Moving the Cause of Liberty [Thomas Paine] - 5.12.11

We, the people, are living in an American Crisis, as wicked and powerful leaders begin to rise up against us, we must stand up for the cause of liberty, no matter what it costs us. While these corrupt leaders begin a crisis that will change our lives, we must realize that, “these are the times that try men's souls. The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of their country; but he that stands it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman.” We cannot be summer soldiers or sunshine patriots, who will only serve our country when it is easy. We must have the will to sacrifice all worldly things for an ultimate, eternal goal. This is what Thomas Paine did. Firstly, he had the courage to stand up for his country in the face of tyrannical leaders, no matter what the expense. And secondly, due to Paine's ambition to finally step forward and voice his opinion, he created a ripple effect that influenced many people to fight for the cause of liberty in addition. Let me take you back and show you examples from history that reveal to us how he was able to move the cause of liberty in these two ways.

    Even before his work in the fight for the cause of liberty in America, he was fighting for liberty and just behavior of the government while living in Britain. During his time there, Paine was beginning to start movements in an effort to abolish unjust acts of the Parliament. Once, excise men (tax collectors) complained to Paine that they felt that they were being paid too little for their job. Paine, as a fellow excise man, felt the same way. He then proceeded to take the time to write a pamphlet entitled, The Case of the Officers of Excise, in which he argued that it was unjust to pay the tax collectors so little. In order to print this pamphlet, nearly all of the three thousand excise men donated money to Paine. Still, it was not enough. Paine had to pay for most of the printing costs, and sadly, the pamphlet failed to change Parliament's opinion. Because he had stood up against something he felt was unjust, Paine lost his job as an excise man. Without income from his job, Paine went bankrupt, and he was forced to sell nearly everything he owned. Elizabeth, his wife, felt that she had had too much by this point, and they chose to separate from each other that summer and go their separate ways. These events are just a few ways that Paine had to sacrifice. They are but a few things that he lost because of his work for liberty. But even through all of this, Paine was not discouraged. Lost, without work, deprived of money, and parted from his companion, he then left his home in England and sailed across the sea, to begin a new life in America. This is where he would begin his great work that helped our nation grow to become the greatest nation in the world.

    During his life in America, in 1774, Paine heard of the attacked towns of Lexington and Concord. Both Colonists and British fell during the battle, and the more that Paine learned about this battle, the more irate he became towards the British government. They had first begun to tax the people of America a troublesome amount, and now they were killing their own people. Paine then decided that someone must stand up and do something about the violence.

    Paine began to write articles that criticized Britain and upheld the American colonies as a land of bounty and liberty. “In Paine's view, Britain was giving the colonists no choice but to fight for their independence.” The cause of American freedom had inspired Paine, and “he felt sure that a free America could be different from any other nation in the world.” He felt that America was destined to become the world's first democratic republic, and his suspicion was true. Paine was selfless in his work to free the American people. All the money that was made from sales of Common Sense was given to the colonist army, due to their lack of supplies. He did not seek for praise because of his great work. He had made a commitment, and he did not let things of the world hold him back from reaching his eternal goal. Paine believed that “the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph.” But I do not think that he was seeking for glory or fame. His glory was the accomplishment of a goal. It was the achievement of a dream.

    Paine truly had the ambition and fire in his heart to achieve that dream of a free, independent America. And he worked hard to do just that, albeit in a different way. He was able to influence many people and move the cause of liberty by using written persuasion, a skill that he had developed throughout his life. Paine wrote and published Common Sense regardless of the fact that he knew it would be dangerous to publicly sell. It was a call for war against Britain, but he was willing to take the risk for his country. He was willing to pay the price. Paine was ready to change the world. And he did, starting with Thomas Jefferson and George Washington – two heroes of the Revolution and two truly great leaders – were both greatly influenced to move the cause of liberty because of Paine's impact and inspiration that was received through his writing. This affected the cause of liberty in America to a huge extent.

    For example, Washington had looked for compromise rather than independence for America. Because of Paine's pamphlet, Common Sense, Washington began to acknowledge the possibility of independence. Four days after January 31^st, 1776, he told Congress to notify Great Britain that “if nothing else could satisfy a tyrant and his diabolical ministry, we are determined to shake off all connections with a state so unjust and unnatural.” Washington continued on to show us more about how he was influenced through Paine's writing. Even though Washington may not have expressed his political views in writing, “Washington had almost certainly entertained thoughts of separation before he read Common Sense. It was what he called the 'sound doctrine and unanswerable reasoning' of Paine's pamphlet that solidified his belief in the righteousness and the practicability of independence.”

