Failure – the stepping stones to success

Lincoln was born in 1809 in a primitive log cabin in what was then known as Hardin County, Kentucky. His father was an illiterate, wandering laborer, his mother a frail sickly woman. They were forced out of their home when he was only seven. His poor mother died when he was nine.

He had virtually no formal schooling. He first attempted a career in business in 1831 and failed miserably. A year later he ran for state legislature unsuccessfully. That same year he lost his job and applied to law school but was laughed out of consideration because of his miserable qualifications.

Not long after that humiliating ordeal, he started another business using money he borrowed from a close friend. Before the year closed, however, that business faded and failed. Lincoln claimed bankruptcy and spent the next seventeen years paying off debt.

In 1835 he fell deeply in love with Ann Rutledge, only to have his heart broken when she died soon after their engagement. The following year he had a complete nervous breakdown and spent the next six months in bed recovering.

In 1838 he sought to become speaker of the state legislature and was defeated.

In 1840, two years later, he sought to become the elector of the state, and was defeated.

Three years later he ran for Congress and lost.

In 1846 he ran again for Congress and won. Only two years later he ran for reelection and was soundly defeated.

In 1849 he sought the job of land officer in his home state but was rejected.

In 1854 he ran for the Senate of the United States. Again, he lost.

In 1856 he sought the vice-presidential nomination at his party’s national convention. He got less than one hundred votes, suffering yet another embarrassing defeat.

In 1858 he ran for the U.S. Senate and lost again.

Finally in 1860 Abraham Lincoln was elected to the presidency of the United States and soon after endured the most devastating war our country has ever experienced. His perseverance rewarded him with unprecedented political success, and he was reelected for a second term.

Sadly, only five days after Lee surrendered, on the fourteenth of April 1865, Lincoln was assassinated. He was dead before reaching sixty years of age.

— except from Paul, a man of grace and grit, by Charles Swindoll.

The Millennium Negro: The “New Black”

The author says, “I think it’s worth noting that money can afford a certain level of blindness to some of the everyday issues that pervade our everyday lives.”

It’s more than that. Money is the ultimate trump card. If life were a poker game, the wealthy have 5 jokers every hand.

If you don’t have money you have to gain social worth some other way: heritage, talent, intelligence, good looks, etc. All these things are social capital, but if you have enough money you don’t need any of the other things. If you have enough money, nothing else matters; you’ve got an automatic invitation to every social sphere in the world regardless of your race, gender, education, or heritage.

The problem is once these “new wealthy blacks” have 5 jokers in their hand every deal, they want to go around saying suit doesn’t matter anymore.

Oh, I beg to differ.

If you were born a club into a poker game where 70% of the cards are diamonds, you aren’t going to be a part of very many winning hands. You’re going to find yourself discarded nearly every hand.

Your only hope is to find a way to trump your suit and your face value — and in this world that is money. Oh, you could learn a skill and move yourself from a 3 of clubs to a 7 of clubs. If you’re good looking as well that might bump you to a 10. Get an education — a law degree or an MBA — and you might become a king or an ace, but even an ace in clubs is going to get discarded more frequently in a world where all the players know 70% of the cards are diamonds.

In the real world U.S., a white M.B.A. still has more opportunities than a black M.B.A., and Freeman and Pharrell are either ignorant or in denial to say otherwise. Wealth is the only card that trumps all else.

Admittedly, it’s easier for the black person to get the MBA today than it was 50 years ago, and the black professional has more opportunities today than he did 50 years ago. Things are much better since the pre-civil rights days, but let’s not pretend race is no longer an issue. Unless you are independently wealthy you are still part of a game where suit matters a great deal.

Money doesn’t end racism, it just makes it a non-issue for those who have it.

Joshua Lawrence Lazard

“To put it bluntly, the likes of Pharrell and Raven-Symoné can afford to declare their independence from blackness.”

In April of this year, Pharrell Williams declared the “new Black” in an interview with Oprah Winfrey by saying:

The “new black” doesn’t blame other races for our issues. The “new black” dreams and realizes that it’s not a pigmentation; it’s a mentality. And it’s either going to work for you, or it’s going to work against you. And you’ve got to pick the side you’re gonna be on.

Just yesterday, child star of “The Cosby Show” fame, Raven-Symoné said the following:

I’m tired of being labeled.  I’m an American. I’m not an African-American; I’m an American.  I mean, I don’t know where my roots go to.  I don’t know how far back they go.  I don’t know what country in Africa I’m from, but I do know that my roots…

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