The Homeless Pastor

A pastor transformed himself into a homeless person and went to the church that he was to be introduced as the head pastor at that morning. He walked around his soon to be church for 30 minutes while it was filling with people for service. Only 3 people said hello to him, most looked the other way. He asked people for change to buy food because he was hungry. Not one gave him anything.
He went into the sanctuary to sit down in the front of the church and was told by the ushers that he would need to get up and go sit n the back of the church. He said hello to people as they walked in but was greeted with cold stares and dirty looks from people looking down on him and judging him.
He sat in the back of the church and listened to the church announcements for the week. He listened as new visitors were welcomed into the church that morning but no one acknowledged that he was new. He watched people around him continue to look his way with stares that said you are not welcome here.

 
Then the elders of the church went to the podium to make the announcement. They said they were excited to introduce the new pastor of the church to the congregation. "We would like to introduce you to our new Pastor." The congregation stood up and looked around clapping with joy and anticipation. The homeless man sitting in the back stood up and started walking down the aisle.
That's when all the clapping stopped and the church was silent. With all eyes on him....he walked up the altar and reached for the microphone. He stood there for a moment and then recited so elegantly, a verse from the bible.....
 
“Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’ “Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’
“The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for the least of my brothers and sisters, you did for me.’
After he recited this, he introduced himself as their new pastor and told the congregation what he had experienced that morning. Many began to cry and bow their heads in shame. "Today I see a gathering of people here but I do not see a church of Jesus. The world has enough people that look the other way. What the world needs is disciples of Jesus that can follow this teachings and live as he did. When will YOU decide to become disciples?
He then dismissed service until the following Sunday as his sermon had been given.

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Meet Bernard Ato Sam, the young graduate making a living from painting

I saw this stuff on the  internet, on one of my favorite blogs and I decided to share it
His artistic and professional paintings have won the hearts of many individuals and has now become a household name across the country. His name is Bernard Ato Sam. At the age of 29 he works as a professional painter and the Managing Director of Anointed Bernard’s Painting and Decorating Service, located in East Legon.

At least, in a day, Bernard receives about twenty business calls from clients in and outside of Greater Accra. He has by far proved that one can make a living out of painting but not always from working in a reputable company.

Of course, the young entrepreneur’s success story didn’t happen in just a day, he had to wipe of sweat every day, sacrifice his time and also put in extra hard work and commitment.

Growing up

Growing up, it was quite obvious that the boy had a passion for painting. But, just like every typical African family setting, Bernard faced a lot of challenges getting his parents especially his mother to buy into the idea of him becoming a painter. They rather wanted him to further his education and go ahead to get a white-collar job.

So, he went ahead and gained admission to study Visual arts at Kaneshie Senior High Secondary Technical and later on to the Takoradi Polytechnic to pursue Painting and Decoration.

How it all begun

But after graduating Takoradi Polytechnic (T’Poly) in 2013 in a bid to impress his parents, the task of getting a job became a wearisome one. He roamed the streets of Takoradi on a daily basis but to no avail.

“I submitted several application letters to different companies but to no avail. The only company that accepted to employ me, wanted me to work as an intern. So, I worked with them for two months and resigned, since I felt I made more losses than profit. But I almost regretted because I was unemployed for almost a year.”

This trend compelled young Bernard to after a youth entrepreneurship seminar he attended at church decide to create his own business.

“I wrote down four creative works I am good at, on four different call cards, prayed over it, and finally settled on Painting and Decorating although I didn’t have the necessary logistics at the time. But I contacted Mr. Ishmael Asamoah who is a colleague friend I met at T’Poly, who was then also unemployed but had all the necessary equipment.”

With support from Ishmael, Anointed Bernard’s Painting and Decorating Services came into existence.

Business Trends

Bernard explained that, business wasn’t encouraging at the beginning and he almost gave up. The only jobs he had, were through recommendations from the few clients he had worked for.

“Anointed Bernard’s Painting and Decorating Service is a God-gifted business. Early 2015, the company was rebranded and through the various social media platforms, advertisements were made. Business started booming at a very fast speed. I contracted some of my colleagues, who were still unemployed, to give a hand to meet the scheduled time of my clients.”