    Jefferson adopted many of Paine's ideas and concepts that are in Common Sense. Many people believe that if Paine hadn't written Common Sense, the Declaration of Independence would not be the same as it is today. It is obvious that..

“The ideas of Common Sense echo throughout Jefferson's Declaration, not merely in defense of independence, but also in support of a new system of government. Without predicting the imminent establishment of an American Republic as Paine did, Jefferson nonetheless conveyed the promise of a new era in human liberty The true genius of Jefferson's document equals that of Paine's pamphlet. They both represented not merely a defiant break with the past but also an audacious and hopeful vision of the future.”

But it did not end there. John Adams, our second President, spoke of how Paine's influence continued to ripple through the hearts of all people, saying, “I know not whether any man in the world has had more influence on its inhabitants or affairs for the last thirty years than Tom Paine.”

    Thomas Paine was not only a man who, sacrificed his time, his effort, and even his physical possessions for the liberty and freedom of his country, but a man who did not shrink from the service of his country in the face of adversity. He utilized his skills and abilities to effectively inspire and influence others to fight for independence just as he was. We must have the same ambition and courage. Will you stand up for your country, and let your example ripple on to the fellow citizens of your nation?

Inspiring Greatness [Michael Behunin] - 3.20.11

    Inspiring greatness in others is a characteristic of Statesmen, and in order to be an effective leader, you must be able to inspire not only yourself, but others. Whether you are mentally limited, socially challenged, or have many emotional problems, you can inspire yourself and others by demanding and expecting responsibility, strength, and empowerment of self and those that you associate with. Stephen Covey said, "Leadership is communicating to people their worth and potential so clearly that they come to see it in themselves ... To communicate the worth and potential of others so clearly, so powerfully, and so consistently that they really come to see it in themselves is to set in motion the process of seeing, doing, and becoming." In order for me to become an inspiring leader, I must be able to see the great potential in others. If I am unable to see their potential, how will I ever be able to communicate it to them in a powerful, clear, and consistent way that inspires them to see it themselves, do something great, and become a more effective person? When we entrust someone with responsibility, that person is naturally inspired to take that responsibility and do their best. We all have greatness within us, we simply need to see that greatness, do something with it, and become great through our actions.

    Michael Behunin is a leader and statesman that has truly realized how to inspire. He expects everyone to take responsibility, and to have the strength to do something great. Every time that I've spoken to him, or listened to him teach a lesson, I feel like he has inspired me to do something great,   whether it be to serve others, read the scriptures and ponder them more, or even have the passion to go ahead and do something that I had been feeling uneasy about. So, how does he do it? I sat down to interview him, and he told me about something that he created, called "The Strong Model." It is a model that he uses in every setting and relationship in which he is involved. "It is a model of faith and belief in others, and in their potential. It is the awareness and implementation of the model's concepts that allows him to demand strength of himself and others in the form of empowerment.

    The model itself implies that no matter what disciplinary group you are in (authority, peer group, and self,) you can achieve a value-based performance (or empowered performance) through caring and helpful intent. An empowered performance goes beyond simple obedience. Simple obedience only requires adherence to whatever the authority dictates, whether the performance is established upon an extrinsic reward or threatened punishment. In order to achieve a value-based performance, you must have a base value. A base value is like a moral code that you live by, and that guides your actions. In Behunin's case, the value-based system that he uses in every relationship is established upon the following three principles: "(1) Do no harm to yourself, (2) Do no harm to others, (3) Be a positive (value-based) contributor to your world." By using this value-based system, we can empower ourselves and others through love and example.

    During my interview with him, Behunin told me how he was able to empower a student, which led the student to inspire those around him. This student that he spoke of had a form of autism, called Aspergers Syndrome. Because of his disability, he had many difficulties while interacting with his peers in the previous schools he had attended. He wanted to find a way to cope with his disability, and learn how to communicate with others in a more effective manner. He applied for Behunin's Top Flight Academy, an organization for troubled teens which provides flight school as a part of the student's curriculum, so that they may work on becoming actual, licensed pilots. Because Behunin expected his students to be strong enough to accept responsibility and to demand strength of themselves, this student was able to literally soar. Behunin said,

“...not only was this student able to begin interacting in a more 'empowered' manner with his peers, he was also able to excel in his flight skills. He ended up becoming one of the best pilots ever to have gone through Top Flight. An amazing side-benefit to the Strong Model in this school is that his entire peer group (consisting of students with ADHD, Bipolar Disorder, etc..) evolved to a level of amazing strength and caring, in the face of often extremely irritating issues associated with their Asperger's peer. They rallied around him, sought to help him, strengthened one another in being sure not to bully or 'trigger' him to explode. They became a stronger, amazingly unified and powerful, caring, value-driven, empowered group of young people ... In other words, the group became stronger because the individuals became stronger."

