It's a new day

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Today was Barack Obama's inauguration. Maybe because of the television coverage, many people out there may just think of this transition as a routine event in the course of our country. Which in some ways it has become, but what I find amazing that for the most powerful governmental seat in all of this world that we as a nation can do a peaceful, celebratory transition of power from one administration to the next without riots, bloodshed or the country falling apart at the seams.

It's almost become a shuttle launch where the marvel of this event is somehow lost in the celebration - as if we're partying for New Year's or something. But with Barack Obama's swearing in today where he took the oath of office to become our 44th President, he has somehow invigorated this post with a youthful vibrancy that it has desperately needed for too many years.

I don't agree with many of the policy tactics that (now) former President G. W. Bush instilled. His arrogant leadership style was perfectly summed up in his last press conference where he obviously lamented the negative opinion of his work over the last 6 years and how he just never seemed to be able to "reach" out to the people of the nation and become the person that we needed him to be. He didn't have that reachable personality - or at least one that translated into his actions as President.

I don't believe that G. W. Bush was a bad man - just not the right man for the job when bullying your way through foreign policy or internal affairs just wasn't the right line. Nor that he didn't seem to listen very well to the people he served.

Not that the office of the President should kowtow to the popular whim of the people just to keep their favor, but there is a time when thinking through the entire cycle of the decisions needed to be done. Did we need to attack Iraq and spend vast amounts of our treasure on liberating a country that didn't want to be liberated? The answer is obvious. Afghanistan was another story all together and we were justified in our cause there - it was moral based upon the harboring of the very people who directly attacked and killed our citizen on 9/11. The President, though should have stuck to his guns of when to act when it was prudent to do so - not rallying in on the war cries of a wounded nation seven and half years ago.

Every time I hear Obama speak I am filled with an overwhelming since of hope. Hope that our lives will someone come together as a nation and finally act as a community. I want to believe that he will deliver upon his campaign promises and utilize this crisis to the advantage of a nation that has been mired in the committee decisions regulated not by what is right, but those special interests that may benefit from policy. That we may overcome the nightmare of our economic woes, put together an effective health care plan for our nation's citizens, provide opportunities where there haven't been any, to right the wrongs of our careless use of our natural resources and start headlong down the road to repair this environmental damage before it can't be done, to find primary domestic energy source where the influences of other nations can not drive our way of life.

The list is long - the tasks are huge - and for a nation to sit back and let the emotional ride end with this swearing in where we abandon the grass roots initiatives that lead to his inauguration to begin with would be criminal. We must look at today as the time to start. That all of the events that lead up to this very day in our nation's history reflect each and every one of us in every portion of our country. That we must look at this through the eyes of a contractor who worked hard to win the bid who now must get to work to build the building- each brick at a time until the building reaches it's iconic design set forth in the plans laid by the architect.

And like the contractor, it is not the job of one person - it is a team of specialized workers who come together in the right sequence to do the necessary work - the skilled laborers who love their trade and who can wield their abilities in a forum not seen in our nation's history. Those who can shape the land, prepare the foundation, raise the framework, sheath the walls and make the structure habitable.

We are not the lazy owners who just foot the bill, we are in this hands on - just like the world's largest Habitat for Humanity project but in this case, we all get to live there.

I wonder how I can be a part of this building. How I can find my own way into this historical change that I can, at sometime in my future, look back proudly on these years and know that I did my part - just as Rosie the Riveter or the Infantryman did during the greatest generation's greatest feat. I wonder how my roll will be in this.

I am excited beyond words about the possibilities that will present themselves. We are a nation of believers and I believe we're tired of shooting ourselves in the foot and destroying our own opportunities. We need to keep fighting until the war is over and not let the battles dictate our mood.

To be in a community is to be dependent on one another. Our collective being sustains us. We must come out from the fenced back yards in our subdivisions and rise to the occasion to lift a hand and help one another out. We are not individuals who will reap a defined benefit at some future point - we will only be rewarded from the fruits of our labor.

Will you pick up a shovel and dig in or will you watch as others lay out your future for you?
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Success

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Success. This is a topic that I've recently started to grapple with. What does it mean to be successful? My middle-class mind drifts towards wealth, big-important jobs that pay to the extreme, the best neighborhoods in the city... Maybe that's a typical response to that type of question, I'm not really sure.