Anointed Bernard’s Painting and Decorating Service has been operating over a year now and no matter how detailed the job might be for your buildings, they have the necessary knowledge to do the job right as experienced painters.

Future Prospects

It is Bernard’s desire that his company will become a leading commercial painting firm that offers professional interior and exterior painting services globally. He also hopes to build a school that will train young people who want to venture into the field of painting and decoration.

Advice to the youth

Bernard has asked the youth to seek God first in all their endeavours and be very prayerful. He has urged the youth to be result-oriented and never give up on their dreams.

Anointed Bernard’s Painting and Decorating Services covers a broad range of commercial buildings, including offices, churches, shopping centres, hostels, restaurants among others.

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Apple Think Different Impression on Me

This is a continuation of the "THINGS THAT CHANGED ME" series after keeping you in waiting for a week now, in case you did not start the series with us you can read it here . 
Apple’s remarkable rise, coupled with Steve Jobs’ recent death, has prompted quite a few people to reflect on the historical impact of the “Think Different” ad campaign and the “To the crazy ones” commercial that launched it. There have been a lot of different accounts of how the work was created, who conceived it, and how it was presented to Jobs, so I thought now was a good time to share my own perspective and give you an inside look.

Voiceover for Think Different

Richard Dreyfuss reads the voiceover:
Here’s to the Crazy Ones.
The misfits.
The rebels.
The troublemakers.
The round pegs in the square holes.
The ones who see things differently.
They’re not fond of rules.
And they have no respect for the status quo.
You can quote them, disagree with them,
disbelieve them, glorify or vilify them.
About the only thing that you can’t do, is ignore them.
Because they change things.
They invent. They imagine. They heal.
They explore. They create. They inspire.
They push the human race forward.
Maybe they have to be crazy.
How else can you stare at an empty canvas and see a work of art?
Or, sit in silence and hear a song that hasn’t been written?
Or, gaze at a red planet and see a laboratory on wheels?
We make tools for these kinds of people.
While some may see them as the crazy ones, we see genius.
Because the ones who are crazy enough to think that they can change the world,
are the ones who do.

Think Different Background

Steve Jobs had just returned to the struggling company, Apple. Jobs and Lee Clow had collaborated back in 1984 to launch the MacIntosh. Now was the time to recover the sene of Apple’s place in the world of creative users. The TBWA Chiat/Day team said that Apple should be aligned with the creativity of personalities and people making an impact on the twentieth century. The “Think Different” phrase provided an opportunity to celebrate both the creativity of these people but also the distinctiveness of Apple in the computing world, responding to IBM’s historic campaign motto, “Think”. The campaign was swiftly approved by Apple, then begun with the television commercial, which first ran on Sept. 28 1997, followed by the print ads, billboards and posters.
In 1998 the television spot won the second annual primetime Emmy Award for best commercial from the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences (ATAS). The ad also won a Belding, a Silver Lion at Cannes. The long term campaign won an Effie award for marketing effectiveness.
There’s an excellent write up of the Think Different campaign at Wikipedia.

watch below

well, it 19 years now and I still stand by Steve Jobs on the ad that
They invent. They imagine. They heal.
They explore. They create. They inspire.
They push the human race forward.
Maybe they have to be crazy.
How else can you stare at an empty canvas and see a work of art?
Or, sit in silence and hear a song that hasn’t been written?
Or, gaze at a red planet and see a laboratory on wheels?
We make tools for these kinds of people.
While some may see them as the crazy ones, we see genius.
Because the ones who are crazy enough to think that they can change the world,
are the ones who do. Start something now now

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THINGS THAT CHANGED ME: The Soul’s Errand (Review)

My love for literature started in primary school class five (Grade 5) when we use to recite long poems before we go for break. Our Class teacher was too strict but she thought us a lot in the art of poetry and I carried it along with me from class 5 to high school, where I did Elective Literature. We were supposed to learn 12 poems before our final exams and my favorite of all the poems was The Soul’s Errand. It had an impression on me during my days in High School  and I think it should be part of the things that changed me series so I added it to our series. Below is a personal review and analysis of my Dearest poems.

Go, Soul, the body's guest,
Upon a thankless errand;
Fear not to touch the best;
The truth shall be thy warrant:
Go, since I needs must die,
And give the world the lie.

