Selling Out

My Introduction Leader's Program through Landmark Education is coming to an end in mid-March and I have learned a lot about myself and others through this program. This course has been the major inspiration of many of my postings. I became more aware of my thoughts and I became more observant of others'. One of the most interesting things that I learned through this program is that we sell out. We not only sell out other people's goals and dreams, we also sell out ours.

"Selling out" might not be how we like to see it. We like to look it as "being reasonable", "evaluating the pros and cons", or "being realistic". All of these have some sort of hidden resignation to it because the next emerging view becomes "this is good enough, so what if we don't have it all"

When I started this program seven months ago, I wanted to make a difference for the people in Taiwan. Many others in our course also had goals to contribute to their communities. As the program continued on, each one of us got a lot of results. The results were amazing and life-changing and I am still intoxicated by our accomplishments. Out of this program, I got a new relationship with my family, friends, myself, and even with Sacramento. I heard myself saying "these results are great and they are good enough for me!" I pat myself on the back for achieving these results... I am not attempting to minimize the accomplishments but the truth is these results were not what I sat out to achieve. As things get harder and tougher, I changed my goals so its smaller and easier. I do this to minimize the risk that I might fail to accomplish what I declared that I would do - The resignation and selling-out are subtle, but they are there nonetheless.

If we do this to ourselves, we will definitely sell-out other people. When others are committed to run a marathon, if they don't complete the 21.4 miles, we compliment them for finishing a half-marathon. If their commitment is to have a great relationship with their spouse or significant other, we give them credit for effort. If our politicians don't implement policies that the voters desire, we get cynical and give them the out by saying "because they are politicians". I am not saying that we shouldn't be there for one another. However, the true support that we can have for one another is not to sell out but support each other in accomplishing what we have declared to achieve.