LOST CAUSES & the Jimmy Stewart Solution

The 1 Rule Solution to Every Day Crisis

The shortest column I have ever written is accompanied by this YOU TUBE from the classic 1939 film, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington. A newcomer, he takes up a lonely battle against the entrenched establishment in the US Senate.

We are faced with a "national crisis," and "international crisis" and for each one of us, at least one current "personal crisis." The national, international, and personal dilemmas have a solution. I think I'll let "Mr. Smith" share it.



What if we adopted Mr. Smith's solution? Just one rule...The Golden Rule?

James Pratt
jmpratt.com
www.powerthink.com
www.usconstitutioncoach.com

ABOUT LIFE and CAMELOT, Cory and You

Camelot, An Idea, and Your Highest Meaning

“Consider your origin; you were not formed to live like brutes, but to follow virtue and knowledge.” --Dante’s Divine Comedy

Animals and Men:

Animals exist. They do not reason. They do not plan. They offer pleasure and affection as pets, nutrition as staples for diets, and balance nature in the wild. In short, they serve the destiny nature and God intended.

Men and women were made in “the image of God…” to those who are believers, and at least highly evolved, rational, reasoning, and intelligent species to those who have not acquired a belief system which includes the concept of a divine ancestral nature.

King Arthur, Camelot, and an Idea:

I’ve placed a film clip in this column below. It is 6 minutes worth watching which wraps the story of a King who once was a boy, with the story of another boy who has the heart to become a king. It is about dreamers, and making a change in life through your heart and head before the actual event is finished.

But before you watch it you should know it is the ending scene. It is a brief moment of hope where King Arthur tells an aged Knight something of great importance. "Pele" the forgetful King of a place he can't remember, brings Arthur's sword but asks, "Who is that?" referring to a boy he sees running from the scene. "One what we all are Pele. Less than a drop in the great blue motion of the sun lit sea!"

It Begins With Knowing Who We Are

The 1967 Academy Award winning film offers deep introspection in the opening monologue as Richard Harris, playing King Arthur prays to his wizard Merlin. Arthur is preparing to send his forces against the walls of Lancelot’s Castle. He loved Lancelot like a son, he having been the right hand to Arthur at his famous “Round Table” where “right made might” and not “might made right.”

Though both Lancelot and Queen Guinevere are now repentant, and seek forgiveness, Arthur is forced by his other Knights of the Round Table to fight for honor’s sake. His men seek revenge for the betrayal Lancelot showed in his affair with Guinevere. He asks several things of Merlin. One thing that has always touched my heart is this line in the first few moments of the film:

“Oh Merlin, I have seen many men die in battle not asking, ‘Why must I die?’ but rather, ‘Why have I ever lived?’” Then he goes on, “Merlin, if I am to die in battle this day, let me not die bewildered.”

Honor, Character, Betrayal: The 2 hour plus movie then takes place and we learn of the deep love of Arthur for his queen; her's for him. We enjoy honor displayed. We see how a vision by one man can transform an entire nation. We learn of “right for right,” and real justice, and honor because honor and character are worth having, and that the Round Table suggested all men may be truly equal. We finally witness the crumbling of an empire; the frail nature of good men and women who cause a kingdom to fall because of passion and betrayal of the highest meaning in them.

As all good stories go, we learn that redemption is possible when a stow-a-way boy named Tom of Warick announces his dream to be a Knight and his intention to fight in the battle. That 6 minute ending from the movie is located below. I want you to think about how it applies to all of us, but first...

Just Existing and Cory Joyner

Cory is a homeless man from South Carolina. Living on the good will of others, I fed him for three days in a row last week. But each time I really grilled him. See, I have seen his story a thousand times, including up close with loved ones choosing to live just a step above living on the streets.

In the lecture this 30 year-old got direct counsel, warnings, and the truth: “Cory, you deserve better than you are giving yourself. You were not created to live like this, but you are a son of God. You have value. You are living like some discarded junk on the street. You need to choose discipline, decide to change, believe in your potential. God knows you and does not want you throwing your life away.”

He quickly put his hand on his heart and tapped it, and with a gasp said, “I felt that. I know that right here,” he said, wide-eyed. Cory felt pure potential and love for just a moment. I fed him, and hoped that he would take the hands that were reaching down, look up, and see more than he was seeing on the street.

I asked where he was from. “South Carolina,” he said. “Do you have a Dad?” He answered, “No.”

"I'm your Dad today and going to ask some questions then give advice," I said. “Family?” He answered, “A brother who is a computer programmer and a sister in college.” "Job skills?" I persued. "Trained chef," he answered.