Say to the court, it glows
And shines like rotten wood;
Say to the church, it shows
What's good, and doth no good:
If church and court reply,
Then give them both the lie.

Tell potentates, they live
Acting by others' action;
Not loved unless they give,
Not strong but by a faction.
If potentates reply,
Give potentates the lie.

Tell men of high condition,
That manage the estate,
Their purpose is ambition,
Their practice only hate:
And if they once reply,
Then give them all the lie.

Tell them that brave it most,
They beg for more by spending,
Who, in their greatest cost,
Seek nothing but commending.
And if they make reply,
Then give them all the lie.

Tell zeal it wants devotion;
Tell love it is but lust;
Tell time it is but motion;
Tell flesh it is but dust:
And wish them not reply,
For thou must give the lie.

Tell age it daily wasteth;
Tell honour how it alters;
Tell beauty how she blasteth;
Tell favour how it falters:
And as they shall reply,
Give every one the lie.

Tell wit how much it wrangles
In tickle points of niceness;
Tell wisdom she entangles
Herself in overwiseness:
And when they do reply,
Straight give them both the lie.

Tell physic of her boldness;
Tell skill it is pretension;
Tell charity of coldness;
Tell law it is contention:
And as they do reply,
So give them still the lie.

Tell fortune of her blindness;
Tell nature of decay;
Tell friendship of unkindness;
Tell justice of delay:
And if they will reply,
Then give them all the lie.

Tell arts they have no soundness,
But vary by esteeming;
Tell schools they want profoundness,
And stand too much on seeming:
If arts and schools reply,
Give arts and schools the lie.

Tell faith it's fled the city;
Tell how the country erreth;
Tell manhood shakes off pity
And virtue least preferreth:
And if they do reply,
Spare not to give the lie.

So when thou hast, as I
Commanded thee, done blabbing—
Although to give the lie
Deserves no less than stabbing—
Stab at thee he that will,
No stab the soul can kill.
  
Written by Sir Walter Raleigh, an English poet and explorer, The Soul’s Errand also known as “The Lie” in some editions is a satirical poem of a dying man’s instruction to his soul to expose the lies and imperfections of his time. The poem was written about 1592 on the eve of the poet’s execution by James 1, whom he fell out of favour with, although he had enjoyed Queen Elizabeth’s patronage earlier. Still, the poem emerged from England during the Elizabethan period when social institutions and classes were well established.

It was a time when moral virtues and chivalry were held in high esteem. On the eve of his execution, Sir Walter in his solitude comes to realize that his society is made up of falsehood and superficial beliefs. He longs to relay this to the world, knowing he would be hanged the following day. But Walter has no opportunity again to tell the world about his new convictions. His flesh or physical body cannot carry out the risky assignment since it will soon be cut off from the earth, buried in the soil and eaten up by worms. Consequently, he finds himself in a situation where he has no option than to send his soul and he strongly believes that it is only the soul, the immortal, indestructible and abstract part of human that can tell the whole truth and liberate humanity from deception.

The poet exploits a rich amount of imageries and figures of speech to paint the vividness of his message.He mostly used personification to achieve this purpose.Words like\'shinning like rotten wood gives an oxymoronic image of the hypocrisy of court.
He comprehensively personified Truth,Time,Love and others.He gives each stanza an element of rythm and musicality through ryhmes.

Is it relevant is Modern Days? 
This poem remains relevant since all society's institutions that were attacked are still mentioned in it, and they continue to perpetuate the wrong doing and do not want to hear the truth.

Personal take 
Soul's errand had an impression on me because I naturally disagree with most people  I have encounter with because of stance on Education, politics, religion and other sensitive parts of society  as a result they see me as misfit but normally points the truth to them bluntly. So I thought Sir Walter Raleigh said I  will always say to people.

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THINGS THAT CHANGED ME: THE DORM ROOM EP BY SULI BREAKS

This is a continuation of the "THINGS THAT CHANGED ME" series, in case you did not start the series with us you can read it here .  When High School results were out, we all were scared since our next step in our over ambitious lives depended on it; As the African proverb goes, "It is the man that takes the bitter medicine" some of saw what was ugly, others made their parents proud. The world came to a stand still for most of us and even all our noisy chat groups became as quiet as  a cemetery. until a member in one of the groups shared a video with of a size of 8.5mb as usual people complained about the size and the group went back to normal, I downloaded it and it blew me a way.