    This is but one of the many examples that Behunin shared with me, in which he was able to empower someone, who then inspired themselves and others to great strength and love for their peers. Another story that he related to me was about a student who had an extremely violent history in other schools and was deeply involved in gang activities. His mother had pleaded with Behunin to accept the teen into his Top Flight Academy, after all the many "troubled teen" centers that the child had been to before. The student had beat up staff members and fellow students on a daily basis. Behunin finally interviewed the teen, and presented the Strong Model to him before accepting him into the school. Behunin said,

"I challenged him to discover that bringing harm to others, lacking empathy for their issues, problems, and responsibilities was a sign of weakness, not strength... We did not (and would not) seek to control our students ... We demanded that they control themselves. He took the challenge. Interestingly, by the time he left the program he was genuinely and deeply loved and respected by all of the other students, as well as the staff members. He became a protector, and an advocate for the weakest of the students. He became openly the person his mother always believed was within himself. He left the school empowered with a completely different perspective on life. He is, perhaps, the most amazing student I ever worked with."

Reflecting upon these examples, it is obvious that we just have to encourage strength and responsibility in ourselves so that we can inspire others to do the same. When you inspire someone, you are asking them to do something great, and you are showing them that they can do it! It is truly impossible to achieve greatness by holding out a prize for accomplishment, or threatening someone with a punishment if they don't do what you asked. The only way that someone can reach their full potential and influence everyone in their peer group is if you make it known to them that they have the strength, they have the power, and they have the responsibility to take care of what you have asked of them. Gordon B. Hinckley said,

"No system can long command the loyalties of men and woman which does not expect of them certain measures of discipline, and particularly self-discipline ... Permissiveness never produced greatness. Integrity, loyalty, and strength are virtues whose sinews are developed through the struggles that go on within as we practice self-discipline under the demands of divinely spoken truth."

So, will you do what Behunin has done, empowering yourself, by accepting responsibility and being strong enough to do what you need to do? Will you love those around you, and trust them with responsibility, and let them know that they have the strength to overcome anything that's holding them back from a goal? And will you demand and expect empowerment of self, in order to become a leader that truly inspires others to greatness?

Wisdom (Winston Churchill)

Seth McCausland - 04/01/11

    "Churchill opposed Mohandas Gandhi's peaceful disobedience revolt and the Indian Independence movement in the 1930s.. Churchill was outspoken in his opposition to granting Dominion status to India... Churchill favoured letting Gandhi die if he went on a hunger strike.. 'The truth is.. that Gandhi-ism and everything it stands for will have to be grappled with and crushed.'"

    "Churchill--like Leonardo da Vinci or Benjamin Franklin--was a Renaissance man. His multitudinous talents shone splendidly. Churchill was a soldier, journalist, author, artist, sportsman, historian, orator, statesman.."

    "Indeed, it is impossible to overlook any such man who can so boldly lead a struggling nation in its time of need. Winston Churchill deserves to be acknowledged for saving a nation with no hope for the future."

    Winston Churchill was not always the wise man that many people know him to be today.  Churchil (or any person who has ever sought after wisdom) only found it when he stopped to take his unsuccessful attempts, life experiences, and righteous accomplishments, into great thought. Churchill did not only listen,  did not only study extensively, and he did not only work hard in what he was trying to accomplish, to become so righteously knowledgable.  Each time Churchill made a mistake, he would turn it into a way to learn.  Unlike so many people today, he would look at his foolish decisions and think, "How can I turn this weakness into a great strength?"  His misjudgments taught him. He did not let them discourage him or knock him down. Mary Pickford once said, "If you have made mistakes, there is always another chance for you. You may have a fresh start any moment you choose. For this thing we call 'Failure' is not the falling down, but the staying down."
    Churchill never truly failed.  If he had let himself be knocked down, never  to rise again, then, and only then, would he have failed.  His wisdom in letting his mistakes be a fresh start helped him to grow.  How you view "failure" is entirely up to you.


A Rash Statement
    Consider the following incident that occurred on the 23rd of February 1931, when Churchill gave his opinion on Indian Independence. In his short speech he stated that "It is alarming and also nauseating to see Mr Gandhi, a seditious Middle Temple lawyer, now posing as a fakir of a type well-known in the East, striding half-naked up the steps of the viceregal palace, while he is still organising and conducting a defiant campaign of civil disobedience..Such a spectacle can only increase the unrest in India."  Churchill was very much against the idea of Indian Independence at first, but as time went on he was able to see his mistake and later learn from it. He says in a letter to G.D. Birla, in 1935, that "Mr. Gandhi has gone very high in my esteem since he stood up for the untouchables ... I do not care whether you are more or less loyal to Great Britain ... Tell Mr. Gandhi to use the powers that are offered and make the thing a success."


