Success: Part II

Success: Part II
By Matthew Q. Llewellyn, Founder
The American Libertarian Movement
ONLINE BLOG

Howdy there folks... I guess I didn't get it out of my system. Well, that's not true. I talked to a woman today who told me her incredible and inspiring storing. After hearing her story I decided I wanted to touch on this topic a little more before moving onto another one. So, without further delay, let's begin.

Oh wait... you folks probably want me to share this incredibly inspirational story don't you? Well... I'm not going to. I just don't feel I could give it justice. However, in the future, when the forum is available and correct, I fully plan to let this woman tell you her story. It will bring you to tears and remind you, as it did me, that there is hope for America, and, the world.

Let's talk about the human spirit.

What do we know about the human being itself? Physically, we are incredibly powerful, complicated and resilient. We can survive immense amounts of damage from every direction, up to and including great amounts of severe trauma. However, a very small, seemingly meaningless antigen can kill us. Amazing isn't it?

Now... the human spirit. Incredibly powerful, complicated and resilient. It can take blow after blow after blow and continue to push forward. However, it can also be exposed to the smallest of impacts and be forever stopped in its tracks. Very similar... our body and spirit. Let's examine the spirit further.

What do we mean when we say the "human spirit"? Simple question, much more complicated answer... not impossible... but complicated. A quick search of Wikipedia reveals the human spirit as being "... a property of intelligence that drives it to adapt the environment to the organism. This drive is relatively unique to humans and is progressive in that the drive allows intelligence to grow."

What does it include? Well, it's pretty much the victory factor. Every ability to succeed comes from your spirit. Your drive, ambition, ego, adaptivity, willpower, perseverance, or, the sheer volition to overcome obstacles. All of these things come from your spirit. (Notice I didn't include anything about failure...)

Let's look at a few scenarios and their possible outcomes.

Scenario A
A 35 year old male construction worker falls off of a roof. He ends up paralyzed from the waist down and forever confined to a wheelchair.

Outcome 1
The construction worker is thankful to be alive, but believes his life is, for all intents and purposes, over. He no longer produces or thrives. He simply exist as a disabled individual who pulls a check from the government for the rest of his days. After all, construction is all he's ever known.

Scenario B
A 19 year old female is diagnosed with terminal cancer.

Outcome 1
She's dead... she may be alive... but she's dead. It's terminal. There's nothing she can do. Seeing as there is no point in continuing with her tasks, she gives up and waits for her time to come. Eventually, she dies, having accomplished nothing.

Sadly, these are common outcomes. Anyone who has been in the medical field for any amount of time has seen this occur over and over. People are given a hard blow and they give up. They allow their spirit to become clouded with failure and hopelessness. It even happens with small things.

Scenario C
A 27 year old man reaches what he considers a very trying position. He has a job, a career actually, but the salary doesn't provide a very good living. He's done great things in his life, but, the job he does, just doesn't make the ends meet. His bills get very behind and he becomes overwhelmed and soon finds himself having thoughts of giving up and settling for his current situation.

Outcome 1
He lets the fear of the unknown overcome his ability to see down the road. He spends the rest of his days accepting whatever job will take him and settles for whatever comes his way. He never again tries to become more than what he is. His decision to settle for less than what he wants in life haunts him to the end of his days.

Relatively, this is a very small thing. But, let's be honest, when it comes to finances, people become overwhelmed. Although finances are only one small part of life, they impact our entire lives in almost every aspect and direction. Sure, it's not cancer, it's not being paralyzed, but it's something many people allow to control their next steps in life. They are constantly playing the catch-up game and after playing it for so long, they just give up. They don't realize that if they continue to push forward, they will eventually be past it once and for all. It may suck getting there... but... doing nothing will be much worse.

Scenario A
Outcome 2
The now wheelchair confined construction worker sees that what he has always known, the only thing he knows, can no longer provide the type of life he wants. He begins to search and find ways to overcome the obstacle. He begins to see his wheelchair not as a handicap, but a tool he will use to make a better future for himself. He goes to college, becomes a computer engineer, and low and behold, about 5 years later, (5 very short years in retrospect) he drives his new top of the line electric wheelchair onto his new $100,000.00 boat for a weekend away from the office.

Scenario B
Outcome 2
The young girl realizes her days are numbered and suddenly, all at once, the overcoming realization hits her square in the face... all the dreams, all the ambitions and all the goals she wanted to accomplish have now become very limited. Being driven by this, she buckles down, determined to succeed in every single aspect of life that she applies herself to. She only lives another 6 years, but, those 6 years were the best of her life. She became a Paramedic and saved thousands of lives. She gave hope to the hopeless, because she knew what hopeless was. She took vacations whenever she could and saw every sight she could afford. She climbed mountains, she jumped out of a plane... and... she found herself married with a beautiful little girl. A beautiful little girl, who, being inspired by the greatest pain a small child could ever experience, grew up to become an oncologist and dedicate her life to giving hope to the hopeless.

Now... given folks... these are just scenarios I put together... but... they're not untrue by any means. In my short life I have been blessed with meeting and sometimes becoming friends with these amazing people. They are dealt some of the worst hands life can possibly hand someone, yet they become some of the most successful people our little world has ever seen. They are the people, who truly, are the definition of the human spirit. They are the people who don't give up, regardless of what mountain is in front of them. The only thing they wonder is whether or not they will need more rope to get to the top. They never see the mountains as failures, or obstacles which can not be overcome, they see every single one of them as victories which are only a few steps away.

Now we come back to Scenario C, outcome 2.
The young man takes in a deep breath and holds a thought of "let's do it" in his head. He pushes forward every week, not sure how he's going to make it to the next, but, he never takes his eyes off the goal. As each setback comes against him, he finds a new way to get around it. He spends each day reminding himself of what is to come. When he sees life has thrown a curve ball at him, he still takes a chance and goes for the hit. He knows he might miss, but, he also knows he might hit a home run. He's not sure where the road will ultimately take him, but he knows, without any doubt, that this is not the road to failure, but the road to victory. It's by no means an easy road, but it's a road worth traveling, for the rewards at the end of the road are immeasurable. Because he continues to try, he continues to succeed. Sure, times get hard and sometimes cause him to worry, but, he keeps his spirit strong and continually finds new ways to climb the mountains. Always finding himself to be a stronger person, a person more capable today than he was yesterday. I know... because that young man is me.

In life, we have no control over what hands we are given. However, we can change them. Sometimes we trade in our cards and get better ones, likewise, sometimes the new cards don't help us at all. But, we must not let this stop us. While becoming an addict in gambling is definitely not the best idea, becoming an addict in life is one that we must allow our spirit to continue to inspire. When we trade in a couple cards and receive bad ones, we just have to suck it up, deal with our losses and continue to play until we get the hands we want. However, unlike poker, when playing the game of life, we can cheat. In poker, you will never know what cards are coming next. In life, you can. If you apply yourself, gain an education and continually dedicate yourself to gaining that which is needed to achieve your goal, then indeed, while some wild cards will come your way, you will be the determining factor of what cards, for the most part, are coming next. Or... you can do nothing, and hope that you gain something.

As Newton said, "for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction." Likewise, for every inaction... there is no action. If you choose success, success you will find. If you choose nothing, nothing you will find. The choice, is 100%... yours.

Tomorrow is Monday... Make this week a better week than last week, and each week thereafter the same. I bid you a good day.

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