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Happy July 4th 2021

Happy July 4th, 2021. In celebration of Independence Day, here in the United States, To celebrate Independence Day, here in the United States, I am reposting the story of 56 inspirational men who made a decision that changed the world.

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Today, July 4th, we will celebrate one of the greatest decisions ever made when 56 men signed their names to the Declaration of Independence. Most people know the story of this famous document that gave birth and freedom to a nation. What they don’t know is the events that led up to such a monumental decision by these men. The power behind this decision was not to be taken lightly. Each man was signing his own death warrant if they failed.

March 5, 1770

Everything began with a battle on the streets of Boston on March 5, 1770. The colonists resented the presence of armed British soldiers patrolling the streets and openly threatening them. Infuriated, the colonists began hurling stones at the soldiers. This resulted in the commanding officer ordering his men to, “Fix bayonets and charge!” The battle resulted in many men being killed and injured. Because of the incident, the Provincial Assembly called a meeting to take definite action. During the meeting, John Hancock and Samuel Adams bravely declared that all British soldiers must be ejected from Boston.

Adams was selected by the members to speak to the Governor. He requested a meeting and demanded the withdrawal of troops. The request was granted and the troops were removed. Even without the troops, issues remained. Adams and Richard Henry Lee began communicating frequently by letter about their concerns for the people. Adams then conceived the idea to coordinate the efforts of the 13 colonies through a mutual exchange of correspondence.

Two Years Later

Two years later in March 1772, Adams presented a motion to the Assembly that a Correspondence Committee be established by the colonies. This was the beginning of the organization of a power that gives us the freedom we enjoy today. This Correspondence Committee constituted the first organized planning of the disgruntled Colonists. The Colonists had been conducting disorganized resistance similar to what took place in the city of Boston. However, their individual grievances had never before been consolidated.

The newly appointed Governor of Massachusetts sent a messenger to Adams in order to get him to cease his actions. The messenger, Colonel Fenton, told Adams that if he stopped his activities in opposition of the Crown, he would receive great personal advantages. On the other hand, if he did not cease he would be sent to England and be tried for treason. Adams made his decision instantly. He told Fenton that he had, a long time ago, made his peace with the King of Kings. Therefore, no bribe would make him abandon the righteous cause of his Country.

The First Continental Congress

When the Governor received Adams’ answer, he was enraged. He issued a pardon to all who would lay down their arms and return to being peaceful subjects of the King. This pardon applied to all subjects except for Adams and Hancock. Upon hearing this, they were forced to call a secret meeting of their followers and locked the doors. They said it was imperative that a Congress of the Colonists be formed. No man should leave until they had made their decision.

Objections, doubt, and fear were raised by the men in the room. Some questioned the wisdom of such a definite decision defying the Crown. Through the influence of their minds, Adams and Hancock convinced the others to agree. Arrangements were made for a meeting of the First Continental Congress, on September 5, 1774, in Philadelphia. This is a particularly important date. If this meeting were never held, there wouldn’t have been a signing of the Declaration of Independence.

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First Continental Congress

Richard Henry Lee

Before the first meeting was held, Thomas Jefferson published his work, “Summary View of the Rights of British America.” Shortly after it was published, he was informed by the representative of the Crown in Virginia that he was subject to prosecution for high treason. These were men of great fortitude. They lacked authority, military strength, or power. Still, they sat and deliberated the destiny of the colonies while under the threat of death.

They continued to meet at intervals for two years. On June 7, 1776, Richard Henry Lee made this motion: “Gentlemen, I make the motion that these United Colonies are, and of right ought to be free and independent states, that they be absolved from all allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the state of Great Britain is, and ought to be totally dissolved.” The members continued to discuss the issue for days until Lee addressed the Assembly once again by saying, “Why still deliberate? Let this happy day give birth to an American Republic. Let her arise, not to devastate and to conquer, but to reestablish the reign of peace, and of law.”

Declaration Of Independence

Shortly thereafter, John Hancock established a committee, chaired by Jefferson, to draw up a Declaration of Independence. The document was written and when accepted by Congress, would mean death to every man who signed it should the colonies lose the inevitable war to follow. The original draft was read before Congress on June 28 and for several days it was discussed and altered. On July 4, 1776, Thomas Jefferson read: “When in the course of human events it is necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume, among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the laws of Nature, and of Nature’s God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impelled them to the separation….”

A Death Warrant

After Jefferson had finished reading, the document was voted on, accepted, and signed by the fifty-six men. Each man knowing that he was staking his own life by making the decision to sign his name. The rest is history. Happy July 4th 2021! May God Bless America.