“Cory,” I began. “You deserve more than you are giving yourself. Will they take you in to get cleaned up and a fresh start?”

“My brother wants me to come home but I love this girl, see. She is in jail for drug dealing, and I have to wait for her to get out.”

“Hum… In love. Addicted.” I could tell he was barely listening now. Finally I gave him lunch money and said good-bye with, “Love is hard.” He nodded and in low voice whispered, “It sure is.”

Day two and three he looked me up again. I’m easy; he knew it and I did too. So I grilled him some more. I reminded him of his divine potential and then said, “So when she gets out of jail, she gets you as a bonus?” I asked. “Look at you! You deserve more self-respect than you are offering yourself and her." Then I gave easy and direct advice on starting over and all the advantages he had going, if he'd just expect more from himself. I finished with, "Are you and her, with your combined habits and criminal records, going to step up and make something of yourself?”

“I don’t know man. No,” he added. “I guess not.”

“So you have no plans, make no decisions, just slum and hit people up everyday? Hang out, do 'dime bags' get in trouble and hope for the best... Your life is a result of choices, Cory. You have potential from God, because you are made of the same stuff!”

He was looking down, probably trying to figure out how to get away from me, yet compelled enough to stay for lunch. “You don’t feel the pain enough to change,” I added. (I wasn’t going easy on this guy on day three. That would be of no service to him.)

“Man I want to change. But I don’t know how to start.” I tapped my skull, then my heart and said, “You’ve got to want to. I reached out to you. Your brother and sister are reaching out to you. You just haven’t decided to reach back. Step 1 is, ‘you got to want to!’ It all begins here and here,” I ended, tapping again on my head and heart. "Run from this life, Cory. Run! People will give you a break if you do."

Well – there was more to the story but I will save it for later. See Camelot is an idea. It is a transformation in thinking. It was, to King Arthur, the idea that the best that existed in a man could come out of him if he would decide that it could. It was that a man was not formed to live like an animal but to be as a Knight dealing good, and justly to all. It was about dreaming, and how a boy became a King!

Now I think you will enjoy watching this ending to one of Hollywood's greatest movies…



See... It isn't just that, we are "...less than a drop in the great blue motion of the sunlit sea!" as Arthur said to Pele. It is what he finished with to Tom of Warick:

"But it seems that some of the drops sparkle Pele! Some of them do sparkle! Run Boy! Run Boy! Run!!! Oh run, my boy...."

James Pratt
www.jmpratt.com
www.powerthink.com

DUPLICITY and REAL POWER

A Power Think Paradigm

The Dangerous Dance of Duplicity and Personal Integrity

REAL POWER: Real power comes from carefully guarded thoughts guided by our hearts. "Thoughts are things," James Allen said in his ground-breaking book written in 1902. That truth learned in 1972, my 19th year, has had profound impact on me and directly influences choices in personal behavior and what my life is all about, since then until this day.

Thought is power, for good or bad. "He thinks in secret and it comes to pass. Environment is but his looking glass," the English philosopher stated. His multi-million copy bestselling book, AS A MAN THINKETH, still sells world-wide to this day. See, the truth about character and conduct is a stubborn thing; it clings to us as an outward garment woven from the inside out. Hard to run from that...

Good seeds yield good fruit. It's that simple. The code of the fruit is in the seed. The code of character is in the thought, persisted in over time. Why people seek some different outcome from the mental seeds sown and then cultivated over time is a matter of "duplicity." Duplicitous behavior is the killer of every good desire, hope, and aspiration.

PURPOSE and MEANING: Real personal power comes from developing real personal purpose or meaning in life. With that "meaning" we become known through the development of "character." Integrity and living congruent with personal values and society standards offers not only the development of character strengths, but delivers the precious gift of personal trust from others to us. "It is better to be trusted than to be loved," I heard a speaker say when I was young. I never forgot that axiom and it has proven invaluable to me in growing the opportunities that have come my way into a meaningful and lasting lifetime of benefit.

Everyone wants to “matter”and “mean” something to others. The danger lies not in wanting to “matter” but in what we might delude ourselves into believing really “matters.” Sometimes we want two opposing things of value. One has higher meaning than the other and, in what I will refer to for this blog which deals with personal integrity, I call this "wanting to matter" in such a way as to "short cut" integrity, “The Dangerous Dance of Duplicity.”

As I write this a scandal brews with a NY politician who's personal dark side of life collided with a public duty and trust. He wanted it all. He danced to a tune of personal wants in places the public would never be allowed to follow him to, only to find the civic dance floor empty when he was found out to be duplicitous by an eager media and press.