The video was titled " I Will Not Let Exams Results Determine My Fate" a spoken word poem by Suli Breaks. I did a google search on Suli Breaks, a British spoken word poet and I discovered "THE DORMROOM EP" which was the solution my Friends and I needed at that moment. This is a personal review about the EP.

The Dormroom is considered “an audio story,” and it does manage to tell a story with poems about his first few weeks at college, the education system, finding love, corporations and gun violence. All of these poems are centered on a story of a teacher talking about how he went to see Suli for college advice. While the story is a really nice and original idea, the execution doesn’t really do it justice

The album features a lot of voice acting. The voice acting for Suli works mostly well, but the other characters within this audio story seems like he took only one take before calling it “good enough.” The characters are well-written, but the robotic feeling of the voices, the lack of any emotion whatsoever, and the feeling that no time was spent in the production phase makes me believe the idea was better than the execution. The audio editing didn’t help matters. The album had weird cuts halfway between words of characters and no space between the dialogue. The conversations between two characters doesn’t seem like an actual conversation – the ebb and flow of actual talking is non-existent.


The Classroom: This is the first track on the EP, it gives you a vivid view of how the whole thing is going to be like, a girl being drilled by her teacher and the student(girl) proving to him indirectly  what we learn for (smartness).

The Dormroom; Suli welcoming us to the dormroom and telling us the reason for the title of the EP and inspiring us to chase our dreams

I Will Not Let Exams results Determine my Fate; since this is my favorite poem on the EP and most import theme on the EP, I will go into details, its starts this way;

Can you hear me,

or is my sound just off?

Do they choose not to take heed,

or am I just not speaking loud enough?

Is this message overlooked because it did not come with a bird attached in its thought?

Or in the form of a glorious book?

They didn’t find this message burning in a bush, scripture, or novel,

Neither did it come in a bottle.

This message is not a product of thousands petitioning,

Neither did a million men march until their feet were blistering,

Nor did it spurt forth from the mouth of a corpse.

Cause when we was young we was told the revolution would not be televised,

So we had to improvise,

so we put that shit on the net and watch it get digitalised.

Right now,

There is a kid finishing parents' evening in a heated discussion with his mother,

Saying, why does he have to study subjects he will never ever use in his life?

And she will look at him blanked eyed, stifle a sigh, think for a second, and then lie.

She’ll say something along the lines of:

“You know to get a good job you need a good degree, and these subjects will help you get a degree,

we never had this opportunity when I was younger".

And he will reply:

“But you were young a long time ago, weren’t you mum?”

And she won’t respond, although what he implies makes perfect sense,

that societies needs would have changed since he was 16.

But she will ignore him, grip his hand more sternly, then drag him to the car.

What she doesn’t know, is that she didn’t ignore him, just to shut him up.

She didn’t lie because they are just returning him from parents' evening,

And an argument in the hallway would look bad on her resume.

She won’t lie because she had just spent the last one hour,

Convincing a stern faced teacher, that she would ensure that her child studies more at home.

No!

She will lie, simply, because she, does not know any better herself,

Although her whole adult life, she has never used or applied Pythagoras' theorem,

pathetic fallacy, and still does not know the value of “X”.

She will rely on society to tell her that her child, who has one of the sharpest mind in the school,

is hyperactive, unfocused, easily distracted, and wayward.

Students!

How many equations, subjects and dates did you memorize, just before an exam, never to use again?

How many “A” grades did you get, which were never asked for when you applied for a job?

How many times have you remembered something, 5 minutes just after the teacher said “Stop writing”,

Only to receive your results one month later, to realize that you were only 1 mark short of the top grade?

Does that mean remembering 5 minutes earlier, would’ve made you more qualified for a particular job?

Well on an application form it would’ve.

We all have different abilities, thought processes, experiences, and genes,

So why is a class full of individuals, tested by the same means?

