EVERY TIME AN OLD MAN DIES, IT'S AS IF A LIBRARY HAS BURNT DOWN (1518 hits)
In the African culture the death of an old man a very serious occurrence. You must understand that in the ancient African cultural setting, there was no formal classroom. For that reason, life's lessons were passed orally from one generation. The elderly were considered wise in ways of the world and as such were held in the highest of esteem. In today's world this line of thought is considered "stone age " thinking. The respect that was given to the elderly has been relegated to a very disturbing philosophy. In today's civilized world old people are viewed as expensive financial responsibilities. In the western world aging is a scary and troublesome thing. The dollar driven economy that substitutes values for cents and dollars, does not allow for the luxury of wasting time worrying about elderly people.
For that reason society has come up with all sorts of mechanisms to deal with this scary, ugly reality of life " aging". You have all sorts of programs to address the aging issue. There is the social security administration, department of aging, nursing homes, salvation army, Senior citizens insurance programs geared to suck the aging population dry financially. It would be nice if family members wanted the responsibilities of caring for the elderly, but that is a preposition that many do not want to even consider. For a myriad of reasons, selfishness, legal reasons etc. Its just easier to dump your elderly parents at a nursing home and to ease conscience. Lets not cast aspersions on everyone, in some situations its actually better to turn the elderly over to medical professionals for better care. Its awfully hard to take care of elder parents who are suffering form " old timers " in this economy.
Either way the net loss realized from the demise of the elderly cannot always be quantified in dollars and cents. The love that a grandparent has for his grandchild cannot be calculated in monetary terms. If you have been reading my blog, you will discover that I love network marketing and that's what gets my hair raising , regardless of whether or not I make the next million dollars. Why am I such a proponent of network marketing? To me I see network marketing as the perfect place for me to impart and share my life's insights and encourage others.
Not what you were expecting? Sorry to disappoint you. You see I am not just about chasing people down to get them to commit to buying products that they do not need. If you really look at this situation critically, there is a reason why people get involved in network marketing. They get involved because of different motivations. some would like to take care of debts, some would like to buy a new car, some would like to retire early, and some still want to get you for all you got. " Evertime an old man dies, its as if a library burnt down" . The real practical application in this proverb is deeper than an old man dying. Just like in all societies, there are some old men whose deaths are greeted with jubilation and chants of good riddance, because they were evil when they were alive. I am saying that just because I am of African extraction, it doesn't mean that I am perfect. Nor does it mean that other races are inferior because they do not espouse the views I hold.
Everyone is entitled to their opinions as guaranteed by God, who gave you a mouth and a mind to make sure you get your word out. The real lesson here is the value and pain as well as the reality of loss. Pain, stress , tears and regret are all intrinsic components of loss. These are direct manifestations of loss in one way or the other. In the African culture the loss of an old man is such an overwhelming loss because it affects the society in many ways. Men contributed to disciplining children, common defense and restoration of order in society. Its not that we are s*xist, we just don't believe in having the women fighting in the trenches. The man is responsible for taking care of his woman, and his children in all the ways he is supposed to without any excuses.
There is no refuge in crutches like " therapy " and blame games. In our culture there is no acceptable excuse for a man who avoids his responsibilties. Likewise in business, we should embrace the responsibility of doing the business. No blaming others for our excuses for what we should have done. Everytime your business losses money because you do not prospect your customers, that loss is more expensive than you will ever know. Every time you complain about who is not doing what for you, that is a loss in motivation worth more to you than you little temper tantrum. Every time you miss your required training that you need for your business, you are just like the village that lost its 100 year old elder whose contributions ware gone for good. In life there will be losses that is a part of life. Losses serve to punish, train, motivate, encourage and to raise up new leaders.
If you let your mentor go under utilized, you are as stupid as the mangoose that lives in a sugarcane plantation but does not how just how sweet the sugar from the sugar cane it live in really tastes. When you loose a whole library, how do you calculate that? What do you do then? Do you die? How many people just buckle at the first sign of adversity or resistance. The loss of the old man is not just about the loss of life. Its about the symbolic cumulative reservoir of knowledge that has been erased for life. No insurance adjuster or mathematician can tell you what the pain of your loss is. Only you can do that. Then why is it that when it comes to network marketing, people are not willing to fight for their investment? How many times has Donald Trump filed for bankruptcy in life? More than you can care to know, why doesn't it affect him to the point of giving up? Because people like Donald Trump understand that in true business there is profit and loss.
That's a part of life that they came to terms with early in the business and accepted it as an inevitable event. Why is this important? Network marketing sounds like its fun, but at the end of the day, you have to work it like a business, its a business. If you are not prepared to submit , promote, call, advertise , followup, train, motivate and encourage and do whatever it takes to succeed, then you are setting yourself for a catastrophic financial as well as an emotional loss. Catastrophic in the sense that it might affect your marriage from a spouse that thinks that you are wasting the families income on scams. Catastrophic in the sense that you will not see any immediate results like you expected.
Just because your sponsor makes $10,000 a month and he showed you a check doesn't mean that it was easy. Find out what it took for him to get there. That way, when you experience your down time in your business, you are prepared psychologically. Don't get so emotionally involved in your business that you loose that ability to use your common sense. If you don't do that, you are going to get hit with such a sense of loss when you fail, that it will crush your spirit and kill your will to fight the next fight. life is tough, but it shouldn't get the best of you, regardless of what the circumstances.
I look at people like Martin Luther King, Nelson Mandela , Marcus Garvey, Barack Obama , Mother Teresa. What do all these people have in common? They understood the cost of doing business and were ready to pay the price. What is the real cost of doing your business? Can you handle it? Are you willing to submit yourself to the process? Have you counted the cost? Can you handle loss, in whatever magnitude it comes in and still keep your sanity. if you were Sam Walton starting Walmart and had to start Walmart and go through 7 failures to get to opening your own business, would you be dead from stress by now?
They say Sam Walton at one point was admitted to a mental institution because they thought he was nuts? History will show that they were wrong. Stop complaining and make a decision either way. If the business is not what you want to do, then get out. Its not for everyone, this is where the big dogs hang out at, if you are not one of them, stay out of the porch. Get a realistic grip on life and business, stop waiting for people to give you referrals for your networking marketing business opportunity - Sign up for the free sales tips from the Marketing bible -
