It has been 9 days since I last posted. I can't remember when the last time that happened. I apologize to people because I know visitors come with an expectation that there will be a new post at least every 3-4 days. So…this is my formal apology but there has been some great things happening.

 

I have not been away on vacation or off having fun somewhere (it would have been nice). No…I was working diligently on many various things. I want to briefly share two of those things before I get into the theme of today.

 

The first thing is my son and I have spent some time scouting for a new soccer team we are putting together for him. The story behind this is that we have been told by many people that it would be nearly impossible to put together a new team at this age and at this level.

 

The age group is U-17 and the level of play is Division 1 Competitive Soccer. By the time these young men reach this age they are typically set on a team or realize the fact that higher levels of soccer are not in their future. We knew going in that it is a tough task.

I told my son about 3 years ago that I would help him in any way I could to enable him to follow his dreams and passions to play professional soccer. There was one caveat to this that I clearly shared with him. That is, he needed to apply himself to learning how to create wealth. I didn't just tell him he needed to get a job and work. He needed to learn how to become an entrepreneur, learn about investing and other things so that he could set himself up for financial success no matter what the circumstances were in his life or the life of the economy at large.

 

Well…he followed through and is diligently learning what it means to create wealth and also to follow his dreams at the same time. The other part of this equation is that I have coached all of my other children who play. The only two that I have not coached are my eldest and my youngest…who is too young. So we decided that if we didn't make that happen now…it never would.

 

I ultimately left the final decision in his hands with the understanding that fear of failure should never be a determining factor and if we decided to follow this path that we would do everything we could to defy the odds and find players for this team.

 

He decided he wanted to "go for it" and I applaud him for that decision. Too many people let fear get in the way of making those types of choices. At this point we have not found a whole team yet but we have found 13 interested players. We are going to have our first get together this afternoon and I believe there will be 7 or 8 attending. This is not bad considering it is spring break and tougher to get people together than under normal circumstances.

 

We are on our way and I believe fully that we will be able to put together a very good team. Lord willing, we will overcome all of the obstacles the naysayers said would keep us from being successful in this endeavor.

 

I believe fully in walking through your fears and "going for it" and I am grateful my son is catching this strange abnormality (albeit an empowering abnormality) as well.

 

This leads me to the second major thing I am involved with. I can't share as much about this because it is too big and just not the right time.

 

As you well know (if you have bounced around my site at all) that we have launched the Daily Crushers in the past few months. What started out as a group of acquaintances has turned into a movement with a momentum and energy that is growing and building daily.

 

We are in the midst of implementing ground breaking things that you will see coming in the future. It is almost too much to grasp or to fathom. I cannot share any other details but I bring it up because what is happening with the Daily Crushers is similar to what is happening with my son's team.

What was once a small spark is quickly turning into a blazing fire simply because a group of six people (the core tribe of the Daily Crushers—Patrick McIntosh, Phil Jackson, Heather Taskovics, Debbie Wood, Glenn Arcaro and myself have a passion for each other and for creating something well, well beyond ourselves. What started out as simply some brainstorming and far off dreams is becoming reality because we were not content to let fear or laziness or anything else stand in our way of creating something amazing.

 

That is all I can say about that…but just stay tuned and come along with us on this ride. We have a different marketing and business model that is based upon the most successful model of all time…something that has never been duplicated in the area of marketing. It is beyond exciting…and every individual Daily Crusher who engages in the process will be beyond happy that they decided to come aboard.

 

You can find us on Facebook and also on our website (in progress).

 

 

I know that was a lot of preliminary stuff before I jump into the theme of power today but I am super excited about these things and I felt I needed to share them with you.

 

 

Did you see the news about the unscrupulous spending from the Republican National Committee in Los Angeles? Apparently someone spent $1,946 at a strip club and charged it to the RNC.

 

Relative to the trillions of our dollars being spent right now on unscrupulous things by the Democrats…maybe this isn't such a bad thing?

 

Well I disagree. At the core of this is not how much of our money is being spent or even how it is being spent it is the issue of power.

 

J.R.R. Tolkien  tackled this complex issue in what some consider the greatest fantasy series of all time in the The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings. In the series there is a "ring of power"…the "one ring to rule them all."

Whoever has this ring has a tremendous amount of power and throughout the story there is constant conflict between both good and evil trying to capture and hold the ring for themselves. Those on the side of good wish to do "good" with the power of the ring and of course the inverse is true with those on the side of evil.

 

However…the clear message that comes out of the story is not necessarily the fact that the ring's inherent power is not controllable…which it isn't. It is that the holder of the ring was the one controlled by the ring's influence. What was that influence? The answer is "power" itself. The core message is that the one with power will be controlled and consumed by the power itself. The person with the power will become a slave to that power and the end result will be that the far reaching tentacles of that power will "desire" to control everyone else as well.

 

Thus…the phrase "one ring to rule them all" becomes very real on two levels. "Power" will always control you (if you engage in it) no matter how "good" you may consider yourself or your cause. And…it will always try to control those with whom you are affiliated with as well.

 

This is why our founding fathers set up our constitution in such a way that there are many, many embedded checks and balances to counteract the natural bent of individuals and governments towards trying to wield their power (earned or not). They understood the diabolical aspect of power and created an amazing document to keep it in check. They called government a "necessary evil" for this very reason.

Every other government in the history of our world has moved in the direction of the lure of power. There have been many times in history where the people have risen up in revolution because of this. It is a recurring theme in our world's history.

 

The problem with power does not rest simply on government's shoulders however. It pervades every area of our lives. We have all seen what has happened with corporations and organizations that get too much power. Our current economic crisis is a result of this. We stripped our Free Market System (where competition is the best form of checks and balances) of its power and the results were certain companies and individuals with far too much power.

 

You see…it is okay for the system to have power where everyone has equal access…but when we strip the system of its power and start enabling people to have it instead, everything breaks down.

 

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the mortgage holding giants, are a great example of this. We actually could go on for pages listing all of the examples but I am sure it is clear to see what I am talking about.

 

This problem spills over into our churches and other organizations as well. When any man or woman in any given church or like organization is granted too much power, whether it is wanted or not, the insidious nature of power works its evil. I don't want to point any fingers because I am not here to do that…but I am sure each one of us can come up with multiple examples of how when an individual or small group of individuals gets too much power they will ultimately abuse the trust given to them from the people under their leadership.

 

We cannot handle an overabundance of power ever. We cannot handle small portions of power without inherent checks in place to keep us in our place. It is a fact of human nature that has played itself out over and over and over again in history. It still continues to be an issue in each one of our lives each and every day.

I really want to encourage you to hold lightly those places where you are influential in other people's lives. You have the power to destroy people's lives and all it takes is the simple removal of the checks and balances in your own personal life that unleashes the potential devastating effects of power.

 

Whether you are the President of our country or a member of any given government, the leader or high ranking member of the the RNC, a CEO, a board member, a pastor, priest or a leader of any religious organization or civic organization, a leader of a nursing home, the leader or a member of the leadership of a union, a doctor, a nurse, a father, a husband, a mother, a wife, a star athlete, a well educated person…whatever the case, please hold lightly to your power over others.

Make sure you always, always, always keep your own checks and balances in place or you may just end up like Gollum in The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings. If you are unfamiliar with his character…well we'll leave that for another time but I would very much encourage you to read the series and watch the movies.

 

Please, as always, let me know what you think and share it with your friends. Thanks!