A while back I read a book called "The Framework for Understanding Poverty" by Dr. Ruby Payne. She is/was a educator in Texas who started a study on why kids were failing in schools and her research led to class struggles and expectations. Mainly in the form of economic poverty, but she also discussed poverty in terms of all available resources (i.e. family/friend support, money, housing, transportation, opportunities, etc). It was fascinating to read about what each economic class valued and strove to obtain.

Success for a middle class family, for example, is based upon education and managerial skills. So my thoughts of what defines success in my mind are (sub)culturally driven ideals: wealth accumulation via objects (houses, cars, clothes) and particular jobs (executives, CEO's) and where someone went to college (Ivy League, Stanford). Those high set benchmarks are the ideals set forth in our culture to (generally) define who has made it and who hasn't. The pride that a middle class family has when their child is accepted to MIT or Harvard. That they've got the muster to be at the very top.

Success for a wealth family isn't from expensive objects- they are by nature but when you're in a class of people who can buy just about anything they want, it comes down to exclusivity and who you know. Education is a given - and going to Harvard or Columbia will happen, even if the kid isn't all that smart to begin with. The attendance isn't for the education to get a good paying job later on, it's to connect with other wealthy families so power, influence and alliances can be continued on. To me, that's why secret societies like the Skull and Bones at Yale are so crazy to understand for other classes and why they generate so much conspiracy theory behind them.

Purchasing items becomes more of who has the exclusive rights to do such (and sometimes buying what isn't for sale). Limited production or rare antique multi-million dollar sports cars for example. My brother is a graphic designer and one of his clients sells ultra limited production wrist watches. These watches sell for several hundred thousand dollars each and his client actually brought over three of them to his house. He couldn't even convey the nervousness he had to have over a million dollars in watches on his coffee table - and there were only three of them!

The poor rely on social networks for what they need. Things that the middle class and the wealthy take for granted are not reliable in their world so simple things like having reliable transportation to get to and from work can be an issue. If the car breaks down, they can't get to work and thus loose their job. They can't pay a standard mechanic for the work so it comes down to who they know who can fix the car in some sort of barter and trade system.

The concept of a future doesn't exist. "Future" is just a word and has no meaning. Money that is brought into the household is split amongst those there. Windfalls are blown immediately. That's why state lotteries come under so much criticism as a "poor tax" because those who mainly purchase lottery tickets live below (or near) the poverty level and when a massive windfall happens, those millions of dollars are lost in a matter of months. They aren't trained in the concept of managerial skills for money or investments and why middle class people are so appalled at the squandering of such a gift.

Success for those who live in poverty comes from those that have gifts of talent in sports/entertainment. The ghetto rapper who can make it to the big time as a national recording artist is highly valued. Mainly from the entertainment s/he provided in the ultra stressful world of poverty.

What made me think about success is why do I/we think of the culturally driven markers as the culmination of a successful life? The more I think about it, the more ludicrous it seems. Why do I need to strive to be on some sort of defined career path where my success isn't determined by my own values, but by those around me who are casting their votes on if I made it or not.

And for those who do reach levels of success under those cultural terms, that we actually turn on them? Dr. Payne actually outlined that people can move from class to class successfully if they have a guide to show them the unwritten rules of that class (what to do and say). But one of the hardest things she found for those who want and desire to move classes, and even if they have a guide who will invest in them for that shift, is that they have to give up all of their previous support group to do such. That may mean relationships with family - and that can be a roadblock to that successful shift. We turn on those who shift because we can't identify with them anymore. We cast them into some sort of Purgatory.

I've been thinking about how to adjust my own attitudes about success and stop perpetuating those ideals that really don't make sense. Success is a life that is happy and enjoyable and for most accounts, money (although important for basic security of resources) isn't the key. Seems like the more money you have the more problems that actually arise.

I am reminded of a story that I heard told to me once (forgive me for not having the reference):

A rich businessman was vacationing in Mexico where he went on a charter fishing trip. While enjoying himself on the cruise, the man asked the captain if he thought about expanding his fleet, making a ton of cash and living the good life.

The captain of the boat didn't have any money and asked what that would entail. The rich businessman immediately jumped into his business plan of adding 10 more boats, hiring a full time staff to market and entertain his guests and accountants to manage all of the money he'd make.

