Our best days are ahead.... not behind us!

Call me an optimist, or even a realist with a naive outlook on life.
The truth is ~ I have seen this all before.
- Economic down turns.
- Governments struggling with over spending.
- People suffering from unemployment, and lower wages than they believe they deserve.
- Cost of living too high for the average family.
- Fears in the Markets.
- Questioning:Where is the leadership? We need someone to lead us, save us, help us, take care of us.
- My good productive days are behind me.
-  My career is over, I can't learn to do something new.
- My spouse/significant other has lost faith in me.
So how are we going to survive these tough times?

Before you can do something about all of the above you need to rejuvenate your spirit. Take a moment to appreciate the good things around us and figuring out how YOU can make it even better with your contributions, your creativity, your vision and your elbow grease.
News flash - If we stay in this humdrum state of mind, then, our best days are Truly behind us!
In Basketball we call it "REBOUNDING" which is a "put back" on offense and prevention on defense. We re-bounders are the work horses of the team, when a team is a good rebounding team they are winners.  Not every shot taken will go in. Most of the time the "re-bounders" are the ones who score the key points that determine the outcome of the game. Have we lost our competitive spirit? Are we Men and Women who can't over come setbacks? Are we descendants of fighters, conquerors of fear, Grandsons and Granddaughters of People who went through a real depression?   Many of us have even lived in communities destroyed by Hurricanes or earthquakes, no electricity for weeks, or even months... Clean water was a luxury. The grocery Stores were empty or destroyed. No transportation, roads wiped out by floods. We came back and rebuilt our communities by lending each other a helping hand. We Looked up at the stars at night and appreciating that we were able to look forward to a better tomorrow. The Sun comes up and we were thankful for life and the simple things. We focused on coming back, we focused on rebuilding, we focused on "Better tomorrows", we believed that we had no other options, but to get moving everyday. So why are we stuck in this mindset?  We need to find NEW ways to enhance our environment. We need to create our own opportunities, or copy someone else who is taking advantage of new ideas!

Why is CNN our guide to what we are feeling everyday? We see the rich getting richer and we get green with envy. We see our friends and coworkers losing their jobs and fear takes over. "Am I next?" The Stock market goes through a correction and people line-up on bridges and cliffs ready to jump. When you go to a Casino you are gambling with your hard earn money hoping to double it. When you put your money in the market you are doing the same thing. Sometimes it happens in your favor other times not. We use credit like we have money in the bank to cover our debts - but we don't, so we are gambling that we will have the money to cover the bills when they come in at the end of the month. So life is a gamble.  Look at it as a lesson we should learn.... and put our brains to work on how to move forward. The greatest creations were created during time of greatest need. We needed better transportation so someone created the bullet-train, the more effective car, the better plane, the Sailing yacht, the Mega Cruise ship, the Rocket to the moon, the shuttle to the International space-station....  Aren't those solar panels powering the space station?

OK you weren't part of those developments but you use the stuff. Your calculator, for example, that runs on solar energy right now even at night, because someone took a risk that they would be successful in their creation. The house you live in today, someone built it. Now you may need someone else to come in and re-do the plumbing or the electrical, the roof.... etc. GUESS what these are jobs waiting for someone who has the skills, but we need to train those who will be needed tomorrow. We have to undo this mindset that we are headed into another depression. The Governments that went through the Great depression didn't have China as their banker to bail them out. They did it by tapping into RENEWABLE ENERGY of their day - PEOPLE - working to make things better. Some of the greatest inventions were created during some of the toughest time. We can find  New ways to use renewable energy that has been powering sails for centuries. Find ways to enjoy the Sunshine and use it to power our homes too..... The current cost of energy that is killing us now in the wallet, need not go on forever.

Our best days are ahead...... But first we have to believe, before we can make it happen.

“ It is less important to redistribute wealth than it is to redistribute opportunity. ”

— Arthur H. Vandenberg