New Beginnings

I was just under six months old when I began my first new year. My prospects were pretty good. I had parents, a home, food at the ready, comfort was available and hugging was plentiful. I had an experienced sibling that had been around for nearly five years to survey the new digs and help me negotiate the new terrain. I can't give you much in  the way of details but overall my needs were met. Other than the parents being a little slow on feeding and cleaning sometimes, life looked like a pretty good gig.

Franklin D. Roosevelt was president, Henry A Wallace was vice president, Population was 136,739,353. The National budget was 78.56 billion, Federal debt 142.7 billion, unemployment was 1.9% and it cost three cents to mail a first class letter. You could send a post card for a penny.

None of that meant a thing to me personally but it affected how my family lived. The president froze prices, salaries and wages to prevent inflation. Withholding taxes on wages were introduced. In the world of medicine Selman Waksman discovered streptomycin and coined the word antibiotic and Doctors began to use the pap test to detect cervical cancer. Finally, the Pentagon was completed and became the largest office building in the world.

Our world is different now but the point of all this is to say that the potential for change is not theoretical. For all of us there will be tremendous changes in our lifestyle. For some the change will be minimal because they will not be here long enough to see any substantial changes. For those who stay, the infants, the toddlers, the prepubescent, the teens, and the collegiates, who have the benefit of knowing pretty much everything anyway, the change will be driven by them and so it will be tolerable. But here is the challenge. You personally can create or influence the change. If there is a condition or a crisis that needs to be addressed, you can have an effect on its outcome. Everything that happens in this world starts with an idea or a problem. So, if you are unhappy with the world or love it, you input counts. Adolf Hitler was one person. Steve Jobs was one person. Sam Walton was one person, from Arkansas for crying out loud.

Do not ever sell short what you can do, never. And, don't be afraid to fail. Failure is a part of the process and as sure as your next breath but it is O.K. Check out the number of things Thomas Edison tried to use as filaments for the incandescent light bulb before he came up with an ideal substance. You are as powerful as your dream.

Herb Ratliff, January 2, 2012, All Rights Reserved