How to Build a Better World

INTRODUCTION
If that title seems a little grandiose, let’s take it down a few notches. Do you remember reading “The Little Engine That Could” by Watty Piper when you were a child? Or maybe you remember reading it to your children or grandchildren.

THE VALUE OF OPTIMISM AND HARD WORK
The “Little Golden Book” is a classic that has been used to teach children the value of optimism and hard work. According to Wikipedia, “some critics would contend that the book is a metaphor for the American dream”.

Also, according to Wikipedia, the book is being adapted into a 3-D film produced by Universal Studios and featuring the voices of Whoopi Goldberg, Jamie Lee Curtis and Corbin Bleu that is scheduled to come out in March of this year.

Let me hasten to say that this article is in no way related to that movie or its release. I didn’t even know about the movie until I Googled “The Little Engine That Could” some five minutes ago and since I didn’t know about it, I cannot promote or even recommend the film. This is merely a serendipitous coincidence.

COINCIDENCE?
Parenthetic statement # 1: During my years in ministry, I came to believe not in coincidence but in God-incidence. I have merely used the term coincidence above because most people are more familiar, and some are more comfortable, with that usage. In my mind, the two terms are almost interchangeable. End of Parenthetic statement.

With those two caveats in place, let’s get back to building a better world or “The Little Engine that Could”.

If you will remember the story, The Little Engine had a long train of heavy cars to pull over a high mountain. The task looked so impossible that several bigger, stronger, and more obviously capable engines refused to even try. But the Little Engine was willing to do it.

DON’T TRY, JUST DO IT
Parenthetic statement # 2: Please note that I DID NOT say that the Little Engine was willing to TRY to do the impossible. I said that the Little Engine was willing to DO it. This distinction is very important. End of parenthetic statement.

What made the Little Engine think that he could do what others had refused to even try? Ah! That’s just it – he THOUGHT that he could.

In spite of the weight of the burden he was pulling, in spite of the height of the mountain before him, the Little Engine told himself “I-think-I-can” and then set out to do it.

All the way up the mountain, he chugged to himself: “I-think-I-can, I-think-I-can, I-think-I-can.” And he did.

Now, come back to my grandiose title: How to Build a Better World. What on earth makes me think that you and I could build a better world? I-think-I-can, I-think-I-can, I-think-I-can.

I THINK I CAN
How? Like you, I’m towing a long chain of heavy baggage behind me and that mountain looks awfully high. But last year I decided that I wanted to do something to make the world just a little better.

I wanted to make some money, for one thing. I had left a dead-end job and, because of a physical disability, I knew that I would have trouble finding a job that I could stand (Stand being the operative word). So I decided to start an online business.

Doing what? Well, in the midst of the current financial crisis, I thought about people like me – Baby Boomers – who had worked hard all their lives and had little to show for it. I’m not talking about the rich, successful Baby Boomers. I’m talking about the average Joe or Jill. That, I decided, would be my “niche”. I would blog about matters of interest to Baby Boomers.

In the process of working toward that goal, i encountered another classic book: Napoleon Hill’s Think and Grow Rich. I received an eBook reproduction of the book as a free “gift” from someone who was hoping that I would then turn around and buy his product.

This eBook states, on the copyright page, that “This book is an eBook reproduction of the complete and original 1937 version of Think and Grow Richby Napoleon Hill, originally published by the Ralston Society and now in the public domain.”

PUBLIC DOMAIN
Parenthetic statement # 3: that “in the public domain” is important because it means that my friend could send the book to me free. It also means that I don’t have to pay for the right to send it to someone else. End of parenthetic statement.

I just yesterday finished reading the book and it occurred to me that it might be very helpful to share it with those average Baby Boomer Joes and Jills out there.

But, to be quite honest, it is not an easy read. The language is archaic and verbose. The punctuation is a little bizarre (at least by my standards). The content suffers from an understandable (for the period in which it was written) sexism.

GOING UP THE MOUNTAIN
So what I am going to do, over a period of indeterminate time, is rewrite Napoleon Hill’s classic Think and Grow Richfor the average modern Baby Boomer.

I will do this in blog form, though I might put it all together in eBook form when I get down. I think I will call it: I Think I Can. Not quite so grandiose as “How to Build a Better World” but catchy, don’t you think?