To Be A Shepherd

Everyone likes to be able to influence others. You feel accomplished. You view your opinion as something relevant. Decisions of an influential person literally impact the world. Those without a great degree of influence tend to be run over. They tend to be soft spoken. Harsh as it may seem, they account for a lot of those of the suicide population.

Quick sidebar: Can you really have a population of dead people? By definition, population means: the people who inhabit a territory or state. Directly, you can assume that a population can exist. On the other hand, if you assume that to "inhabit" is synonymous to "live" somewhere than one can infer that they can't. Weird, huh? But I digress......................................................................deliberately.

If one wants to decrease their chances of contributing themselves to the oxymoronic suicide death population, then they should strive to be an influential person.

First, you should ask this question: What does it take to be a persuasive person? I've filtered the composition of a persuasive person down to 3 basic skills. One has to have in-depth knowledge on the subject at hand. They've got to have a great degree of charisma. Lastly, they must be aware of the audience they intend to deliver their message to. With these three factors in mind, you'll seldom leave the room without everyone's minds on your words.

Today, I was working with a fraternal Brother of mine, Fred Gray Jr-attourney at law, on a case. One task we were charged with was to find an expert witness who could back our findings in the case. The three previously stated factors were the criteria.

He had to have the knowledge base. As an expert witness, they have to know what they are talking about. Extensive experience in the subject is highly obliged. No one wants someone feeding them malarkey. It gives your contest significant amounts of weight, given you have studied much in the subject. If the trial, has to do with a poker game gone wrong at a Las Vegas casino, the expert witness should be able to tell me what pocket rockets are.

For those of you non-poker players, that’s when you receive a hand with two Aces.

We had a long conversation with the guy. At the end, it felt like we were all pals. This says the man has some type of charisma. This goes a long way in politics and the business world alike. If you can speak well and keep the crowd in enveloped, you are half way there. I know that it’s quite an irritant to endure someone unsure of them self. How can you sway the hearts of the audience if you can't convince yourself that your rhetoric is worth putting an ear to? You can't. I can't be so harsh as to condemn anyone. One of my worst things is an occasional stutter. I was horrible in middle school. I've been told that when I get really bad with it that it seems as though I'm lying. This is a big problem considering I hate when anyone questions my opinion or knowledge on a subject that I hit square on the head. I've learned that it’s not their fault. One step I've made is to slow it down and take thought in what I am about to say. I know it seems redundant but when you get as many thoughts in your head as I do per second, words just spurt out like go-gurt.

That last factor we had to consider was whether he could appeal to the specific class of jurors. No matter how extensive your knowledge base or how well you think you deliver in general, you must always use tact and strategy with respect to those about to receive. If you are about to speak to a kindergarten class, it might serve one well to wear bright colors to appeal to the kids. If you are speaking to a religious crowd, try and tie your message with their morals. The expert witness we chose may not appeal to jurors in the area that the trial was to take place. He was very liberal when they were a more conservative bunch. This can mean quite the difference. In my experience, I know it has. I ran for Mr. Tuskegee, a representative position, and during the campaign there was a pageant held. I failed at appealing to the appropriate crowd. There was a point at which the contestants were to exhibit casual wear. I was the only one wearing jeans and a T-Shirt. This was a bad move. It was clear that the judges were quite old fashioned. We have to be more mindful of the minds of people whose opinion we intend to deter.

Leave with this: be smart, be cool, and be aware. Let's keep that population down.

Economy sitting at the Yellow Light

 

People can say plenty of bad things about the slowed economy. One can say, “It’s hard to get a job.” One can say, “People no longer have good enough credit.” These are problems that affect our daily lives. It affects me personally considering that I’m a college student. We, college students, tend to be a population in the U.S. heavily influenced by the economy’s traffic.

 

            I’m an optimist. My life motto is to be Proactive, not Reactive. Rather than crying over spilled milk, I go grab another jug. With the extreme hardship of getting accepted for loans, the economy has forced plenty of us students to seek alternative funding. Since, I’ve been unable to get the loans I wanted; I’ve been an avid scholarship applicant. Anyone willing to examine my Firefox Web Browser’s history would find countless views of United Negro College Fund’s pages, Fastweb entries, and plenty of general searches on google.com. I have my transcripts, letters of recommendations, cover letter templates, and army of essays on common questions asked such as my biography, career goals, community interests and such. I’m well prepared. I must say that I’ve immediately harvested the fruits of my labor. In just this semester alone, I’ve became the recipient of the Gap, Inc. and Edward M. Nagel Foundation scholarships. I’ve made my mother quite proud. Given various scholarship awards, along with dedication to my work-study job on campus, I’ve been making considerable efforts to be responsible for myself. I was glad to be able to contribute, without much of a dent being put into my pocket, towards getting my little sister a car for her 16^th birthday. I’m practically independent.

 

            I’ll maintain this pace well into my career. I most definitely am building toward a promising future. Others aren’t fairing so well. I hear plenty talk of lay-offs, companies not hiring, and general unemployment rates rising. This has inspired me, oddly enough. With all this stepping over toes to the top, I’ve opened my eyes to new possibilities. There was a time when I feared not going home for the summer. Virtually nine months a year away was enough for me. Then I realized that it’s not truly necessary and may not be the most economical decision to go back to Los Angeles. I also had a problem with spending more time in school in retrospect of pushing my graduation back. In light of opportunities I was missing because of being so close minded, I have adapted to times. This summer I will be a Co-op at the NASA Glenn Research Center in Cleveland, Ohio. This is away from home and will require that I take a semester off pushing my projected graduation of May 2010 to 2011. The implicit benefits of it will be that I get to dwell in flux and allow the economy to stabilize before I enter the workforce. Not to mention it’s a paid position and a government job. The slowed economy has accelerated my progress.

Greed

"Jealousy of those worse off than you with something of insignificant value makes you a greedy person."

This quote is from yours truly. I found myself, the other day thinking about the opposite sex. There have been a couple times when I've received word of girls I talk to and their involvement with other guys and wonder what happened with me. I will admit. Sometimes I get jealous. This is a very hard thing for me to admit given that sometimes I can have the pride of King Leonidas I. Regardless, I attempt to remain my normal humble self. People like you more that way. But, I digress.

I found myself being jealous of these guys because of their "interactions" with these girls. I then realized that the people that were the objects of my jealousy where those guys that would do well to ask me for advice on my success. I then realized that the girls they had weren't contributors to my life. After that, I looked over the current events in Jesse Lee Holloway Jr's life and came to the conclusion that I'm doing well, and making my parents proud.

Since I'm doing so well, I believe that I'm just being greedy. It's human nature to want it all. Who can argue with high aspirations? I encourage everyone to go out and get what they hope to attain. I would just advise everyone to consider if what you want is truly what you want and/or need. Ask yourself how would that "golden grail" actually impact your life in a positive way. Is it significant? All there any alternatives? And can you go without it?

In my situation, I feel as though these girls may contribute a better role in my life by going on as they have. The keyword is that they are girls as opposed to women. I feel as though women may appeal more to me and require more time and effort. If I'm focusing on building a relationship with a true woman then I'd suppose I would not find the time to worry that which does not truly matter.

At the end of the day, I've reminded myself to dwell on important things such as money, school, family, work, and such. It's okay to be jealous because it natural, but it should not depress you. Instead it should motivate you to better yourself.