So that means Cherrelle thinks she’s dumb, because she couldn’t do a couple sums,

And if this issue is not addressed properly, it then becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy,

Then every school has the audacity to have a policy on equality.

Huh, the irony!

Exams are society’s methods of telling you what you’re worth,

But you can’t let society tell you what you are,

Cause this is the same society that tells you that abortion is wrong, but then looks down on teenage parents!

The same society that sells products to promote natural hair, looks, and smooth complexion,

with the model on the box, half photoshopped, and has fake lashes and hair extensions,

With pastors that preach charity, but own private jets,

Imams that preach against greed, but are all fat,

Parents that say they want “educated kids”, but constantly marvel at how rich Richard Branson is,

Governments that preach peace, but endorse war,

That say they believe so much in the importance of higher education and further learning,

Then why increase tuition fees every single year?

I believed Miss Jefferson, when she took me into the office and said that my exams would be imperative to my success,

Because we were taught to always follow when Miss Jefferson led,

Then I took Jefferson out of the equation, and learned to think for myself,

I realized we were taught to always follow when Mis-Led.

Huh, the irony!

Test us with tests, but the finals are never final,

Because they never prepare us for the biggest test which is survival!

And what I suggest is fairly outlandish,

So I don’t expect everyone to understand this,

Except for the kids who know what it feels like, to be worth no more than that D or that A that you get on results day

And the ones whose best stories were never good enough for your English teacher,

Because apparently you missed out, key literal techniques,

Did not follow the class plan,

And the language was too “informal” for him to understand,

But then he’d reference Hamlet and Macbeth,

And you’d fight the urge to express your contempt, by partially clenching your fist,

with only your medius finger left protruding in the middle of your hand,

And asking if he was aware, that Shakespeare was known as the innovator of slang,

Or the kid at the back of the class, who thinks:

“Why am I studying something that doesn’t fuel my drive?”

But then when confronted with a maths problem, his eyes come alive.

So this one is for my generation,

The ones who found what they were looking for on Google,

The ones who followed their dreams on Twitter,

Pictured their future on Instagram,

Accepted destiny on Facebook.

This one’s for my “failures” and “dropouts”,

For my unemployed graduates,

My shop assistants, Cleaners and cashiers with bigger dreams,

My self-employed entrepreneurs, my world-changers and my dream-chasers!

Cause the purpose of “Why I hate school, but love education” was not to initiate a worldwide debate,

But to let them know that whether 72 or 88, 44 or 68,

We, will not, let exam results, decide our fate.

"I Will Not Let An Exam Result Decide My Fate" picks up on the education topic but takes a different stance and angle from "Why I Hate School But Love Education". This poem talks about how we have been made to think about how education and getting university degrees can give us opportunities to have a better chance in making our dream careers a reality. It also touches on how as individuals we are judged and tested by how well we perform on exams, but not all people perform well in exams so why are they made out to feel like they're dumb? The inconsistencies of the education system are really peeled open to reveal a deep problem that needs to be addressed and how society's needs have changed to make this even more apparent.

When it boils down to it, why are we misled into thinking that education is the only way forward for successful means in our work and career lives? We need to open our minds and educate ourselves that exam results aren't the barometer of success and that we can't let them decide our fate. We are in charge of our own destinies!
-snip-
Here's an excerpt of a comment posted on this video's viewer comment thread by Emma Elizabeth (December 2014)
"I think a lot of people are COMPLETELY missing the point of this video.
This man isn't saying education or qualifications are useless. He's merely pointing out the flaws in the education system (which we all know come in abundance, as like any system).

I'm almost 17 years old and I live in Scotland, so I've already went through my first wave of exams and quite frankly, I did shit. ALL of my teachers predicted I would get A's and B's, I studied, I did the homework, I worked in class. I wasn't lazy or 'dumb'. I suffered, and still do, with an anxiety disorder which had affected me on the day of exams. I find it ridiculous that a year's work which resulted in hundreds of thousands sleep deprived, mentally fragile and beaten down students is based one ONE DAY. Not just one day, but less than a few hours...

