Learning to live what you’re born with is the process, the involvement, the making of a life. — Diane Wakoski
Are you different? Some of you may say yes, some say no, and the rest… well the rest don’t know what to think. Rest assure, you are different, each and every one of you.
How do I know this? Simple, you are an individual, an American living in the greatest country on the face of the planet. That alone is what makes you different.
Observe the following – you never see anyone attempting to break out of this country yet you see thousands trying to break in. Why is that? One word: Freedom. We have freedoms other counties, most countries do not.
Yet this freedom you take for granted is rapidly disappearing and being replaced with a police state. There are too many stories being written on this topic to ignore, however many will ignore the issue because they believe nothing will ever happen to them. Sorry to burst your fantasy but freedom is only available when people pay attention. When they stop caring about how the country is managed, how the states are managed, and how the local government is managed, that is when freedom is lost.
Still we currently live in a country which allows you the opportunity to achieve anything you desire. If you want to be a drug dealer you have the opportunity to do so. You want to run a multimillion dollar business; you have the opportunity to do so. It makes no difference what you want to do; you have the opportunity to do so.
Now before you go dismissing what I say look at the key word in the above paragraph: opportunity. Opportunity does not mean you are entitled it only means you have the possibility to achieve what you want. How you take advantage of the opportunity is totally up to you.
But be aware with each opportunity come consequences. Take the drug dealer example: sell illegal drugs, make a lot of money, seize the opportunity. Now the consequences: drug wars, prison, shame, disgrace, but hey you had the opportunity to do what you wanted to do. You just have to pay the price for that opportunity at some point.
Another example: running a multimillion dollar business. You work hard, learn the business, treat customers right, take responsibility for your actions, believe in yourself, set goals and achieve them, at some point you could, I said could be running a multimillion dollar business. The consequence is you probably will, if not someone else’s your own for sure. The consequence: freedom, respect, achievement, and self-respect.
The consequences of any opportunity you choose to pursue is available to anyone wanting to take advantage of the freedom they have, and that is why you are different.
Other people in other countries do not have the freedom and opportunities you have which is why they break into this country. It doesn’t matter where these people are from they crave to be different, to experience freedom, the opportunity to achieve something in their life. Yet so many Americans throw their own life away just to live in the moment. These Americans let life pass them by only to realize in the twilight of their years what they discarded. Once time is gone it can never return. This is the lesson age teaches. But age does not mean the opportunities are gone. It does mean you have to apply yourself more to achieve more in less time, which is challenging in and of itself.
Life does not give you anything; you have to pay for everything, even food stamps and government handouts. Be advised and learn that when you accept a government handout you sell your soul to an entity whose primary goal is to control you and everything in your life. That is your payment and you have to live with the consequences.
Yet you can be different if you choose to be. Instead of a government handout give yourself a hand-up. Yes there are organizations and people which can help you, if you seek them out. But the most important person who can help you is yourself. You have the power to change your life if you want to. This makes you different.
The “man” cannot keep you down without your permission. The “man” cannot keep you suppressed without your help. The “man” cannot control you without your blessing. So yeah you play a big role in your own life, if you want to. Or, or you can let the “man” manipulate you like a puppet on a string. The “man” will use you, abuse you, torment you, threaten you, and call all of it compassion for you. But you can be different, if you want to.
Don’t know where to start? Start in the public library. Find an autobiography of someone who has gone from rags to riches, someone who has engaged themselves in the fires of hell on earth, and read, read what they did to escape their “preordained” fate. You, as an American, living in this country can determine your own fate because you have the choice of how you want to live your life. The keyword being choice.
Taking government handouts is not only the lazy way out it is the most dangerous way to live. Once the government gets their hooks into you it is extremely difficult to leave the programs and the clutches of the bureaucrat. This is really a shame. What started off as a good idea to help people has morphed into total slavery with the government being the master of the slaves, but instead of calling it slavery they call it compassion. If slavery is compassion then what is hell?
You are different, you can be different, and you can live different. The choice is completely up to you and you alone. Not your family and friends, just you. I challenge you to be different. I challenge you to live up to your potential. I challenge you to create a life of your own, not only for yourself but for your family. Your family may not support you but that is irreverent because if you believe, really believe you can achieve your goal you become different. You follow a path which others before you have traveled because they knew they were different just as you realize you too are different.
You can choose to follow the sheep and be led to slaughter, the slaughter house of dependency, or… you finish the sentence.
Be different and see where the path takes you. The only thing I can guarantee is it will not be easy, it will take time maybe a lot of time, you will face massive obstacles, you will be ridiculed and worse, you will feel alone and sometimes helpless, but the rewards… the rewards will indeed be sweet. And when you taste those rewards you can look back and smile at those you left behind because you knew you needed to be different.
G.
