To whom we owe it to
Posted on January 18, 2008 - Filed Under Philosophy |
Today we go dark.
Uwe left this link on my blog.
Seth Godin’s article is right on the money. One point I want to accentuate: “ . . .we still live in a world that’s filled with opportunity. In fact, we have more than an opportunity — we have an obligation.”
Damn right.
Obligation - (1) An act or a course of action to which a person is morally or legally bound (2) the condition of being morally or legally bound to do something.
This goes beyond real estate. This goes beyond starting a business. This falls squarely into the realm of trying to do something great, something extraordinary with the one precious item we can truly call our own: our lives. Our opportunities were bought and paid for by someone who came before us and it is to them with which we owe the honor of taking advantage of those opportunities.
To whom do we owe it to?
We owe it to that first generation of our family, who immigrated to the United States searching for more opportunities and a better way of life. We owe it to our grandfathers and grandmothers. We owe it to our mom’s and dad’s.
We owe it to every POW or every soldier killed in combat. We owe it to every person who died in concentration camps or in mass graves. We owe it to that younger family member who was eaten alive with cancer. Or that best friend killed by that drunk driver. Or that older mentally handicapped brother who never had a chance to even try.
We owe it to them. We owe it to them to at least try. Try to do something extraordinary, something special.
If you liked that post, then try these...
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PMI is so . . . evil?? on May 3rd, 2005
I had lunch with a couple the other day.
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3 Responses to “To whom we owe it to”
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Great post, Clifford. Thanks.
Made me sit up a little straighter.
I totally agree - except it’s for those around the world, not just particular to the USA. We owe it to ourselves, but a lot of us are happy in our own bubble or perhaps are a little risk averse to try something different.