Howard Gardner, a psychologist who came up with the theory of there being 9 separates categories of intelligence. In my opinion, I would say school only caters to 3 or 4 of those. This is leaving out a HUGE majority of people who may fall and fail through the education system of exams, and branded uneducated and dumb because they were not 'intelligent' in the subjects that were in the criteria of the 3 or 4 which schools do offer.

Have you ever wondered why young children and toddlers always ask questions, why they're so curious? Because they're programmed to WANT to learn. They love to learn. Human beings should naturally be curious and want to learn, yet if you asked most children after having gone through maybe 4 or 5 years of school, they'll say they hate it. Do you not think there is a major problem that most children hate learning, and go on in later life not seeking new skills and learning new things? School may offer academical subjects and skills but I see it repulsing the masses and making them afraid of learning. Thankfully, I am not repulsed by learning. I love to learn. I'd rather go to a library, convention or a museum of my own free will before I'd ever go to a school to learn BY CHOICE...

So because I did badly on my exams am I dumb? Am I weak? Am I lazy? Am I worthless to society? No. No, I'm not. I will not let a flawed system stand in the way of me getting ahead in life. I know I can be somewhat successful, I know I'm intelligent - I don't need school which left me and many, many others beaten down and practically detesting learning and life to decide who I am, what I'm worth and how I'm going to do in life." 

You can get the full EP here  
I hope you have been inspired, share to inspire a friend.

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Birthday: A Time Meditating through all I Do

Today is a very special day, it happens to be Epiphany and my birthday, I thought it is a time to inspire my many cherished readers on this blog as I always do with these quotes for meditating .

I've lost, I've gained, family is closer and tougher than ever before, loved ones lost, and new friends found. There has been many times where I've been found on my knees in prayer for hours (relentless) and other times leading a group of people in prayer, my faith (that I love to share) is an everyday awakening (to me) that people, lives, and circumstances can change for the better OVER TIME. I look back at 2015's huge challenges that I've overcome, shared with others, and have once again found myself... To say thank you and BRING ON 2016, much works to be done! -Mathew DeRemer



“We don’t get a chance to do that many things, and every one should be really excellent. Because this is our life. Life is brief, and then you die, you know? And we’ve all chosen to do this with our lives. So it better be damn good. It better be worth it.” -Steve Jobs


“Your time is limited, don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma, which is living the result of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of other opinions drown your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition, they somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.”-Steve Jobs


Our human compassion binds us the one to the other - not in pity or patronizingly, but as human beings who have learnt how to turn our common suffering into hope for the future.-Nelson Mandela

I will not leave South Africa, nor will I surrender. Only through hardship, sacrifice and militant action can freedom be won. The struggle is my life. I will continue fighting for freedom until the end of my days. -Nelson Mandela

The time is always right to do what is right. - Martin Luther King, Jr.

Life's most persistent and urgent question is, 'What are you doing for others?' Martin Luther King, Jr.

Ecclesiastes 3:1-8New International Version (NIV)
 A Time for Everything
 There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens:
 2 a time to be born and a time to die, a time to plant and a time to uproot,
3 a time to kill and a time to heal, a time to tear down and a time to build,
4 a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance,
 5 a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them, a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing,
6 a time to search and a time to give up, a time to keep and a time to throw away,
 7 a time to tear and a time to mend, a time to be silent and a time to speak,
 8 a time to love and a time to hate, a time for war and a time for peace.

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THINGS THAT CHANGED ME: RICH DAD, POOR DAD BOOK BY ROBERT KIYOSAKI

This is a continuation of the "THINGS THAT CHANGED ME" series, in case you did not start the series with us you can read it here . It was around  2:00pm in the afternoon, it was a friday after clubs and societal meetings during my second year in High school, we were all preparing to go to the Dining hall for launch and I saw this book with a violet cover on a friend's bed.  The title caught my attention, "Rich Dad, Poor Dad" So I read the blurb and knew I needed it.

I said to myself this is not an ordinary book and indeed it was not a ordinary book. This book revealed to me the real world and What I have been missing out for the past 17 years of my life in my pursuit for success. Rich Dad, Poor Dad is not a normal book, yes "normal". it is not the normal inspirational/money book that tells you to work hard, be focused and blah blah goes on. It revealed to me more than what I expected from the book. Below is a personal review of Rich Dad Poor Dad, a book dear to my heart.