Works Citied:

“Chapter 8 – Decision.” Think and Grow Rich: the Complete Classic Text, by Napoleon Hill, Jeremy P. Tarcher/Penguin, 2008, pp. 203–213.

56 Inspirational Men And A Decision

To celebrate Independence Day, this is the story of 56 inspirational men who made a decision that changed the world.

 Saturday, July 4th, we will celebrate one of the greatest decisions ever made when 56 men signed their names to the Declaration of Independence. Most people know the story of this famous document which gave birth and freedom to a nation. What they don’t know is the events that led up to such a monumental decision by these men. The power behind this decision was not to be taken lightly. Each man was signing his own death warrant if they failed.

March 5, 1770

Everything began with a battle on the streets of Boston on March 5, 1770. The colonists resented the presence of armed British soldiers patrolling the streets and openly threatening them. Infuriated, the colonists began hurling stones at the soldiers. This resulted in the commanding officer ordering his men to, “Fix bayonets and charge!” The battle resulted in many men being killed and injured. Because of the incident, the Provincial Assembly called a meeting to take definite action. During the meeting, John Hancock and Samuel Adams bravely declared that all British soldiers must be ejected from Boston.

Adams was selected by the members to speak to the Governor. He requested a meeting and demanded the withdrawal of troops. The request was granted and the troops were removed. Even without the troops, issues remained. Adams and Richard Henry Lee began communicating frequently by letter about their concerns for the people. Adams then conceived the idea to coordinate the efforts of the 13 colonies through a mutual exchange of correspondence.

Two Years Later

Two years later in March 1772, Adams presented a motion to the Assembly that a Correspondence Committee be established by the colonies. This was the beginning of the organization of a power that gives us the freedom we enjoy today. This Correspondence Committee constituted the first organized planning of the disgruntled Colonists. The Colonists had been conducting disorganized resistance similar to what took place in the city of Boston. However, their individual grievances had never before been consolidated.

The newly appointed Governor of Massachusetts, sent a messenger to Adams in order to get him to cease his actions. The messenger, Colonel Fenton, told Adams that if he stopped his activities in opposition of the Crown, he would receive great personal advantages. On the other hand, if he did not cease he would be sent to England and be tried for treason. Adams made his decision instantly. He told Fenton that he had, a long time ago, made his peace with the King of Kings. Therefore, no bribe would make him abandon the righteous cause of his Country.

The First Continental Congress

When the Governor received Adams’ answer, he was enraged. He issued a pardon to all who would lay down their arms and return to being peaceful subjects of the King. This pardon applied to all subjects except for Adams and Hancock. Upon hearing this, they were forced to call a secret meeting of their followers and locked the doors. They said it was imperative that a Congress of the Colonists be formed. No man should leave until they had made their decision.

Objections, doubt, and fear were raised by the men in the room. Some questioned the wisdom of such a definite decision defying the Crown. Through the influence of their minds, Adams and Hancock convinced the others to agree. Arrangements were made for a meeting of the First Continental Congress, on September 5, 1774 in Philadelphia. This is a particularly important date. If this meeting were never held, there wouldn’t have been a signing of the Declaration of Independence.

First Continental Congress

Richard Henry Lee

Before the first meeting was held, Thomas Jefferson published his work, “Summary View of the Rights of British America.” Shortly after it was published, he was informed by the representative of the Crown in Virginia that he was subject to prosecution for high treason. These were men of great fortitude. They lacked authority, military strength, or power. Still they sat and deliberated the destiny of the colonies while under the threat of death.

They continued to meet at intervals for two years. On June 7, 1776, Richard Henry Lee made this motion: “Gentlemen, I make the motion that these United Colonies are, and of right ought to be free and independent states, that they be absolved from all allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the state of Great Britain is, and ought to be totally dissolved.” The members continued to discuss the issue for days until Lee addressed the Assembly once again by saying, “Why still deliberate? Let this happy day give birth to an American Republic. Let her arise, not to devastate and to conquer, but to reestablish the reign of peace, and of law.”

Declaration Of Independence

Shortly thereafter, John Hancock established a committee, chaired by Jefferson, to draw up a Declaration of Independence. The document was written and when accepted by the Congress, would mean death to every man who signed it should the colonies lose the inevitable war to follow. The original draft was read before the Congress on June 28 and for several days it was discussed and altered. On July 4, 1776, Thomas Jefferson read: “When in the course of human events it is necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume, among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the laws of Nature, and of Nature’s God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impelled them to the separation….”

