What is the key to success?
"To educate a man in mind and not in morals is to educate a menace to society"- Theodore Roosevelt
It is a cold November day as I struggle to find the venue. My mentor, Rock (His actual name), has been encouraging me to come to this for some time. Arriving at what appears to be the building, I am greeted by two smiling faces. "Welcome," is all they said. There are only about 30-40 other people in a room that could seat ten times that many.
I sit in the front row alone. Rock is surrounded on all sides by his other companions. A man walks in, his face says he's fifty-something, but not a single gray is on his head. His shoulders-broad- say his body holds a life-time of active habit. His smile puts my mind at ease. He tells a story of Greek mythology-A story where the protagonist has to choose between being a king or a father. With a broad smile and a glint in his eyes, he asks us:
"How is success measured in the west?"
When the mixed answers subsided, he said:
1. Money
2. Power
3. Access to physical pleasure
"Why do people with full-and-beyond levels of these means continue to report great dissatisfaction with life?"
Far fewer voices responded this time. He went on to explain that despite mountains of fortune, living in nations that boast of power, or enjoying years of pleasure, this group as a whole surveyed lower in areas of contentment than groups with far less resources and what we would consider, luxurious means of living.
He was speaking from personal experience.
The guy's name is Gus Lee. His mentor was Herbert Norman Schwarzkopf Jr., AKA "Stormin' Norman," the four-star USA general hero who fought in the Gulf War. He became such an influence in Gus's life, that Gus pursued the same -Became a four star general, himself.
Turns out, Gus is personally sought out by some of the most rich and powerful, because of his commitment to his life-statement:
"High moral character, that is true success."
BECAUSE we have forgotten our ancestors, our children no longer give us honor. BECAUSE we have lost the path our ancestors cleared kneeling in perilous undergrowth, our children cannot find their way. BECAUSE we have banished the God of our ancestors, our children cannot pray. BECAUSE the old wails of our ancestors have faded beyond our hearing, our children cannot hear us crying. BECAUSE we have abandoned our wisdom of mothering and fathering, our befuddled children give birth to children they neither want nor understand. BECAUSE we have forgotten how to love, the adversary is within our gates, an holds us up to the mirror of the world shouting, 'Regard the loveless' Therefore we pledge to bind ourselves to one another, to embrace our lowliest, to keep company with our loneliest, to educate our illiterate, to feed our starving, to clothe our ragged, to do all good things, knowing that we are more than keepers of our brothers and sisters. We ARE our brothers and sisters. IN HONOR of those who toiled and implored God with golden tongues, and in gratitude to the same God who brought us out of hopeless desolation, we make this pledge.
Maya Angelou
"To educate a man in mind and not in morals is to educate a menace to society"- Theodore Roosevelt