Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr

The Martin Luther King Memorial. Credit: Charles Dharapak/AP



"Take the first step in faith. You don't have to see the whole staircase, just take the first step." -Martin Luther King, Jr.

On Sunday, August 28, 2011 a memorial will be dedicated in Washington, D.C. It is a memorial inspired from Rev. King's "I Have a Dream" speech, "Out of the mountain of despair, a stone of hope."

There is the inevitable controversy that surrounds any major project of which I'm not going to go back over. The memorial is here and it stands as a great reminder of what our great country has come through. And while we still struggle today with racial equality and understanding, a change occurred those many years ago.

I have to think Reverend King would be pleased that we continue to talk to each other. He would be glad to know that we keep constructing the path he started to lay for all of us. While his dream is not completely fulfilled, he opened that hole in the wall which divided us. It is through this opening that we continue the dialog. It is through this opening that we reach out to each other.

Our differences in race, religion and ideology will continue to try and tear us apart as humans. We must continue to fight any efforts to close the wall of difference and divide us again. We must continue to work at tearing down forever that wall for all peoples.

On August 28, 1963, standing in front of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington D.C. a dream was revealed. The Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr. had a dream which continues to inspire today. Dream our dreams, but we must act upon those dreams and one day all will realize those dreams.

Trying the New

"A person who never made a mistake never tried anything new." -Albert Einstein

I'm excited to unveil my new vBlog (video blog), posted on YouTube and posted over on the right hand side of this web page. It is going to be a new thing for me and another step in my journey of motivating folks to go after and achieve a great life.

I debated on how to set up the videos, the production, the sound and all of those things that could have kept me from ever actually doing the video. So I just jumped in and you'll get to see the results as I learn. It really is something new and what the heck, life is full of mistakes that get turned into opportunity.

If you want to do something in life, get up and do it. Don't sweat the small details, get moving on it and figure it out along the way. You can spend all of your days wondering, planning and perfecting. In the end you never end up accomplishing what you wanted to do in the first place.

So enjoy my video attempts to inspire you, but more importantly become inspired. If not by me but by your own passion. Remember to believe in your dream, act upon that dream and one day you will realize that dream.

Beyond Cedar Bluffs

"I dwell in possibility.." -Emily Dickinson

Each of us have some thing that we grew up with, some thing that we allow to hold us back from achieving greatness. Some say it is the hard streets of the inner city. A place where people believe that possibility can not exist beyond two or three blocks away.

The same can be said for a young boy living the gravel roads of farm country. A place where you can see as far as the eye can see. But it can be a place where you think possibility only exists just beyond the next corn field.

We tend to limit ourselves this way, believing that we can never escape our circumstances. Many times there are people trying to hold us back. People telling us we are not good enough.

I am here to tell you that you can get beyond the streets of your city neighborhood. You can get beyond the gravel roads of Cedar Bluffs. Those roads lead to new places filled with opportunity. They lead to a place where you can have a greater life.

In my own story, I love going home to where I grew up. It helped make me the person I am today. It is also the place where I learned there was much more beyond its country roads and grain elevators.

Find your way beyond whatever is holding you back. Don't forget those streets and country roads. But know that those same roads lead you to great success for your life.

Fire Drill Practice

"A fire drill does not demand a fire" -Nancy Cartwright

Do you remember your days in school when you practiced evacuting a building in case of a fire. Those fire drills were always fun to have as it got us out of school work. We lined up and walked quickly without running to our designated safety area.

We performed these drills 'just in case' a fire eventually broke out and our lives truly depended upon getting out safely. Even back in the 1950s, the threat of nuclear war was pervasive. People practiced 'duck and cover' in order to save themselves from the nuclear fallout.



We practice constantly in the event that something bad will happen in our lives. Those things may never happen, but we are prepared because we take the time to prepare.

What if we took time to prepare for the good things that could happen in our life. Maybe we should practice how to handle the large amount of money we will earn. Maybe we should practice what it will be like having great relationships, great children and a great job.

What I am saying is that maybe we should practice being positive about life.