Shameless Plea For Money

[NOTE: These posts are an ongoing presentation, meant to be read beginning with the earliest and ending with the most recent. If not read in that order, there is a potential loss for the reader in an overall understanding of what is being presented. You have been warned.]

All of my life has been a learning experience. Yeah, I know, that applies to everyone, though sometimes I wonder if some people ever learn much of anything. Learning implies having to change one’s mind, change one’s perspective, change one’s attitudes, change one’s habits and other actions. Some changes are easy. Others can be more difficult.

One of my biggest changes has to do with money. Money is such a peculiar thing. In and of itself, it has very little intrinsic value. Its value actually comes from our belief in giving it value. Shake that belief and its value can be shaken and lessened. Strengthen that belief and its value can be strengthened and expanded.

Personally, I’ve always had difficulty figuring out value, particularly when it comes to my time and my services. Without any intention of bragging, but merely for the sake of sharing the extremes that I have had to deal with, there was a time in my life when I felt that I was a total failure, that I had not accomplished anything of value and that I never would, for I had no idea what I should do. And certainly, I felt, I was of no value to anyone else. I was a joke, a waste of God-given potential. What’s more, it appeared that my life had never had much value as far as I could recall.

Then one day, while sorting through a bunch of stuff, I came across a box that contained about two dozen medals that my brother, Larry, and I had received from district and state band competitions we had participated in while living in Florida. These were medals awarded for outstanding performance. I played cornet and French horn and my brother played clarinet and bass clarinet. My medals were for performance in a symphonic band, a concert band, a marching band, an ensemble quartet, and for solo performances. As I looked over those medals, I was reminded that I had been elected President of the International Youth of Unity when I was 19. The YOU is the teenage youth group in the church in which I grew up. And then I remembered that I had spoken in churches all over the country and that I had taught classes, and had been a published writer, and had been in National Junior Honor Society and Latin Club in school, and had been on radio and television, and had performed on stage, and on and on. And yet, after all of that, I had slipped into a mindset in which I believed that I had no value and that I had never accomplished anything.

At the other extreme, when my Mother passed away, following her Memorial Service a young woman came up to me and said, “I don’t know if you remember me, but my name is …” I remembered the name, and I very vaguely remembered her. You see, 20 years earlier, while working in my Mother’s church I was teaching a class on Walter Starcke’s book “Ultimate Revolution.” I had three teenage girls attending the class. And one day they said that there was nothing for teenagers to do in the community (we were in what was billed at that time as the largest planned community of brick homes in the United States). They said that they and a group of friends were going to get together and have a meeting to talk about how they might find a way to create activities for young people in the community, and they asked if I would attend. I did.

The story of what transpired from that initial meeting of a dozen teenagers became front page news in the community, for within a month’s time, they had organized into a group with over 300 members and I had become their adult sponsor. That woman, that day, in my Mother’s church, was one of those 300 young people 20 years earlier. They all knew who I was and most of them assumed that I knew all of them. The truth is that I loved them all, but I felt that I knew too few of them.

Anyway, this woman said that she had had a lot of challenges in her life, problems with drugs and alcohol and abusive relationships, but that she was now doing much better. Furthermore, she said that she was so happy to see me because she wanted me to know that in her toughest, most difficult times, she would think about me and think about my brother Larry and about the fact that we always cared about her and all of the other kids and that we helped her be aware of the beauty that was in her. And she said, “I just want to thank you for saving my life.”

It was all I could do to keep from breaking down. Save her life? I wasn’t even very certain who she was. How much value can one put on such an act? To save the life of another human being. And how did that happen? Merely because I treated her with respect. I practiced the “Golden Rule.” How much to our thoughts and actions affect those around us? Needless to say, I was extremely moved.

During my time sorting through my Mother’s effects and belongings I talked with countless people who had known my Mother. And every so often I would talk with one who would say, “I never went to your mother’s church, but I want you to know that just knowing her changed my life.” Knowing my Mother, and how committed she was to living her life in accordance with the principles that she believed and taught, I could understand that. But I wondered if she was fully aware of the positive impact that she had on other people. I’m certain that her influence far exceeded her awareness of it.

How do you place a value upon that? I have no idea. I am at a total loss.

A value appears to be somewhat arbitrary. But, let’s say that I come up with a figure. Now comes the hard part. How does one market oneself? I have become increasingly aware during my life of the overpowering importance of marketing. In business, it’s really no longer important what one has to offer. What’s important is how it is presented, how it is packaged, how it is marketed.

I like to share the following story. Several years ago a friend was turning 60. His wife asked my wife to help with planning his party. In the process I was asked to provide music, to which I replied, “What kind of music.” 1961 was the answer. “Why 1961?” I wondered. Ah, because that’s the year that he graduated from high school. High school graduation is a very pivotal experience in many people’s lives. It is a time of great change. Getting a job. Entering the military. Moving away from home. Getting married. Leaving friendships behind. Going to college. Realizing that we have to begin taking responsibility for our own lives. So many dramatic changes. It’s like life comes up and slaps us upside the head. And the background for all of that traumatic change is the music of the day. And that music, so inextricably entwined with those new experiences, stays with us for the rest of our lives.