A Death Warrant

After Jefferson had finished reading, the document was voted on, accepted, and signed by the fifty-six men. Each man knowing that he was staking his own life by making the decision to sign his name. The rest is history. May God Bless America.

All Aboard!!

“This Train Is Moving on, You Can Get on, You Can Get off, But the Train Keeps Moving on! We Are Going to the Top of the Mountain!”

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Works Citied:

“Chapter 8 – Decision.” Think and Grow Rich: the Complete Classic Text, by Napoleon Hill, Jeremy P. Tarcher/Penguin, 2008, pp. 203–213.

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It’s About You

It’s not about me, it’s about you. I was asked the other day why I started writing a blog and didn’t really have an answer to that question. I’m not in my 20s and I’m not just starting out in life. I’m very comfortable and don’t need any extra income that can be generated from writing a blog. Heck, I have never really enjoyed writing in my entire life. I loved my career and enjoyed the majority of it. I loved to be out on the street and participating in operations, but I hated writing reports. We had five days to get our reports in after an operation and my bosses were constantly hounding me to do my reports. Just the thought of all the hours it would take to compile my notes and write a passable report would fill me with dread. One of the reasons I loved being in the jungle was because we didn’t have to do reports.

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I started to think about the question and realized that it will really wasn’t my decision. The thought was placed into me by a higher power. I really didn’t have a choice or did I? I could’ve ignored the thoughts but throughout my life, I’ve realized that when you’re led to do something by a higher power, do it. There are terrific benefits to doing it and it’s something you’re supposed to do. I could estimate that throughout my life I have listened to a higher power 90 percent of the time and made good decisions. At the same time, 10 percent of the time I ignored what I was being told and made bad decisions.

It all started after I heard a speech where someone said that you could make money online. This got my attention because I like money, money is good and you can never have enough of it. I don’t ever want to stop earning money. There are so many great things I can do with money and so many people I can help. So after hearing that you can make money online, I began researching it and was told I needed to write a blog. At first, I hesitated because I’m not a writer and who would read my stuff? There was one thought in my mind that would not go away, It’s not about me, it’s about you. It’s about you, the 7.8 billion people in the world. If somebody can take away just one thing from one of my blog posts and it changes their life, then everything I do is justified.

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You have so much to give the world. Each and every one of you was born with your gifts to the world. Everybody has something inside of them that can help someone else. I believe it’s your obligation to pass your gift to others. My gift is motivation and people have told me that I say the right things at the right time and have helped people. If anyone has ever told you that you are good at something, that is your gift. We must continue spreading our gifts and never quit. When things get tough and you’re going through a difficult time, you have to find a way to reach down and fight through because someone, somewhere needs your gift. It’s not about you, it’s about them.

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I will continue to talk to as many people as I can until my last breath. When things aren’t going well, I’ll keep going. When I’m talking and it seems like no one’s listening, I’ll keep talking. I’ll never quit, it’s just not in me. It’s not in you either. You might think so, but it’s not. When you think it is, get out of bed and go do it one more day. Do it the next day and the next until you’ve accomplished the mission. Everyone’s counting on you, so it’s your duty, your obligation to them to get it done. If you quit then you are letting down 7 .8 billion people. That’s a huge burden to have to live with for the rest of your life. Fight with all your being and when you feel you have nothing left in you, get up and take another swing. Whatever you do, never stop and keep moving forward.

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Life is hard and it will hit you. It will take you to your knees. Anyone who has gone through life without any kind of struggles hasn’t lived. So when it hits you, hit back, keep hitting back, keep moving forward. As long as you’re moving forward you’re winning, it doesn’t matter what the score is. There are too many people counting on you. It might hurt and it might be hard but you gotta keep moving forward. It’s not about you, it’s about them.

The warrior mentality and the ability to fight are in us all. It is there at birth. We are all fighters and a fighter is going to fight. They won’t quit until they’ve won or died. Nothing can stop them. Nothing can stop you. Once you know what you want, go out and get it. Don’t ever let anyone or anything stop you. You and only you are in control and determine whether you win or lose. You will have successes and you will have failures but you will never quit. You will fight and fight and fight until you win. It’s not about you, it’s about them.

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The 80/20 rule says that 20 percent of the people do 80 percent of the work. I was one of the 20 percent. It was ingrained in me in the military to accomplish the mission, that was the most important thing. Whenever one of my bosses needed something difficult done, they called on me because I always accomplished the mission, no matter how hard. I wouldn’t quit. You have to accomplish your mission and failure is not an option. You have been given a mission, whatever it may be and it is your duty to do what it takes to accomplish that mission and never quit. I won’t ever quit on you. When you win, then I win. I can’t succeed until you do. Keep fighting! It’s not about you, it’s about them.

