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FORUM r Find your purpose in life Nigel Alston - Motivational Moments "Don'(ask yourself what the world needs; ask yourself what makes you come alive. And then ? go and do that. Because what [ the world needs is people who have come alive." - Harold Whitman "Who will you be in 2003?" asked my minister on the last Sunday morning before New : Year's. It was the title of her ser mon and a timely message as many of us will be writing down resolutions for the new year - goals to be achieved - that will not survive the first 90 days of the year. It was also a couple of days i after 1 had a chance meeting with a young man barely out of high school. He graduated last May. I entered the retail store where he works, to purchase a shirt, and left wondering how many people don't know what they want to do with their lives. "What are you doing now?" I asked, as he rang up my pur chase. He informed me that he was enrolled in college but quit after two months. He admitted he wasn't motivated enough to get up and go to class. His moth er died last year and he doesn't have much motivation to do anything at this point. You can see it in his eyes and his body language. He plans to attend technical school and. at the same time, wants to play organized football, having played tight end in high school. "Do you realize they don't have a football team at the tech nical school?" I asked. Right now, he has no pur pose or direction: he is just aim lessly wandering and going through the motions of living. He is not unlike the people St. Augustine, an early Christian priest and author, once wrote about: "People travel to wonder at the height of the mountains, at the huge waves of the seas, at the long course of the rivers, at the vast compass of the ocean, at the* circular motion of the stars, and yet they pass by themselves without wondering." That's true isn't it? Before you finally decide on yOur goals and resolutions for the new year, consider answer ing this question: "What should I do with my life?" It isn't an easy question to answer, as Po Bronson, the author of the book by the same title, found out as he traveled the country, interview ing more than 900 people, who. like the 18-year-old above, have struggled to find their callings, their yue natures, before getting things right. "We all have passions if we choose to see them." Bronson wrote. "Most of us don't get epiphanies. We don't get clarity. Our purpose doesn't arrive neat ly packaged as destiny. We only get a whisper - a blank, nonspe cific urge. That's how it smarts.'* So. what are you doing with your life? According to a poll conducted by the magazine Fast Company, "answering the ulti mate question means doing a gut check." Dosyou love your job? . Of the 1.400 people who voted in the poll, 53 percent voted yes. and 46 percent no. "You either love your job or you don't." the statement reads on the poll site. At the heart of the matter is this question, though: "If you don't, what exactly are you doing about it?" That's where the rubber meets the road. Sometimes you just' don't know, like the employee of a large bank who said, "I started out with great promise and expectations, but have never risen above mediocrity in my work life." Like most of us, things that he likes doing, he does well; however, he has never really found work that he loves. j He took advantage of a sev erance agreement to leave his company. "I decided to search for work that is more engaging," he said. "The epiphany, if there was one. was in realizing that if 1 don't try something different, my- circumstances won't change." Here is an observation from a pastor, a self-described spiritu al coaclj to hundreds of people. "When we discover who we are and what we are here to do. then we can be unleashed to do the impossible " That act of discov ery requires reflection and self examination. So, who will you be in 2003? Have you discovered who you are and what you are here to do? Whether you have or not, con sider this quote by an unknown author to guide you day by day in 2003: "This is the beginning of a new day. You have been given this day to use as you will. You can wastf it or use it for good. What you do today is important because you are exchanging a day of your life for it. When tomorrow comes, this day will be gone forever; in its place is something that you have left behind....Let it be something good." "What should I do with my life?" is an important question to consider. Make a resolution to answer it and then fnake it hap pen. Nigel Alston is a radio talk show host, columnist and moti vational speaker. Visit his Web site at www.motivationalmo ments.com. Time to leave the victim labels behind Armstrong Williams Guest Columnist This new year, I would like to offer a rather profound insight: Tiger Woods has a bank account that rocks big time. The CEO of American .. Express also makes millions, as do BET founder Bob Johnson and Radio One CEO Cathy Hughes. These CEOs know the value of money. But if they wanted to, they could use dollar bills to light their cigars or scoop up their clam dip. Michael Jordan has more money than most countries. The Williams sisters, Venus and Ser ena, have a higher GNP than Russia. They have money. They have clout. They