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Guest Viewpoint: The Real Reasons Why a Brother Can’t Win
- By Oswald Scott
- Published 12/2/2009
- Editorial and Opinion
- Unrated
Oswald Scott
Oswald J. Scott, Jr., is a judge, motivational speaker, life coach, and author of “The Promise: A Black Man’s Guide to Money, Power and Respect.” Download a Free copy of his book for a limited time only at http://www.getthepromise.com
It is November 2009, almost 10 years into the 21st century, and not much has changed for a “brother.” Yeah we have a Black Man as president in the White House, but unfortunately some issues and problems continue to plague the Black man:
•Brothers remain less educated
•Brothers remain chronically unemployed and underemployed
•Brothers remain unable to attain affordable housing
•Brothers experience higher incidences of arrest and incarceration
We all know the reasons (excuses) for these problems are:
“The system is keeping us down.”
“The man won’t let us get ahead.”
“We live in a racist society.”
“We still suffer from the psychological effects of slavery.”
Is this why Black men continue to be denied? Yes, but not entirely.
A primary reason why brothers may not be winning is because they don’t know the rules of the game. Could you win playing dominos without knowing the rules?
Could you win at poker without knowing the rules? The bottom line is you cannot expect to win in any game, especially the game of LIFE, without knowing the rules of the game.
At the beginning of the 20th century, Andrew Carnegie, one of the richest and most successful men at that time, asked Napoleon Hill to develop a philosophy for success. Hill devoted most of his life to this task, and held discussions with notable men such as Henry Ford, F.W. Woolworth, Alexander Graham Bell and Thomas Edison.
What he discovered from these conversations was a common theme. Each of these men were living in accordance to certain rules and principles.
Hill selected 12 of these principles and developed “Think and Grow Rich”, a book that has been credited with producing more self-made millionaires than any other book. Brothers feel racism still exists in our society and the system is not designed for us to excel.
In spite of the odds, some have achieved great success and attained wealth, and happiness. For those of you who want to achieve your dreams, goals and desires, I have three questions:
•Do you know the rules of the game?
•Are you applying these rules in your life?
•If you are not applying these rules, how do you expect to win?
We all know that winning at anything in life requires knowing and playing by the rules that govern the game but when it comes to the most important game any of us will ever play in, too many of us are playing without following the rules. What about you?
•Brothers remain less educated
•Brothers remain chronically unemployed and underemployed
•Brothers remain unable to attain affordable housing
•Brothers experience higher incidences of arrest and incarceration
We all know the reasons (excuses) for these problems are:
“The system is keeping us down.”
“The man won’t let us get ahead.”
“We live in a racist society.”
“We still suffer from the psychological effects of slavery.”
Is this why Black men continue to be denied? Yes, but not entirely.
A primary reason why brothers may not be winning is because they don’t know the rules of the game. Could you win playing dominos without knowing the rules?
Could you win at poker without knowing the rules? The bottom line is you cannot expect to win in any game, especially the game of LIFE, without knowing the rules of the game.
At the beginning of the 20th century, Andrew Carnegie, one of the richest and most successful men at that time, asked Napoleon Hill to develop a philosophy for success. Hill devoted most of his life to this task, and held discussions with notable men such as Henry Ford, F.W. Woolworth, Alexander Graham Bell and Thomas Edison.
What he discovered from these conversations was a common theme. Each of these men were living in accordance to certain rules and principles.
Hill selected 12 of these principles and developed “Think and Grow Rich”, a book that has been credited with producing more self-made millionaires than any other book. Brothers feel racism still exists in our society and the system is not designed for us to excel.
In spite of the odds, some have achieved great success and attained wealth, and happiness. For those of you who want to achieve your dreams, goals and desires, I have three questions:
•Do you know the rules of the game?
•Are you applying these rules in your life?
•If you are not applying these rules, how do you expect to win?
We all know that winning at anything in life requires knowing and playing by the rules that govern the game but when it comes to the most important game any of us will ever play in, too many of us are playing without following the rules. What about you?