Fric's Vision

In the not-too-distant future I see an America that is riding the wave of a re-energized, determined and optimistic populace. America will be a place where everyone knows that their future is entirely up to him or her. It’s all in the choices they make. The choice to learn. The choice to work. The choice to be responsible. The choice to take some risks. The choice to believe in themselves and others. The choice to forge ahead against the odds. The choice to open the door when Opportunity Knocks.

Opportunity is really a chance. Not a gamble, but a chance, which implies the possibility of success and also the possibility of failure. For far too many Americans that possibility of failure shines like the light of a million suns while the possibility of success is but a firefly in comparison. In other words they don’t believe that opportunity exists for them. This belief crosses all boundaries from black to white, poor to middle-class even to the “rich”, from men to women, employed to unemployed, Catholic to Protestant to Jew to Muslim, from liberal to conservative and Republican to Democrat to Undecided.

This situation is, simply put, an abomination. There is no other word for it in a country whose beginnings were a rebellion against foreign control of commerce and society, for a country whose national identity and purpose was redefined in a war unique amongst all others to free other men from slavery, for a country whose populace has time and again risen to every challenge to right wrongs, oppose tyranny and fight for justice.

The United States of America has certainly had its dark periods. We have had slavery, forced relocations of American Indians, racial bigotry and persecution, American citizens in concentration camps because of their ancestry, citizens refused the right to vote, systematic and institutionalized discrimination, religious bigotry and even persecution to name a few.

Throughout it all most people believed that this country was better than the rest of the world and that we had the best to offer. Many in other countries still believe that, but I too often see people in the United States believe the opposite. That we are the worst. We corrupt others. We are an evil place full of evil people. We are a country of lazy, selfish consumers. We are a decadent cancer upon the face of the earth. Worst of all, that there is no such thing as true opportunity.

A personal story here to show why I took up this cause that has been brewing in my head and heart for some years:

During the 2000 Presidential Campaign several colleagues and I got embroiled in a political argument with another colleague. This lone man was very passionate in his beliefs and very headstrong. Nothing could sway his opinions. What really blew my top was his assertion that there are no opportunities for minorities, especially blacks, in this country. I was told that I have what I have only because of the color of my parents and the opportunities (ironic that he should use that word) given to me by my parents. He still believes that to this day. I literally had to leave the room for some time and go vent some frustrations before I lost all control.

So my background gave me unparalleled opportunities that others don’t have? What opportunities did my relatively uneducated parents from Eastern Kentucky (yes, you can say hillbilly) give me? What opportunity did their perpetual arguments, both vocal and sometimes physical, give me? What opportunity did their lifelong habits of smoking give me? What opportunity did their years and years of alcoholism give me other than many hours of childhood spent in a bar plus embarrassment? What opportunity did the lack of college funds they saved give me? What opportunity did the infidelities of my parents give me? What opportunity did the bad financial example they set give me? What opportunity did their much too early deaths from cancer give me?

I ask this not in anger or rage. I ask to show that despite my being white, male, married with kids, educated and principled, you cannot really say that much of that beyond being white and male came from my parents and that was hardly by choice. If I can buck all the trends by not being a wife-beater, child-abuser, smoker, drinker, drug-user, on welfare, unemployed, uneducated, low-life scum and drain on society, then why can’t anyone?

What sets apart the achiever from the mediocre and losers? Is it intelligence? Aptitude? Education? Money? Inheritances? Skills?

Or is it attitude? Belief? Mindset? Desire? Focus?

My money is on the second group.

What’s the common thing in each of these two groups?

The first group is a list of external factors. Each one of these can be externally derived, stimulated, grown, shrunk, beaten and modified generally only through interaction with other people, concepts, processes or actions.

The second group is all internal. 100% determined by the choices you make. Yes, external factors can influence and help shape the second group just as the second group can influence the first group. But after all is said and done it comes down to a choice in how you react and respond to the world.

Too many people choose the path of least resistance and it almost always leads you away from opportunities of all kind. No Time Lost Enterprises and the Opportunity Knocks project is aiming to change that choice and get people to choose a new way to see themselves and the world around them.