OPENING REMARKS Men, women, and children were dressed in bright colored singlets and running shorts; greens, blues, reds, and the occasional yellow and orange. Even the running shoes were brightly colored. I looked down at my white t-shirt, high school gym shorts, and old white Converse tennis shoes and thought, Maybe I don’t belong here.…
OPENING REMARKS What have you done to prepare for this position? The young man was dressed in the ubiquitous blue suit, blue tie, and white shirt that all interviewees wore. The room was a standard government-issued room: bare walls, painted white, no colors, no designs, boring. It had been a long day. This was the…
OPENING STATEMENTS The bar was eight feet out. It could not be reached without jumping from the platform. As I looked down, the water seemed farther than the 30 feet I was told it was. I do not like heights. I could feel the fear well up in the pit of my stomach. People were…
OPENING REMARKS It is good that we remember what happened this past year; what we accomplished, what is still left to do. We are closing it out and a new year is upon us. Our hope is that this new year will be a time of renewal, a time for new growth, a time that…
OPENING REMARKS Laayoune is in southwestern Morocco. It is the last bit of civilization before entering the vast Sahara Desert. The plane landed on an open field at three in the morning. The four of us got out of the plane. We were tired and sleepy. We got our bags and waited for the next…
OPENING REMARKS I remember learning to read when I was about four or five years old. I loved reading. It taught me something new every day. One of my favorite books started like this: “See Bill make a funny face.” “Jane saw Bill’s funny face.” “Jane laughed at Bill’s funny face.” This sounded like it…
OPENING REMARKS It was just past the noon hour. Our small group of four took off our backpacks (each weighing 20 to 30 pounds) and scrambled up the last 50 yards or so to the summit. Finally, after more than 12 hours of hiking we reached the highest peak in the continental United States: Mount…
OPENING REMARKS In my previous life, I was a police officer for the city of Los Angeles. In prior emails, I have written about some of the more exciting incidents I was involved in during my career. However, a police career does not consist of chasing bad guys all the time. Some of it also…
OPENING REMARKS I remember the first time I walked into the gym at Los Angeles City College many years ago. It was Saturday morning. The gym was large. It held six full-sized basketball courts. Each one was being used with guys playing three-on-three at each basket. Most of the players were young Black guys. There…
OPENING REMARKS Last week I had Robert Kiyosaki telling us that Savers are Losers. This week I have Grant Cardone telling us that Cash is Trash, but Cash Flow is King. Based on these two statements you may be thinking that I have something against cash. Just to be clear, I do not have anything…