are, reading this, listen to me: you are at the center
of creating your dream. Even if people call you crazy, which they will,
just go and get it. Be open, be brave, be bold, and magical things will
start to happen.
We live in a time where everyone airs their thoughts to everyone else.
The essay on leadership and solitude talked about how anyone who has any
gumption to lead anything needs to learn to be alone with his/her own
thoughts. Our culture has become one of constant debate where millions
air their thoughts and revelations and half-truths day by day by day. My
good friend calls these people the "future-bending theory vendors". They
try to sell a future (or a past) or some vision of reality that just
plain is not true, accurate, or real.
IF I were you (and I am not), I would ignore the "future bending theory
vendors" - the people who either pine for some past that is impossible
to resurrect or create fear for some future that has not even happened
yet. Live in the PRESENT MOMENT. You are here, whoever you are, in THIS
America, right now. This is your lot. There is no wizard coming to wave
his magic wand to make it all go away. And looking back at the past
every now and again to draw a lesson from the past or planning for the
future is a good thing. However, if you stay there for too long, in
either "time zone", you miss what is right in front of you: an
opportunity to create something that makes a difference for others.
TO all you dreamers out there: DO NOT GIVE UP! 2011 is the year for
HEROIC young Americans of all political stripes, of all genders, of all
racial stripes, and of all regions to stand up, jaws set firm against
the odds, to beat the circumstances, to create, and to cause. Go forth.
God Bless.
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