Personal integrity is the glue which bonds us in trusting ways to others. Without it the fabric of society is one strand weaker. Collectively, the loss of integrity impacts us all through the success of our economy, business, and indeed is the cause of every ill or crime known to man. "Be true to thyself" the Shakespearean line goes, "and as night follows day, thou canst be false to no man."

Duplicity means wanting two things out of harmony with each other. It means "dual" in one sense, just as it means "duel" -- where we literally fight with our better half -- in another sense. The dance of duplicity begins with seductive music which sings of “things” of an outward nature. "I can have this in exchange for that." Perhaps cheating on a test in school begins the character weakening dance. And when a few successes at it are presumed, "My cheating won't hurt anyone," reinforces the duplicitous belief. After all "I am a good guy. Moral, and wouldn't hurt anyone," we might add to the disarming voice of conscious which is ever becoming more faint.

"I can make up for it later," becomes the lie we believe out of convenience. For with the crumbling walls of character we sooner or later become exposed for who we really are. When "things" become “symbols” of who we are, "why" we matter, and "what" we want others to see in us, we are tip-toeing onto the dance floor where duality becomes a "break dance." It begins to occur to us that we cannot do two different dance steps at once. What we are inside becomes clear for everyone to see, through our ever growing number of "mis-steps." After all, the drunkard knows it is hard to be sober. The thief believes it is hard to be honest. And the liar knows that the web must continue to build or he will be ultimately "found out."

We only delude ourselves, weaken the relationships of trust that we might otherwise enjoy. We impact our society, and there is a real cost to that. Selective honesty disables trust as fast as complete dishonesty does. Studies are done annually on employee theft, padding government contracts...these seem so innocent to the protagonist at the time. Collectively we are talking of billions of dollars in lost productivity, stolen goods, and out-right theft.

Trust? Ask the Governor who retires in disgrace today. Ask the thousands of former millionaires now in State or Federal prisons. They sure looked good for awhile. They mattered and meant something to others. Now they are a number awaiting parole.

"He who dies with the most toys wins," the humorist and bumper sticker creator of the 1980's said. A dual reality is implied here, whether the bumper sticker was found on a Mercedes-Benz or a Ford Pinto. In living, and seeking the best of life and things, the external circumstance may be most important...of course until one dies, which will happen to everyone. Then what will be is a memory in the minds of others, and a legacy both real and eternal.

Why we want to be honest, should never be subordinated or compromised to “what to be honest” about. So much more could be said about the dangerous dance of duplicity - being "two people" at once, but I will save some interesting side-notes and facts for another blog. Back to "meaning" and "what matters" most:

Duplicity is cerebral. It is heartless. It is rationalization at its best. The human "brain is for getting and the heart is for giving." This line comes from my less read novel of 2005, THE GOOD HEART (to be released in paperback Fall 2008.) Our brains constantly want more stuff. Our hearts constantly give life and love. Together they can offer "two" seats of power and wisdom for the price of one, and integrity need not be compromised. The heart and head really can act as a combined force if we "power think." That is allow the heart to dictate wisdom -- guard our actions -- over rationalization which so easily creates a partnership in our ever addictive information striving brain; partnerships with greed, lust, avarice, lies... These need not be. The heart can guide us if we will stop, slow down, listen.

The heart dances to a rhythm which is elegant, steady, reliable. It nourishes with life-sustaining blood, every cell of the body and brain. It is eager to matter and "mean" something but is quieter than the noisy brain. It requires careful listening to insure we tune in to its softer voice. It is intelligent and intuitive. It also seems to be filled with ancient wisdom. Wisdom, as we all know, is the non-tangible essence of truths which seem to give us a sound moral compass, and a sure map to destinations of good for all; not just self. The heart seems to place things of intrinsic moral value ahead of the more expensive material stuff of life.

In life, as in Power Thinking, it really is a matter of the heart being right, and the brain doing its job within the bounds of personal integrity. What I hope is an entertaining look at personal growth and inner integrity, is my latest inspirational novel, AS a MAN THINKETH...In His Heart.

We really must decide what we want. Duplicity is a sure-fire formula for failure in personal relationships and in society at large. With the heart in the lead and brain collaborating at its best, the dance of real personal power, like a good waltz, replaces the weaker dance of duplicity. In the end we really are what our heart thinks about.

More about the novel and these musings can be found at: http://www.powerthink.com/.

--James Michael Pratt

"Bury My Heart in the United States"

An Iraqi, a tired American Soldier and...A MUST READ!

