copyright 2000, Rex Ballard
I have people in my life that I trust. I have a living situation that allows me the comfort of a home without the time and effort of mowing the lawn, house repairs, gardening, and other "house keeping". I still squeeze as much value as I can frome the money I have, and I don't seek status by trying to buy things I don't want to impress people I don't like with money I haven't earned yet.
I've had the toys. The fast motorcycle (Kawasaki KZ 1300) was fun the few times really wanted to ride it, but I figured there were better ways to die than sliding under a truck at 30 MPH, and better ways to suffer than peeling the road rash off my skin for months on end. I didn't do these things too my self, but I watched it happen to others. I also found that the women who hung out with bikers weren't as sexy as they looked, and not as much fun to lve with.
I also had the fast car, but again, the only women who wanted to ride in it also wanted $300/hour.I had a sail boat as well, but I felt obligated to sail it, even when I really wanted to do other things. I didn't onw a sailboat. The boat oned me.
There are a few things I enjoy. I enjoy helping people create new wompanies and watching their stock price go from $3/share to $30. I enjoy living with a woman I can trust completely, that I enjoy talking to at night and looking at in the morning. A woman who is healthy, happy, and makes our time together fun, whether it's kinky fun and games or dinner at the diner, or at a black tie charity event. I like cooking for others, I lke dancing (my favorite aerobic exercise) in places that don't serve alcohol.
But the thing I love most are transforming the lives of others. Whether it's taking someone through the 12 steps and teaching them to take others through the steps, or enrolling someone in the Landmark Forum (similar impact in less time), or introducing someone to Linux and watching them pass it on to others. In each case, I have helped them create a world of new opportunities and watching them step into that world and turn it into the worlh of real results and real changes in their own lives and the lives of others. It's like being the father of 1 million children.
In fact, I had a vasectomy 10 years ago because I wanted to focus on the chldren already born. I've made my contribution to the gene pool, but sine my involvement was limited to visitation and phone calls, there was plenty of time to either feel sorry for myself or to help children who weren't lucky enough to have three responsible loving parents who were willing to do whatever it took to make sure that they got the love, discipline, ethics, goals, and values they needed to face life in the best possible terms. My son wants to join the Navy as a nuclear engineer, and my daughter is a leader in several of her own communities. They turned out fine.
I have been encouraged to become a public speaker. I've avoided doing this beause I'm not the "spokesmodel" type. I'm heavier than I should be (even when I'm 6' and 165 I look fat. I have curvature of the spine that makes me walk like a duck (I can wear a corsed or back brace, but it's a pain to do this on a daily basis).
I also occur for others as "effeminate", it plays well in Hindu and Bhuddist cultures, but not in Houston Texas. I have a southwestern accent from Colorado that make me sound like a hick (a texan sounds like a banjo, and I sound like a banjo but out of tune). Even with professional presentation coaching I still seem a bit "wierd". Ghandi was a short bald man who wore diapers and spun and wove the cloth to make them. But he showed how to change the world without killing "the Enemy".
I have come to really enjoy exploring the diversity of human cultures. I've been to Alaska in the summer and the winter, I've been to Saudi Arabia during the heat of the summer during Ramadan, I've spend summers Bangalor India and to Monterrey Mexico, I've spent winters is Stockholm Sweden, Detroit Michigan, and Rochester, New York. I've eaten chicken, fish, octopus, rabbit, cat, pigeon, goat, and lamb's brain, and even Camel. I've experienced more in the last 18 years since I started in Landmark Education than most people experience in a lifetime. I've been a player on teams that have enhanced the lives of nearly 4 billion people, and am inspired to see what can be done to help the "bottom Billion", to make their lives more productive, and improve the quality of their lives. I'd like to see the day when EVERYBODY has clean water to drink, safe food to eat, adaquate shelter for their climate, and nobody dies a death of violence, starvation, or exposure. I cheer Bill Gates and his efforts to end the diseases that kill more children every year than all the major wars of the 20th century. And he is one of thousands who have begun to channel huge fortunes, personal and raised, to do extraordinary things throughout the world. My name will be forgotten, probably before I die. I will probably never be rich or famous or even well thought of. I will probably never win a Nobel prize, or even much more than a nice listing in some "Who's Who" listings. But perhaps, when I die, they will remember that I helped out, and helped other people make a difference.