  
The title Rich Dad, Poor Dad refers to the two main male influences that Robert had as a child. His own father, the figurative “poor dad,” worked at a steady job for a living, while the “rich dad” (the father of a friend) ran a multitude of businesses. Most of this book is told from the perspective of Robert learning from his “rich dad” about how to make money – and seeing how his “poor dad” made huge money mistakes. The first two thirds of the book covers six lessons taught to Robert by his rich dad.

The Rich Don’t Work For Money
 This lesson has an ambiguous title that gives two separate meanings based on how you read it – actually, based on where you put the emphasis. If you read the title as the rich don’t work for money, that’s the wrong one. The rich in fact do work, and they work quite hard. The way the title should be read is that the rich don’t work for money. They work to learn things, and the things they learn can easily be applied to make money over and over again. I agree with this sentiment entirely – good ideas are always more valuable than good labor, because you can keep mining good ideas, while good labor is spent the second you do the work. Another part of this lesson I liked is that the “rich dad” is actually quite frugal. Although he has a lot of money in the bank, he drives a cheap car and doesn’t live in a mansion. Too many people equate rich with material things, so I enjoy it when it is shown that being rich often has very little connection to material possessions. Being rich means never having to worry about paying your bills – it doesn’t mean driving a Ferrari (well, at least not until you can pay cash for it and not break a sweat). Without a doubt, this was my favorite part of the entire book, even with the short, out of place rant about the gold standard (actually a misnomer, because the only way the book makes any sense in terms of time is if the rich dad is actually talking about the Bretton Woods system and not the true gold standard) and how the United States was doomed if they abandoned it.

Why Teach Financial Literacy?
 This is the section of the book that causes a lot of controversy when discussed. In a nutshell, this chapter redefines the term asset. For most, an asset is something that has value. For example, your home is an asset because it is something you own that has value. Well, this section of the book redefines the word. To Robert Kiyosaki, an asset is something that generates income, while a liability is anything that has costs. In other words, by this definition, your primary residence is not an asset but a liability. It may have cash value, but it doesn’t generate income. Instead, assets are forms of passive income that you control, like a rental property or intellectual property. So what’s the overall lesson here? Basically, you become rich by accumulating assets, assets as defined by this book. This basically means that, in my case for example, my truck is not an asset but The Simple Dollar is an asset (it generates revenue on its own – I write because I enjoy it). Wealth comes from having enough assets that generate enough income so that all of your expenses are covered and there is enough left over to invest in more assets.


 Mind Your Own Business 
The point of this chapter is that a financially healthy individual should be spending their spare time not spending their paychecks, but investing as much of it as possible in assets (as defined by this book). This is another lesson I strongly agree with: pay off your debts and start investing as soon as you can into things that can generate revenue. This lesson was short and sweet.

 The History of Taxes and the Power of Corporations
 This is the section of the book that made me start disbelieving in the overall ideas presented. First of all, after all this talk of following in the footsteps of the rather frugal “rich dad” example, Kiyosaki begins to describe a lifestyle of buying Porsches and the like. What? It doesn’t jibe at all with the earlier lessons at all. Even worse, the chapter misrepresents several fundamental facts about taxation that I’m quite aware of, because my father held a corporation and dealt with the taxes on it. First of all, if you start claiming stuff like Porsches as part of necessary company expenses, you are going to get audited. There’s a big difference between forming a personal corporation and buying a company car for use with that corporation, but the IRS is very clear on being rational with spending just to avoid things like buying Porsches. You can justify a company jet as being needed for travel, but what necessity for business does a Porsche provide that another car does not? Kiyosaki mentions various tax dodges in this chapter, but almost all of them aren’t tax dodges at all, but merely tax delays. With almost all of them, you either have to hold an asset until you die or you’re going to be hit with a monstrous tax bill. If you ever need to liquidate out of a need for cash, playing these games will mean that the IRS will eat you alive. There are some advantages of keeping money in a corporate structure as an individual person, but they mostly relate to minimizing taxation on reasonable expenses related to money you earn independent of employment. It doesn’t mean that a corporation magically means you can start buying Porsches.