Overcoming Obstacles
    As I had stated before, Churchill never actually failed.  One of his most famous quotes is "Never give in--never, never, never, never, in nothing great or small, large or petty, never give in except to convictions of honour and good sense. Never yield to force; never yield to the apparently overwhelming might of the enemy."  He strictly followed the principle of never staying down when "failure" knocks you over.  He experienced this early in his life, after failing many classes at various schools and being at the bottom of the class. Churchill decided that the subjects that he was being taught were not useful to him. He had always been interested in war and military life, which led him to take the entrance exam for the Royal Military College at Sandhurst. He took the entrance exam a total of three times before finally being accepted into the cavalry.

"The thought of surrendering never crossed Winston Churchill's mind. As his brother, John, and a cousin chased him in a game of hounds and deer, Churchill--the deer--managed to avoid capture. But after 20 minutes of evading the hounds, Churchill gasped for breath and decided to cross a bridge. He quickly found himself trapped in the center of the 50-yard expanse. His cousin stood on one end of the bridge and his brother on the other ... Churchill should have given up, but that wasn't in his nature. With no other way to escape,  Churchill decided he would jump from the bridge onto the top of one of the tall pine trees and shimmy down to the ground. However, the trees were farther away than they appeared. Churchill missed the tree he aimed for and hit the ground hard."

    Churchill never gave up.  He would persist to become the best he could be.  Many people feel that Churchill was the greatest orator of the 20th century.  He was born with a lisp, that made his speech hard to understand at times. Because of this, he went to the best dentist of that time, a man named Sir Wilfred Fish, who designed his dentures, which helped him with his slight speech impediment.  As you can clearly see, Churchill would not give up, and because of this, he was able to become "the most valuable (man) to humanity, and also the most likable."


Mature Wisdom - Vision
    Winston Churchill developed the ability to understand the many events that were occurring around him. Because of this, he was able to realize the true danger of Germany and their new government. He tried to raise a warning voice to his countrymen, giving a speech in the House of Commons on March 8th, 1934, five years before World War II began.

"The turning-point has been reached, and the new steps must be taken ... the scene has changed. This terrible new fact has occurred. Germany is arming - she is rapidly arming - and no one will stop her. None of the grievances between the victors and the vanquished have been redressed. The spirit of aggressive nationalism was never more rife in Europe and in the world."

    In fact, six years prior to the war, Churchill had  a conversation with a British naval attaché, in which Churchill had discussed his serious concerns about the Nazi's. Two-and-a-half years later, the attaché (referring to their conversation in 1933) said, "..the Germans are so annoyed with you for telling the truth that no letters addressed to you would ever have got out of the country ... I have never forgotten what you said then (1933) about the Nazis. Two & a half years in Berlin has shown everything you said then is true today ... The Germans fear, & I hope, you WILL be 1st Lord -- or Minister of Defence!"
    William Manchester, who wrote the two-part series The Last Lion, said of Churchill: "He had come to power because he had seen through Hitler from the very beginning."  
    All people have the ability to grow and mature into wisdom.  They may not become a Churchill, but anyone can develop wisdom in the same way he did.  When faced with an obstacle, will you ask yourself, "How can I overcome this?"  When faced with a personal weakness, large or small, will you ask yourself, "How can I turn this into a great strength?"  And will you choose to learn from your mistakes as well as your accomplishments?  If so, you can have an assurance that you will grow in wisdom.

Courage [Sarah Palin] - 3.9.11

    There are many people who will put their life on the line for their country, or die for something they believe in.  But there are few in this world that will dedicate their entire lives to a righteous cause, and suffer pains worse than death for what they hold dear.  There are few who will go through emotional and mental abuse for their entire life, never dying or being freed from all the adversity they must go through.  There are few who will persevere through every thing until they achieve what they want. These are the people who will fight for something with all their strength, and these are the people who will rely on and accept God's help when they reach their limits. These are the people who are truly courageous.

    Sarah Palin is someone who I believe exemplifies courage in her life.  She fights hard for what she believes in, even through all the adversity and hardships that life seems to have attacked her with. Many people admire Palin for her daring actions and her fearless determination.