A Letter Home by Sergeant Grant L. Pratt III, 1st Cav. Baghdad, Sept. 2007

Sergeant Grant Pratt, III is on his second tour of duty in Iraq. He is a Platoon Sergeant with the 1s Cavalry and supervises 23 other medics and an aid station in one of the most dangerous neighborhoods of Baghdad. This letter home was sent September 11, 2007. In his own words he describes how one Iraqi has given him hope:

I wanted to take this opportunity to let everyone know of an experience I had here that really affected me.

I have wondered over the last seven months of my deployment if this war can be won militarily, or if there is any hope that this country can embrace a democratic government. In my eyes the people seem more intent on themselves and their contempt for other each other than making things work here.

With the things I have seen, experiences, and watching friends die I kind of believe that our endeavor here is pointless. I did not believe that there was a single Iraqi in this country that really cared if the violence stopped or that there were any that did not want to kill every American they see. Then I had something happen the other day that (did not change my mind necessarily) gave me some hope.

About a month ago an Iraqi came to my aid station; he is one of the Iraqis that works with us as an interpreter. His name is Sam and he is 20 years old. He came to my aid station with a severely broken and lacerated finger after it was shut in the 300 pound door of an armored vehicle. I spent about two hours cleaning his finger and suturing it, all the while making small talk. He continually told me how he wanted to come to America and join our Army so he could come back and do more for Iraq. He told me of how he loved Americans and all he wants is to become one.

I listened and talked with him until I was finished with my procedure and wished him well, and in my mind dismissed most of what he said as just words and never thought much else of it.

On September 9th it came across the radio that one of our vehicles had been hit by an explosion and we had one soldier killed, two wounded, as well as the interpreter that was with them. I put my gear on and went with the squadron commander to the hospital to check on our injured men.

It was quite a gruesome sight. First I saw my medic, who had minor wounds, then went to the young man who had served as the gunner. He had received blast wounds to the leg which had torn away a majority of his outer thigh. I then went to view the body of our fallen brother who died due to a head injury. We helped console the other members of the platoon as this was the second Soldier they had lost in five days. Overwhelmed by the experience, we walked in to see the interpreter, which turned out to be Sam.

Sam had suffered severe lacerations to the head, resulting in over 40 sutures and staples. He had a small skull fracture and a small brain hemorrhage. Despite his severe injuries he would only ask how the others were doing. He was covered in blood and in extreme pain and just wanted to be sure that the soldiers he was with were okay.

Once satisfied they would be taken care of, he took my commanders hand and said, "If I die please take my heart to the United States and bury it there." We assured him his injuries were not mortal and left him in the care of the doctors at the hospital and told him we would be back the next day to see him.

The next morning I received a call from the hospital telling me that Sam was going to be released to an Iraqi hospital, but that he did not want to go. He feared that because of his ethnic background that he would be denied treatment and sent away. I told them I would call back in a few minutes and that we would come and get him and continue his care at my aid station. After 20 minutes of talking to the commander and making arrangements, I called the hospital and told them we would be there shortly to pick him up when they informed me that they had already released him, and had given him money to get to the Iraqi hospital. Needless to say, we were a little upset.

We began searching the area around the hospital and could not locate Sam. We were worried that he would fall into the wrong hands as any Iraqi that works with the Americans are often killed because they are aiding the enemy.

Three hours later we got a call from the gate to our base that Sam was there. He had walked from the hospital to our base, about seven miles in flip flops and pajamas, despite fairly significant injuries. My medics brought him to the aid station and as we laid him on the bed I looked at him and said "You are a pretty tough guy." He grabbed my hand and looked me in the eyes and said, "I knew if I got here you would take care of me, Sergeant."

Tears filled the corner of my eyes and I replied "You bet I will." He then said, "I had to get back here for two reasons. First the memorial service for Johnson (the soldier we had lost a few days prior) is tonight and I cannot miss that. We also have an important mission tomorrow and they need me." I informed him he would make it to the service, but would not be going on patrol anytime soon. He argued for a short time then agreed that it would be in his best interest to relax for a couple of weeks before going outside the wire, but still insisted his guys (the U.S. Soldiers from his platoon) needed him.

Later that night I sat two rows behind Sam as we paid tribute to our fallen brother and watched as he mourned and cried with the rest of us. I realized he is as committed as the rest of us and is considered a brother to us.

I just got done rechecking his wounds and talking with him. He still insists on going back out with his guys because they need him. He talked about his dreams of living in California some day. I have to say I admire this guy. He displays courage like no other Iraqi I have seen and in some ways made me think again of my views.

Despite what you see and hear on the news, there are Iraqis like Sam that are dedicated to seeing their country succeed. There may not be many, but some sacrifice along side us with a simple dream of their country being better off, or like Sam of being an American citizen. It gives me some hope that things will eventually work out here, and that someday Sam will be an American citizen, because he has earned that right.

Grant