It’s halfway through May and the people who actually meant their New Years’ Resolutions are still showing up at the gym. A woman with a Raphaelite body creeps in and tries to hide out at the back of the aerobics class. I restrain an impulse to run up to her and hug her for showing up again. She has been there every week, 3 times a week since late December.
She grits her teeth and struggles to keep up with the exercises, occasionally directing furtive glances towards the testosterone-laden denizens of the weight room. It appears that she is self-conscious and worries what others think of her. I can tell her what they think, because I’ve heard them talking. It boils down to this: “You go, girl!”
Americans have a particular fondness for the underdog. We celebrate the resilience of the human spirit. And it’s not the overweight or the so-called “failures” that we despise so much as the ones who give up, or who never even tried.
We admire anyone who gets out there and does something - anything. Check the popularity of Nike’s “Just DO it!” That slogan reverberates in the heart of the “can-do spirit” of the America where I grew up. And it reverberates in the heart of the immigrants who come here believing in the American Dream.
I was in North Carolina for a conference when I met a staunch defender of that dream. He came to America from Africa with nothing only a decade ago. Put himself through college. Became a professor of business and an owner of the taxi company. He sells business books out of the back of his taxi cab to anyone who will listen to him.
He lectured me all the way from the airport: “America is the land of opportunity. It is stupid, stupid, stupid for anyone to be hungry here. You can go and do anything. Be anything. Sell anything. You are unlimited! Americans are spoiled.” Each point was hammered home with a fist on the steering wheel, his accent rolling each word grandly on his tongue. He had business cards, opportunities for me, sales ideas and philosophy-on-wheels. I was enchanted. I hired his cab each time I went out.
And he is right. We are spoiled. We need to sit up and take stock. It is our government that is overweight. Our bureaucracies that need to be exercised and slimmed down. Our outdated business practices tuned up. We have grown soft while the “third world” is pumping iron. We have the abilities, the opportunities and the freedom to succeed– and we have forgotten who we are.
The economy is in a slump… and we are still one of the most blessed countries in the world. We still have a beautiful country with millions of opportunities for those willing to work for them. We still have 300 million people living here who need products and services. (And you can be the one who provides them.)
Yes, we have crime and other social problems, but it’s still better than many countries. We do not have bombs flying - like in the war-torn middle east. Our children don’t walk to school under a hail of bullets. Our citizens aren’t risking life and limb to escape living here. And - best of all - we get to “Visit America” on the weekends.
It is time to count our blessings. Take stock of our strengths and move forward. Collectively we can rekindle the dream. As Goethe said, “Whatever you can do or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has genius, power and magic in it.”
From every sector I hear that the economy has bottomed out and is on its way back up. Houses are selling again, unemployment is on its way back down. The stock market is rebounding. We need to stop feeling sorry for ourselves and do something - believe in ourselves; stretch our creative muscles. Get involved and work together to come up with new industries, new answers to old problems, new ways of reaching our goals and finding more customers.
Ignore the cynics who say “been there, done that, tried that, won’t work”. Our persistence, resilience, and creativity will create credibility in the larger world community and that will create more opportunity.
We have to remember there are many who know America isn’t its politicians. They know we are like people everywhere - working to make our lives better. Working to take care of our kids, pay our mortgages, and make some small difference in the world. I meet people from all over the world, and they are watching us. And as a Chilean said to me a few weeks ago, “We’re counting on you! You go, America!”
Best of luck to you,
Beth
© 1999-2008 Beth Terry Seminars, Inc. All US and International Rights Reserved.
One Comment
Couldn’t agree any better than written. Don’t listen to politicians and negative news casts to make you feel down. We all can have difficult times, but when down, up is the new direction. Think positive. Look at the sunrise not the sunset. Nothing is free. ” Work” and “thinking” of ways to make life better are never out of style. Sometimes we have to depend on pulling ourselves up by our own bootstraps not by the lip service of politicians. If fail, try again and at least try, and try again.
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