Stay The Course

“Problems are not stop signs, they are guidelines.”
-Robert H. Schuller

Greetings folks! I’m back from my two week hiatus (vacation) with a vengeance. I spent part of last week with family and friends in South Florida and the other part in the Bahamas helping my friend get married. I’d like to congratulate my friend Marcus and his new bride Brandi on their nuptials. Now back to business.

Often times, I write about staying focused and determined on our goals and the task(s) at hand, and for good reason. Any mission, journey or effort without focus or determination is doomed to fail because every worthwhile mission or journey worth your effort will have its perils and pitfalls. But, what do you do when these inevitable roadblocks occur? What do you do when your bank account is shrinking and your bills are growing? What do you do when the food in your refrigerator is vanishing but your hunger isn’t? You stay the course.

It’s tough to stay calm in the midst of chaos. It’s difficult to keep your eye on the finish line when your legs hurt, your breathing is heavy and you’re pretty sure you may die before you cross it. But you must. I’ve encountered success in many different facets of my life and each time that I have, I encountered adversity both before and after I experienced that success. It’s the tough times that prepare us for the success and, in turn, make us more appreciative.

The majority of instant millionaires, i.e., athletes, entertainers and lottery winners, end up broke within five years of receiving their financial windfall or entering into retirement. This happens for a number of reasons: new found family members who want a piece of the pie; financial advisors who do more advising than they do work and just wasteful spending. The primary reason is that most are financially illiterate and aren’t prepared for receiving this large amount of money.

Think about it, everything that we do is in preparation of something bigger and greater to come. We learned to crawl before we walked and we had to walk before we could run. Before I became an attorney I had to graduate high school, then college, then law school, and then pass the bar. Nowhere in the history of mankind is there an occurrence where a baby ran before they walked and they didn’t allow Thurgood Marshall to become a licensed attorney without a degree. Every step that happens before you reach your intended destination is in preparation of reaching your goal.

We must not lose sight of our goals. We must not let the hardships and adversity we encounter deter us from reaching the success we seek. We cannot stop running shy of the finish line because to do so would be a failure and failure is not an option. Failure is a result of our inability to plan properly, stay focused, endure and press on. Dale Carnegie once stated, “Develop success from failures. Discouragement and failure are two of the surest stepping stones to success.” Success may be developed from failure but only if we learn from it and continue to move forward.

Nothing worth having will ever be easy to acquire. Nothing worth keeping will ever be simple to hold on to. Nothing worth being proud of will ever be accomplished without great effort. Keep pushing, keep working, stay focused, stay determined, keep the faith and stay the course! Until next time, Stay Up and Be Blessed!

It Ain't Over

“Democracy is a device that ensures we shall be governed no better than we deserve.”

-George Bernard Shaw

Greetings folks! For those of you who are avid followers of this blog, you know that it comes out every Wednesday, like clockwork (except for when the clock doesn’t work). Given the timing of the election there were thoughts about me postponing the usual Wednesday 12:00 a.m. posting to a later time, or to the following day, so that I could comment on the election results. However, I opted against that so I could write about what I would like to write about and still make my deadline.

Now that the dust has settled, the votes are in, and we know who the next President of the United States will be, it’s time to get to work. Yes, I said it. Take a moment to let it in sink in then grab your 5-hour Energy and let’s get to work. In 2008, we were so proud of ourselves for having elected the first African-American President in the history of the United States that we decided to take the next four years off. We figured we had done enough and that President Obama could handle the rest. Boy, were we wrong.

The past four years have been filled with threats, in-fighting and stone-walling. We saw a bill designed to create millions of new jobs killed. We saw the country’s credit downgraded for the first time ever. We’ve seen politicians on both sides of the aisle struggle to do what’s best for this country—instead choosing to do what’s best for their pride and party and we suffered because of it. Every moment our elected leaders spend pointing fingers across the aisle is a moment an appropriations bill doesn’t get passed. Every minute congressmen spend plotting the president’s “presidential demise” is a minute not being spent on addressing the nation’s debt crisis. Every second that legislators spend filibustering and kicking out other congressmen for expressing their point of view on a national social issue is a second wasted.

We’ve been brainwashed into believing that all we have to do is vote or that we don’t’ have to vote at all, both of which are dangerous. Part of the beauty of democracy is the ability to hold elected officials accountable. We send our leaders to the capital, both state and national, with a mandate and threat to represent us and our issues or else, but then what do we do to follow up? Term limits serve as a reminder that one day they’ll need to face the people that elected them again, but until then what happens? The offices in their districts aren’t just for appearances, they exist so that even when the elected officials trot off to Tallahassee, Columbus, Richmond and Washington, D.C. they’re still within arms’ reach and ear shot of the people, their people.

Yes, our ballots are important. Of course your vote counts. But what counts just as much, if not more, is your voice the other 364 days of the year. If you have a problem with your state representative missing too many votes, call her. If you take issue with your Governor spending too much time playing partisan politics rather than helping his constituents, write him a letter. If you take issue with the fact that your Congressmen voted against a bill that would help our military servicemen, people who fight for our freedom daily, tweet, text, post, blog and talk about it. Let them know that you hear them, you see them and that they need to return the favor.

The internet isn’t just a place for porn, social networking and celebrity gossip. The internet is a place that allows you to see what your politician is doing and let your elected representative know, along with the world, that you like or dislike what he/she is doing. As we all know, political careers may be started and ended by social networking, but which one depends on us.

I hope you voted. I hope you let your vote be your voice and that you didn’t let the long lines, inclement weather or ridiculous wait times discourage you. If you didn’t vote then you don’t have any right to complain because you’ve just been complicit in your own demise. You have given someone else the right to make all of the decisions for you without even asking for a seat at the table to tell them how you feel. By no means is this system perfect. By no stretch of the imagination do the powers that be get it right all of the time. It’s a flawed system run by flawed people but it’s still the best system in the world. The system will run without you but it’s at its best with you.

Election day isn’t the only day for you to be heard. It’s just another day for you to be heard. I encourage you to stay abreast of what’s going on in your city, your county, your borough, your state, your country. I implore you to take an interest in what’s going on because someone is counting on it. Don’t give someone the power to ignore you with your apathy. Make your voice be heard on election day and every day. Until next time, Stay Up and Be Blessed!