You Are Not A Failure!

Does anybody miss Michael Moore? We're up to our necks in political bird droppings and the Hollywood director best known for bending societies picture frame to suit his message hasn't been heard since Tweeting to followers to join him on a walk. He's formulated a battle cry to help heighten our common sense by introducing nonbelievers to a drug free happy place. We the People are slap silly in love with legalized pick me up pills. His stand? Take a brisk 30 minute walk! Julia Cameron from Artist Way fame promotes the same story! Gandhi, Buddhist Monk Tick Nhat Hahn and many Americanized religions share the commonality yet few promote the true journey toward its extreme importance. Cameron quickly interrupts the exercise guru's ambition by stating, "Walking for 30 minute is the greatest form of meditation. Fresh air clears the mind. It introduces you to a lack of clutter. No computers or smart phones, no television newscasts bragging about their positions of broadcast at the Democratic Convention in Charlotte." It's just you and the wind, the Jazz birds blend into the mental painting while itty bitty frogs no bigger than your smallest fingernail hop beside you as if to ask, "Have you thought about rejoining the animal circle lately? The voices you humans keep sending are charging a butt load of bugs for their Get Green way of living." Wait! Don't click out! I'm not here to promote the P90X exercise cult or joining a phat as in damn cool fancy gym. No day passes that I'm not introduced to a "Used To Be." I "Used To Be" in radio. I "Used To Be" in banking. I "Used To Be" into Chinese food. "Used To Be's" have been forced to step outside their comfort circles and get jobs in different rectangles. Community driven educational outlets are making a mint off "Go Getter's" convinced that God has a bigger plan. I'm not arguing. I fully support the vivid imagination that's been able to calm their personal fears and doubts to tackle a career change. You're the new American Hero! Survival based on sacrificing something you loved and or gave your entire embodiment to. But this....is where I pay close attention. While schools feed off government grants and banking accounts soon to be dry..." Desire" for student accomplishment has evolved into a California desert floor of emptiness. Students are quitting just after getting started. Without ambition there can be no desire. Without proper leadership there can be no influence or reasons to feed desire. Hunger weakens the bodies desire. Starving for success creates perfectionists. A person demanding perfect grows tired of challenge settling for fifth and sixth best. Why do people quit walking? What happens to an active mind body and soul fully capable of making incredible success then farts out before being shot from the womb? It's too easy to call what we do a failure. I find it extremely difficult to support local businesses when the store selling cameras, digital devices, food flippers and great exercise have no fear of closing the door forever. A fancy burger maker in south Charlotte paid hard to locate small business money for someone to brilliantly letter the front window and a colorful webpage: Open Saturday's at 10. It's no fast food easy to get to burger fiesta. Hiking to the entrance, clunk clunk clunk...the door was locked. The owner comes off the patio, "I've changed my mind about opening at 10. I have a hard time waking up that early." Right away I reacted. Not anger. I wanted to know why he gave up. His business isn't a failure! His choice was to give up. Strong will has been replaced by strong won't. Persistence is a tool that doesn't require a spit shine. It's a nearly invisible chunk of gut act and reaction that's given air to breathe when the rest of the tool box is blessed with faithfulness. We rate success on where a person finishes not starts. I love watching Black Belts in Martial Arts during the ten week cycle before a test. They aren't asked but told to wear their white belts. Then stand in the back of the room. People! You learn more back there then you do hoisting your vocals up then out for the class to stand up straight! Author John Mason says, "The secret to success is to start from scratch and then keep scratching." I laugh out loud when confronted by fellow students about taking my 3rd Dan (Degree) test. How could I have been just eight classes from that golden halo moment then quit? First... I didn't quit. Journalized every day is the path. Shortly after earning my 1st Dan I began feeling something deep inside. I've always been spiritual but nothing this powerful. I questioned it hard without locating answers. 2nd Dan test comes around...I pass only to feel the energy from within hit me stronger to the point of taking over my thinking. I kept ignoring the voice calling it names like The Black Belt Path. 3rd Dan test comes into play...I'm hit with a heart attack. In looking back I'd say that I wasn't failing as a Martial Artist but quitting the real journey. I talked with more Master's about the history of Tae Kwon Do and its impact on the Monks. You can only Master one thing, kick, block, punch, the business of Martial Arts...whatever. I had been given the reins of Spirit flow and couldn't find a Master that knew of what I spoke. Therefore I went back to church where you don't earn levels of Black Belts but rather ways to help shape positive paths. A U.S. Marine is forever a Marine and will fight for this nation like no other man or woman. I totally get that we're locked up and living inside an act of changing times. But what if all that is current is but only a test? How you survive will always be a greater lesson than something tossed from a book at the nearest technical college. We are measuring success by the end result of others without focusing on the beginning. I share with my Brides and Grooms: Til death do you part is the right path but it's not the entire map. It's not your bosses job to tell you how great you are. It's not your spouse's place to put you up on a pedestal. You may never be seen as the best Mom or Dad. Ho hum... The moment you decide to take your skill and gainfully craft a path that affects the effects of tomorrow the reward is priceless. It may not pay for cable TV but it could earn you cuts in line at a neighborhood picnic. I love it when people decide to reshape. But I refuse to see you as a "Used To Be." If you believe in what you do there'll always be someone that you least expect that'll come from out of nowhere to share with you an open palm. How many closed fists have you been handing out lately? I will always believe in you first... arroe@arroe.net