Monday, January 17, 2011

A Dream is a Check–Time to Cash It!


"We are now faced with the fact, my friends, that tomorrow is today. We are confronted with the fierce urgency of now.
In this unfolding conundrum of life and history, there is such a thing as being too late. Procrastination is still the thief of time. 
Life often leaves us standing bare, naked, and dejected with a lost opportunity. The tide in the affairs of men does not remain at flood -- it ebbs. We may cry out desperately for time to pause in her passage, but time is adamant to every plea and rushes on. 
Over the bleached bones and jumbled residues of numerous civilizations are written the pathetic words, "Too late." Martin Luther King Jr.
This quote was included in Seth Godin's blog this morning. As a subscriber, I read his posts every morning. I'm reposting it here in full as there is little to add or comment on other than to say - it's so true.  We all have checks in our pockets that remain useless until we cash them. 
(via Seth's Blog)
Cashing the check
A check in your wallet does you very little good. It represents opportunity, sure, but not action.
Most of us are carrying around a check, an opportunity to make an impact, to do the work we're capable of, to ship the art that would make a difference.
No, the world isn't fair, and most people don't get all the chances they deserve. There are barriers due to income, to race, to social standing and to education, and they are inexcusable and must fall. But the check remains, now more than ever. The opportunity to step up and to fail (and then to fail again, and to fail again) and to continue failing until we succeed is greater now than it has ever been.
That LIFE cover above is especially poignant given what happened last week in Arizona.  The sixties saw visionaries and champions of civil rights cut down by a society afraid and suspicious of change; but we must change.
Today we seem to be bankrupt of leaders whose vision extends beyond their own political party's interests; whose decisions are determined not by the latest constituent poll but by principles. To take control of our leadership deficit, we've got to support visionaries and reject pragmatists; encourage idealism and urn our back on ideologues. Are politicians our holding a lot of our checks in their pockets. It's time they cash them.



Yes We Can Can - Alan Toussaint

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