The captain asked for what purpose he'd do this? It would take so much effort to run a company of that size. The businessman told him it would be a lot of work, but it would be worth it in the end. The captain could retire one day, relax and go fishing like he was doing on his vacation.

The captain thought about it and then told the businessman:

"But I'm doing that right now."

Sometimes we're right where we want to be even without the business plan.

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Resolve to resolve

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Well a new year has dawned and even though it is only January 6th, it feels like the holidays are a distant memory. I find it interesting that all of the retail sales woes and hype prior to our consumer based winter season has died down on the news and that, like a light switch, we change our focus as if Christmas didn't just happen.

I haven't been in the stores yet, but I'm sure that Valentine's Day has already peeked it's ugly head up on display aisles and that Easter isn't far behind. Kind of hard to think of Easter now - especially when its snowing outside.

I have launched a new blog yesterday. It's a real-time journal of my quest to find fitness in 2009. I'm being rather forthcoming with my postings and putting myself in the awkward position of airing my dirty laundry. My plan is to do weekly weigh-ins that show status along with posting what I'm doing (eating, exercising) and my progress (or lack thereof). I hope that there is actual progress - it would make for a boring story otherwise - journeys are only interesting if you actually leave the driveway.

What has me nervous about this is that it is me. This blog you're currently visiting has been an outlet for my ideas and thoughts - all of which are snippets of the whole picture. A person following this blog (both of you - thanks by the way) would see some of how my thought process works along with my opinions and commentary on things that concern me, but it's still processed. It's still a controlled view into my world.

My new blog: http://ryansfitnessjourney.blogspot.com/ is how it is as you see it. Raw. I'm posting photos of me in just my shorts (a word of warning, I have no bodily resemblance to Brad Pitt so venture carefully) and my weight and body as it changes. You can't hide it when it's out there for anyone and everyone to see.

And for that, it's strangely liberating - as if I'm letting go of that insecurity by posting it so publicly, but it's still an opening up to anyone who may or may not have a positive influence via their comments. Plus my friends, family and acquaintances will have a front row seat to my life.

So this new year has brought with it a whole bag full of uncertainty - economic problems, a new president of our country (yea!), people losing their jobs and hopefully I keep mine for at least a little while longer, etc. But with that change comes the hope that it will bring happiness, too. And that for every one thing we feel is out of our control there is one thing that you can actively do.

I'm currently reading a book I got for Christmas - "Velvet Elvis" by Rob Bell. Rob Bell is an absolutely amazing speaker and storyteller. He is a Christian Pastor of the Mars Hill Bible Church in Grand Rapids, MI and if you haven't watched his speak then you need to treat yourself (check out Nooma). His book is starting to hit home for me - especially in relationship to how I view what Christianity is - I'm about 2/3rds through the book the section I read last night spoke of the importance to let go of the things that drive us and to enjoy who we are. Success is defined by our happiness and enjoyment of our lives - more money, a new job, a new location won't change who we are inside and Rob Bell spoke of looking at the mysteries behind the mystery. That there is always more to the story (our story). We need to get past the superficial in order to find that core.

That's been part of my journey all along in 2008. Rob Bell wrote about the commonly used phrase "where ever you go, there you are". Changing the surface doesn't change who we are and that happiness comes from enjoyment of who we really are and bringing those attributes to the surface and stop living for the approval of others (he says to live for God). I guess that resonates with me.

And maybe that phase of "where ever you go, there you are" applies to my own fitness journey - I had started the launch of my blog before I got to this section in the book last night, but it just seemed to make sense to me. That for all of the postulating and theories - for all of the commentary and beliefs that it is all of naught if there isn't substance behind who I am. And part of the substance is taking care of the only vessel I've got to make it through my life.

I don't really believe in resolutions. A friend of mine said to me that it doesn't make sense to her to "resolve" to do anything - you write down your goals for the year and then focus on the top five - keeping the list in a prominent place (like a bathroom mirror) so that you're reminded of them and then holding one another to those goals. I liked that perspective on them. It takes the negative spin of a resolution into a positive change for growth.

My wish for you in this next year that you find yourself - where ever that may be and bring out the very best in yourself. Stare at that 800 lb gorilla and kick it's ass. Be who you were meant to be and live for happiness and joy.

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