Orrin, I got this in an email yesterday (Great timing) It seems relavant to today's post. It was written by a man named Duke Clarke. Thanks for all you and the Team Leaders are doing to help us become extraordinary!! Lets hear it! Team Spirit! Dick "It Doesn't Take Much to Be Ordinary" It doesn't take much to be ordinary, everybody does it. It's easy, you just go with the flow, follow the crowd, keep your thoughts to yourself (that is if you have any thoughts at all)-it doesn't take much to be ordinary. You get up when everyone else gets up. You eat the most popular food or whatever is the most convenient. You go to work and do what others tell you to do. You come home and let the news give you your opinions. You look at commercials that tell you what to wear, what to drive, how important pills are to your life and watch mindless shows which allow you view other people who are actually doing something in life. You go to bed uninspired and you wake up uninspired and you start all over again. It doesn't take much to be ordinary. If you live your days like this and there will be that glorious moment someday in the future when someone will say, "Remember what's-his-name, he was a nice guy." And then back into oblivion you go. Whether people remember me or not after I'm gone, certainly will not matter to me, because I won't be there. I'd like to think that maybe something I did during my lifetime helped someone even after I am no longer present, but beyond that it's all ego and vanity of vanities. So what about now? My choices are to be ordinary or extraordinary. Ordinary is safe, extraordinary is unpredictable. Ordinary doesn't do any more than anyone else so no one is jealous, extraordinary is rising above the crowd and will always bring those who are jealous. Ordinary doesn't have any more than anyone else, so no one is envious, extraordinary is always producing more, striving for more and excelling and this make people incredibly envious. Ordinary is quiet, comfortable and always the same, extraordinary can mean living on the edge with exciting, bold adventures. Ordinary goes down the same road, seeing the same things and becomes part of all that is around them, extraordinary is looking for new paths no one has ever gone down, seeing and understand things that few have ever known and evolving into a new being. Some people don't like what it takes to be extraordinary and I have to admit that at times I long for ordinary-a quiet night, with no demands, no problems to solve, no dragons to slay or kingdoms to conquer. But then I remember that "ordinary" is an opiate which seduces its victims into a false security, lulled into a fragile balance of denial and pretence. Any pressure, any upheaval or changes in the status quo would disassemble the lives of the ordinary people who are simply not prepared for any change in life. It doesn't take much to be ordinary - part 2 A tiger in the wilderness is an extraordinary creature of magnificent proportions and is not only a survivor but a conqueror. A tiger raised in a zoo is ordinary and would not last a week in the real world. It doesn't take much to be ordinary, but I don't believe that God created us to be ordinary. If we were created in His image, then by all means we should not be ordinary. So what does it take to be extraordinary? Actually it's not that much; it really comes down to one simple thing-choice. God created us with free will so we could choose to be extraordinary. Noah was an ordinary man until he chose to build the ark Moses was an ordinary shepherd until he chose to walk with God and lead the Children of Israel out of Egypt and into the Promised Land. Gandhi was an ordinary lawyer, until he chose to take up the cause for a free India. Martin Luther was an ordinary priest until he chose to nail his objections on the church door. There is an unknown father somewhere who is ordinary until he chooses to be extraordinary and love his family in every way he can. There is an unknown mother somewhere who is ordinary until she chooses to be extraordinary and love her family in every way she can. Extraordinary people aren't born extraordinary, they make choices. What choices will you make? Remember, it doesn't take much to be ordinary, but all it takes to be extraordinary is choice. It sounds easy and it is, but choice is the start but as you start you will encounter the snags that will try to hold you back. For Noah it was because he was all alone. For Moses it was because in the beginning he didn't believe in himself. For Gandhi it was trying to convince a nation that nonviolence would work. For Martin Luther it was trying to change centuries of religious beliefs. For the father and the mother, it is the past and being able to forgive themselves and each other. Make the choice, let go of the snag and be extraordinary.