So I went on the Internet to find out what was a hit in 1961. After a little bit of searching I found a list of over 250 songs that made the charts in 1961. Well, it took a little bit of doing, but when the day of the birthday party arrived, I gave our friend a CD with over 250 hits from 1961.

The reason I tell this story is because in the process of gathering all of that music, although I was familiar with most of the artists, I came across one that did not ring a bell. What’s more, when listening to his songs, I thought that there was something funny going on. He sounded like Elvis Presley, but his name was Ral Donner. Was this some kind of joke? No. I looked online and found a site dedicated to Ral (short for Ralph), who was from New Jersey, had a kind of Fabian, Frankie Avalon, Elvis look of the day, and had recorded on perhaps as many as a dozen labels. His music was good. So, why, I wondered, did Elvis become the king instead of Ral? The answer, I realized, was Colonel Tom Parker. Parker was the guy who marketed Elvis and turned him into a phenomenon. It was the marketing. And you can yell all you want about Elvis, and I am a longtime fan of his, but I grew up around show business and I know that there is a whole lot of undiscovered talent out there. As far as the “business” of music goes, however, it is marketing first, then attitude, then luck, and finally talent that makes one a success. It’s just the nature of business. And business is generally how we generate money.

Hey, although my Mother was a successful minister, there were lots of churches that were bigger than hers and lots of churches that collected lots more money. And when I took a close look at what was going on, I discovered that a lot of churches marketed fear as a way of generating followers and dollars. Mom’s church didn’t do that. She didn’t believe that it was Jesus’ intent to generate fear within his followers, but instead to inspire faith, hope, and charity. And, after all, which is more powerful. Someone holds out their hand and asks for a donation or someone sticks a gun in your ribs and demands all of your money. Which one is most successful. Simple business, folks. It’s all a matter of marketing.

So now we come to the shameless part. I remember a blog where the writer would try to beat his readers into sending him money by belittling them. Can’t do that. Then there’s your usual marketing tools of trying to glorify what one is doing in order to convince the reader that they “need” what is being offered. Not sure how much I can do that. So I’ll just swallow hard and lay it out on the table.

I have dedicated my life to discovering what is really going on. The reason I have chosen to “throw my hat in the ring” is to use that concept and this blog as a way of sharing much of what I have discovered. I not only believe, but I know that there is tremendous value in what I have to share. In fact, I have ideas that I plan to share with you that have such tremendous potential that were I to just receive .001 percent of the wealth that they can generate, I would be the richest man in the world. In the future we will be looking closer at the value of ideas. But, I am very good at what I do. And what do I do? I turn people on to new ways of viewing reality. I help people better understand what is going on, why it is going on, and ways in which they can directly alter the reality in which they live. What I offer is potentially life changing.

I’m not the only one doing this. Bucky Fuller could actually rewire a person’s whole way of thinking after just one evening of sharing with them. Deepak Chopra has published a number of absolutely life-changing ideas and procedures that can miraculously help one to dramatically alter their life for the better. Same thing for Wayne Dyer. Dr. Fred Alan Wolf has the ability to alter one’s perception right on the spot with a few simple techniques. Dr. Brian O’Leary offers concepts that open entire new vistas of opportunity for many people. I could go on and on and I’m certain that you also know of people who have this kind of ability to inspire others.

I’m helping the aforementioned folks by promoting them. I also support them by buying products from them and donating money to them. Now I’m asking you to do the same for me. Please promote what I am doing. Look, I don’t care whether you agree with me or not, but just think about this. If you have read all of my posts to date, you’ve got to admit that I have talked about things that you were never aware of before reading this blog. Oh, my God, a new idea! Isn’t that what we need right now? More new ideas. That, right there, is sufficient reason to let others know what I am doing. I see emails from time to time that are chains of positive or interesting statements. If you are one who passes that stuff on, please pass me on.

Friends, we only have 40 days until the election. I only have 40 days to explain how we can get out of all of this mess. It is said that the only bad publicity is no publicity. So pass my URL on to everyone that you know. Who knows, you might actually have someone come up to you someday and say “thank you for turning me on to that Blog; you changed my life.” Thank you for caring enough to share the good stuff, the positive stuff.

So that’s the first thing that I am asking for. And time is running out. Please share this blog with everyone that you know today. Secondly, there’s the matter of money. The more money I can get, the more time I have. The more time I have, the more I can discover and the more I can share. Hell, in the process of writing these posts I become aware of things, and share them as they dawn upon me, that I was never aware of before.

Please, send money, now. “And how do I do that?” you ask? Well, go ahead and ask me. Let me know that you are at least reading this. I’ll post a Paypal link as soon as I can. In the meantime, spread the word and put some money aside for me.

Thank you. Inspire me with your action.