Woodrow Wilson Understood! - 7/13/2008
Woodrow Wilson Understood!
Woodrow Wilson, the 28th President of the United States (1913 – 1921) once said, “You are not here merely to make a living. You are here in order to enable the world to live more amply, with greater vision, with a finer spirit of hope and achievement. You are here to enrich the world, and you impoverish yourself if you forget the errand.”
Hmmm – while that was written about 87 years ago, no doubt it could be inculcated into any speaker’s platform as they ramble on about high performance and human potential. This statement is so powerful that I don’t want it to get lost here, relegated to being another seemingly insignificant, positive thinking, fill the space blurb we all use in our writings and presentations.
Instead, let’s examine what it says. First, “You are not here merely to make a living,” and while the vast majority of uninformed people DO NOT KNOW THAT, it is the bitter truth. They believe that making a living is what it is all about and nothing could be further from the truth. Just making a living is survival thinking at best and indicates relegation to a lifetime struggle just to keep up.
Merely making a living generally indicates a mediocre existence, a "sameness,” a safe routine with nothing changing over time -- a stuck-in-your stuff attitude. Surely, just getting by does not scream of the excitement, happiness, fulfillment or energy field that comes by setting high standards, lofty goals and taking massive action steps. Remember, we were born to look up, look ahead and move forward.
The next sentence of Woodrow Wilson’s quote, “You are here in order to enable the world to live more amply, with greater vision, with a finer spirit of hope and achievement” seems to me to be self explanatory, except for the fact that it is sneaky powerful. When we break it apart a bit we find, “To enable the world to live more amply’ which is a phrase that speaks of universal potential, of abundance and of generosity.
And how about, “With a greater vision,” which has always been and always will be the key to success, positive change and growth. A vision, a concept, an idea or future thought that when put into action creates targets that result in expansion and new applications.
That sentence ends with Wilson saying, “With a finer spirit of hope and achievement” which is truly the magic of the sentence because without hope all is lost. Hope stirs the pot of human potential by saying that there is a dream of more, of bigger of better. There is a chance to grow, for things to get better and for achievements that while may not be possible at the moment are inevitable in the future.
And finally, Wilson ends with, “You are here to enrich the world, and you impoverish yourself if you forget the errand.” Yes, you are here to do your part, to contribute and to enrich, not only yourself and others, but to make larger more altruistic contributions to humanity at large -- to share, to give back to the source and to something greater than yourself, to help, to venture forth, to love!
“And you impoverish yourself if you forget the errand,” is the lesson of the universe. It says that, either you are expanding or shrinking, moving forward or backward, giving or taking – and, in case you forget to do that as part of your mission in life, you will end up poor of spirit, of mind, of body and of purse.,
Yes, yes, yes -- “You are not here merely to make a living. You are here in order to enable the world to live more amply, with greater vision, with a finer spirit of hope and achievement. You are here to enrich the world, and you impoverish yourself if you forget the errand.”
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