The Rich Invent Money Here
 The disbelief continues when the author relates a tale of a ridiculously good real estate deal made on the “courthouse steps” in which Kiyosaki claims to have made $40,000 in five hours. I’ve spent some time myself seeing what kinds of deals are available from sheriff’s sales and such and the truth is that the only time you’ll find a deal like that is if every real estate business in the area is asleep at the wheel – and that’s simply not happening in this era. That’s not to decry the overall lesson of this chapter; you can invent money. However, the easiest way to mint your own money in today’s arena is through creating your own intellectual property. With the internet, there are many ways to distribute and monetize your intellectual property: sell crafts you can make, create websites out of your own ideas, sell your music or performances.

Work to Learn – Don’t Work For Money 
While I agree in general with the lesson, the tone here was extremely insulting towards people who choose to be employed, referring to them as “hamsters.” Using this logic, the majority of the millionaires in the United States (as described in The Millionaire Next Door) are “hamsters.” That’s ridiculous and insulting. Everyone should strive to learn as much as they can when they work, because it can transform your understanding of the world and perhaps build into methods of starting your own business and being self-employed. However, to look down at people who choose to be employed for a living as “hamsters” is ridiculous. Is Jack Welch a “hamster”? He was employed by General Electric for forty years. On an extremely fundamental level, most of the concepts in this book are sound.

The fundamental point of the book is that you should try hard to save money and accumulate assets that can eventually replace the income you make from your employment, and that’s something I agree with. It’s also rather inspirational, as it paints a way of life that fulfills the dreams that many of us have of being free and independent.

Share with your friends, maybe it could them also.

 

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Hello to 2016: How to Reach Your Goals in a New Year

“Vision is the spectacular that inspires us to carry out the mundane.” —Chris Widener

 It isn’t always that clean and easy, but those who achieve great things usually go through much of the same process, with many of the items listed below as part of that process. So if you have been struggling with achievement, look through the following. Begin to apply them and you will be on the road to achieving your goals.

 Dream it:
Everything begins in the heart and mind. Every great achievement began in the mind of one person. They dared to dream, to believe that it was possible. Take some time to allow yourself to ask “What if?” Think big. Don’t let negative thinking discourage you. You want to be a “dreamer.” Dream of the possibilities for yourself, your family and for others. If you had a dream that you let grow cold, re-ignite the dream! Fan the flames. Life is too short to let it go.

Believe it:
Yes, your dream needs to be big. It needs to be something that is seemingly beyond your capabilities. But it also must be believable. You must be able to say that if certain things take place, if others help, if you work hard enough, though it is a big dream, it can still be done.

Saying "no" means getting used to disappointing people: In order to create change in your life, you need to make room for it. This might mean clearing a spot in your schedule or making room in your budget. Often, change also involves having to say no to people who need your help or want some of your time. It's not easy. That's why people tend to avoid the conflict and let their goals lapse in favor of keeping the peace. However, if you share the rationale for why you're saying no to something or someone, you'll often find support in unexpected places. It's OK to say, "You know me, I usually don't mind helping out but this is the year that I promised myself I would ____ and I really need to give that my time and attention in order to make it happen." You might also try asking outright for understanding: "I know you're used to seeing me more often and I am sorry that I haven't had as much time for you as I usually do. This year, I am finally going to try _____ and it's taking up a bit of my time. I hate disappointing you but I really hope you'll understand." When you include people in your goals, you increase the likelihood that they'll join with you and you can benefit from their support. If they are unsupportive or give you a guilt trip, that says more about them than it does about you. It can be hard for people to accept change, and sometimes seeing someone else make changes or go after their dreams challenges the status quo for those around them.

There's a reason you're told to put the oxygen mask on yourself first.
It's easy to think you're doing the right thing by giving yourself away and stretching yourself too thin. After all, you're being helpful, you're showing up, and you're taking care of people. However, when your own needs go unmet for a long period of time, the wear and tear on your spirit starts to show. You're less engaged, your relationships are challenged, and your mood suffers.
Saying no isn't about disappointing others. It's about taking care of you. It's about putting the oxygen mask on yourself so that you can be what everyone needs you to be.
It's not selfish to put your needs first. It's critical that you do.
Wishing you a year in which at least one of your resolutions comes true.

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