are the faces of the new wave of black miV lionaires. \ Kobe Bryant has so much dough that he built a moat for bumper boats in his back yard. In a country with little histoij other than the shared desire to make money, these American blacks have managed to ascend. Their examples spread through every field. Alfred Lig gins shapes the music culture as a joint CEO of Radio One. U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas makes decisions that protect those essential rights we associate with happiness. Film maker Spike Lee and music executive Russell Simmons exert considerable influence in music, film and fashion. Con doleezza Rice and Gen. Colon Powell make policy decisions that help ensure the security of our republic. In fact, the Bush administration is studded with more American blacks than any previous administration, includ ing Deputy Secretaries Leo Mackay (Veteran's Affairs), Alphonso Jackson (Housing and Urban Development) and Claude Allen (Health and Human Services). Get it? Black Americans have pushed into the main stream. They stud the upper echelon of America's economic hierarchy. And this is not just true of entertainment or sports, two areas to which black .achievement was traditionally confined. From politics to cor porate finance to litigation to fashion, blacks succeed. Yet, despite these obvious successes, there remains much talk about how blacks remain victims of a cruelly unjust past. Our most visible civil rights leaders, Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton.make a living telling poor blacks that they are trapped in a repressive white society that neuters their tal ents. Sharpton and Jackson are the dispensers of a warm drug, a surrender of the will to the feel ings of victimization. Their rhetoric gives people the feeling that they are not to blame for the missed opportunities of their lives (with at least one sad byproduct being that those black Americans who actually have the audacity to succeed in industry are marginalized as "sellouts"). And while i|j> is true that social hierarchies exist, it is self-limiting to regard race as inextricably bound to victim status. Yet that is precisely what ntany of our civil rights leaders accomplish When they demand that all blacks are victims of an unjust past Victims? I dare you to look deep into Gen. Colin Powell's steely gaze and call him a "vie tint." Call Condoleezza Rice a victim to her face and you might just taste the back of her hand. Blacks are much more than a label. They are rich and poor. And they rise and fall on their own merits. Perhaps it is time our civil rights leaders took notice of this rousing fact. Instead of harping on the mes sage of retribution, perhaps they ought to focus on what it takes to make it in this world. Perhaps it is time to revel in the greater good of our success stories, rather than discarding most of them as "sellouts." This new year, it is time to provide our youths with models of success and the reasonable expectation for future possibilities Indeed, that would be progress. www.armslwngwilliams.com a KRT Photo Secretary of State Colin Powell speaks out against Iraq at a Dec. 19 news conference. The Chronicle The Choice for African-American News 617 N. Liberty Street /Winston-Salem. NC 27101 The Chronicle was established by Ernest Pitt and Ndubisi Egemonye in 1974. and is published every Thursday by Winston-Salem Chronicle Publishing Co., Inc. The Chronicle is a proud member of National Newspapers Publishers Association ? North Carolina Press Association ? North Carolina Black Publishers Association ? Inland Press Asso ciation National Advertising Representative: Amalgamated Publishers. Inc., 45 West 45th Street. New York. NY 10036 212 / 869-5220 Contact Us: J pfont wito: 336 / 722-8624 k 336 / 723-9173 UhhMk www.wschronicle.com mrfnite news@wschronicle.com Copy ?ditor 723-8448 Pal l Collins Circulation 722-8624 Sale% Staff 722-8628 NIE Coordinator 722-8628 sybil Lynch f Business Office ericka asbury Pailette Lewis Andrea Moses News Deadline is Monday at 5 p.m. Rep. Larry Womble NC House of Representatives 71st District Tel. (336) 784-9373 Fax (336) 784-1626 E-Mail: LWistm@aol.com Home Address: 1294 Salem Lake Road Winston-Salem. NC 27107 Louise E. Harris ? Bankruptcy ? Consumer Problems ? Traffic Tickets & DWI ? Divorce ? Social Security 1102 West Third Street. Ste. 485 Call 24 Hours Winston-Salem. NC (336) 761-0222 1 Resolve to be Fit for The New Year . t vAmrsibmssi ntrr,kTnnnn*Tmi i * n r 11 11ALS In-Home Personal Training for Women Janeen Charles Certified Personal Trainer and Aerobics Instructor Ask about aerobics classes for church groups. (336) 682-9516 ? getfit@fitnessentials.com http://www.fitnessentials.com The Chronicle You should be reading it!!!!! Call 722-8624 to Subscribe The Chronicle ??? The Ckotct jor African-America* %???? Home Delivery Subscription Order ? yes. Please send me jThe Chronicle J 2 years: $40.95 Out nf couniy/sui. [ 1 -I I year: $30.72 v.n _l 6 months: $20.48 *m?'?? 3 mos 15.24 Name Address Phone Ciiy ' Stale Zip ? VISA ? Mastercard ? American Express ? Check enclosed Please hill me Accounl Number Expiration Dale Signature Send to: The Chronicle. P.O. Box 1636. Winston-Salem. NC 27102
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