Have you ever had to overcome adversity? Leave a comment and share your tips/techniques for fighting through when life is beating you down.

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Draft Day

Today is the first round of the NFL draft. It is a day that will see several young men’s lives change dramatically. I look forward to watching the NFL draft every year because you get to see their dreams come true as it happens. You see the emotions they go through as they get the phone call from the NFL team that is selecting them. You see the emotions of the families that are there with them. What you don’t see are the countless hours in the weight room, the infinite number of sprints they have run, or the endless hours they spent studying in the classroom. What you don’t see is the countless miles the families put on their cars driving their kids to practice, games, or camps. You don’t see the time the families might’ve had to put in working a second job to pay for equipment or fees. The families do all this to help their children achieve all their dreams. Draft Day is special for them.

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When their name is called and the tears flow, you know this is the culmination of a dream that they have had for so many years and worked so hard at. For most of these young men, their dream started when they were children lying in bed. They held onto the dream probably through many ups and downs, successes and failures, until tonight. Tonight their dreams become reality. These are dreams that most of these young men have and they learned to write them down several years ago. Recently, former NFL running back C. J. Spiller was elected to the Clemson University Hall of Fame. Spiller said he wasn’t surprised by this selection because he wrote down his goals and dreams as a seven-year-old in Florida. His mom keeps that same note and has it locked up in a room. He looked at that piece of paper every night and one of his dreams was he wanted to go off to college and leave that program as one of the best ever. I’m sure that the young men selected tonight, on Draft Day, will have a similar piece of paper with their goals and dreams written on it and their moms will keep it forever.

This makes me think about my life and how I arrived at where I am today. I don’t remember if I ever wrote anything down but I do remember that I used to read a lot. As a kid, I was always reading books about adventure, space travel, and explorations. I was always fascinated with the military and read a lot of books about World War II. My favorite books though were mysteries by Alfred Hitchcock. I would spend hours reading these books and loved pouring into the investigation of solving these mysteries. My life up to this point has turned out just like the books that I used to read and the dreams I used to have. I was an officer in the U.S. Army, investigated and solved mysteries as a Special Agent with DEA, and had many adventures in the jungles of South America and on the streets of US cities. Not everything I dreamt about came true in my life though. I, like probably every other sports-minded child did dream of one day playing in the NFL. That dream didn’t materialize….., maybe I should’ve written it down.

A vast majority of the men selected today will feel humbled, honored, and gracious when they hear their name called by the Commissioner. It is a pleasure to see them when they speak give thanks to God, their family, their coaches, and everyone who ever help them achieve this dream. Unfortunately, there are usually one or two who expected to be drafted earlier than they were and are unhappy. When you see them on camera they have a scowl on their face and you can tell that they are angry. Now, I’m sure that they think that they are the best player and feel slighted that so many teams passed them up, I can understand that. What I cannot understand is how they cannot feel gracious enough to put the other feelings aside. I’ve heard it said that less than one percent of all boys playing high school football will make it to the NFL. Just having the talent to be in that small pool should make you one of the most thankful people alive.

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When I see people who aren’t appreciative of what they have been given, I become more gracious for what I have. I have been given a wonderful, beautiful life, with a future full of unlimited possibilities. If you can’t be thankful for where you’re at right now in life, how do you expect God to reward you with a better life in the future? One major point that the ungrateful players forget is that no women will be selected tonight. There are women coaches and women referees in the NFL but no women players. I fully believe that soon there will be women players in the NFL; they will experience Draft Day. As the father of two daughters, I can see that women can do anything they set their minds to. They just have to change their mindset and flush out all the negative things they have been told in the past.

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Draft Day is special and is going to be a great night for these young men; I can’t wait to watch it. It will be different because of the pandemic but will still be exciting. It will be the culmination of one dream and the beginning of another. They will be checking off one goal accomplished and writing down a list of new goals and dreams they can start working towards. How about you, have you written down your dreams and goals? Are you reading them every day, several times a day? If not, today is a great day to start!

Works Cited

Hood, David. “Hall of Famer: CJ Spiller Takes Wrong Call, Learns He Is in Hall of Fame.” TigerNet.com, TigerNet.com, 22 Apr. 2020, http://www.tigernet.com/story/Hall-of-Famer-CJ-Spiller-takes-wrong-call-learns-he-is-in-Hall-of-Fame-18749.

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