"There is another thing that comes to mind when you think of Sarah.  The boldness of her actions. She doesn't sit back and let others decide.  To quote Star Trek, she 'boldly goes' forward into the future with determination, fearless in facing whatever adversity [that] comes her way." 

"No matter one’s political beliefs though, it’s hard to dispute that Palin displays a fierce determination in the face of substantial adversity ... about issues in which she believes and with an admirable willingness to “take the darts and the arrows”  she receives from all critics while continuing to speak..."

    In Palin's book, Going Rogue, there are many examples of how she would fight her way through adversity.  She would have a vision of what she wanted, make a goal, and then persevere until she achieved that vision.
    While running for vice-president, at 43, Palin discovered that she was pregnant with her fifth child. The trials that would come with having a newborn during her campaign would be hard, but she later found out that they would only get even more challenging.  Her baby, Trig, was to be born with Down Syndrome.  Initially, Palin began to think things like "Do I have enough love and compassion in me to do this?" She had once read that 90 percent of Down Syndrome babies are aborted. After having read such a thing, she could not keep herself from thinking that it may be simply impossible to deal with, that it would be easier if she just got "rid of" the "problem".  Abortion, to most, is an easy way to deal with a "complication" whether it be an impaired child, or a teenage pregnancy that might handicap a young woman's life. Palin received a "sudden understanding of why people would grasp at a quick 'solution,' a way to make the 'problem' just go away. But again, [she] had to hold on to that seed of faith." The way that she handled this frightening, hard, and discouraging situation inspires me.

"I wanted our loved ones to focus on the fact that this baby, every baby, has purpose, and that not only would he learn from us, but we would learn from him.  I decided to write a letter as though it were from Trig's Creator, the same Creator in whom I had put my trust more than thirty years before. I hoped that even though this new baby would present challenges, we'd trust that God knew best, that He didn't make mistakes:   'I am blessing you with this surprise baby because I want the best for you.  I've heard your prayers that this baby will be happy and healthy, and I've answered them because I only want the best for you! ... I put the idea in your hearts that his name should be 'Trig', because it's so fitting, with two Norse meanings:  'True' and 'Brave Victory' ... I let Trig's mom and dad find out before he was born that this little boy would truly be a GIFT."

    This story about her son shows her true courage.  It shows that she was willing to face the trials that would come with this child.  It shows that she would take situations that could otherwise be negative, and be as optimistic as she could be.
    "One day we will be confronted with our true potential; and we will see what we have missed because we have not embraced the ultimate help offered to us from our Creator.  Life is not worth living if we walk around in it without really knowing that every choice we make defines our lives in the eternities." Palin was dependent on God when she reached her limits. She relied on his strength to help her get through her problems. She says, "I do know there is a God. My life is in His hands. I encourage readers to do what I did many years ago, invite Him in to take over . . . then see what He will do and how He will get you through. Test Him on this. You'll see there's no such thing as a coincidence."
    But this is just one of the many trials she faced. When her daughter,  Bristol, got pregnant out of wedlock, the media immediately seized the story, telling false information and making it appear that Palin endorsed teenage pregnancy.  Indeed, Palin was proud of Bristol to have the determination and strength to deal with the hard circumstances by taking responsibility.  But they were not "giddy-happy that [their] unwed teenage daughter was pregnant, as the press release suggested."
    One of the hardest challenges occurred on September 17th, while Palin stayed in Michigan during her campaign.  Once again, the media carried the terrible news. She spoke of her feelings as she found out what had happened:

"I had just seen on TV a sickening report that my personal e-mails had been hacked into, and I figured that's what he wanted to talk about.  A cold hand squeezed my heart, though, as I wondered if something else had happened with the kids back in Alaska ... "Your personal e-mails have been hacked," Schmidt confirmed.  "The hacker is broadcasting your personal e-mails on the Internet right now. And photos, too."  And it wasn't just Todd's and my e-mails -- It was the kids', too.  And personal contact information ... It was another fine how-do-you-do:  Hi, Governor, welcome to the blood sport known as presidential politics ... My mind raced to other messages I knew were stored in one of my e-mail accounts:  Bristol and I discussing her pregnancy.  Todd and I discussing Trig's medical challenges ... All kinds of sensitive discussions.."

    Even now, Palin is still attacked frequently because of her willingness to speak boldly and never back down. She continues to fight for what she believes in, and what she thinks is right. She is one of the few people in this world that choose to face the emotional and mental abuse that she is attacked with every day for what she believes in. Like Palin, do you have a vision for what you want for our country? Do you have a vision of what you want for yourself, and your family? Do you have the courage to persevere, and dedicate yourself to your righteous mission?  And are you willing to sacrifice, fight, and endure to reach your goal?