Getting a Thanks

About a year ago I was going through my stuff, which I love, and I came upon an old digital camera that I had gotten as a gift two years prior. 5 mega pixels and it looked like a real camera not a pocket one. Now I keep everything because certain things mean something special to me.
This was given to me by my wife but I had purchased a smaller camera in the last couple of months so this older camera wasn't being used but just being saved.
I then met a young lady, around 12 years old, who's family wasn't in the best financial state and all she wanted was a camera. Bingo. The light bulb went off in my head. My camera. The one I never used would be perfect.
Even though I thought of hundreds of reasons to keep it I decided to give it to her. So my wife, my dog Jack and I drove an hour and a half to this young lady's house and handed her my beloved camera. I could see in her eyes how happy she was. Her mother asked me why I was giving her daughter something as expensive as a camera and all I could say was that I wasn't using it.
After that day I never heard from her again. Now should I be upset that they never said thank you? My not getting a thanks could have made me wonder how ungrateful these people were but instead I realized that the reason I gave the camera away is because I wanted to. Not for the accolades or the thanks but because it made me feel good.
So when you do something that makes you feel good a thank you is immaterial. It doesn't matter. It would be nice but you do what you do so that you feel good about yourself.
What better way of getting a thanks.

Failure Yup I love it

I’m not sure if there is anyone who likes the idea of failure as much as I do. I really look forward to it sometimes. I know what you’re saying, “Robert, are you nutz?”

No,well maybe, but that’s not the point right now. I feel that if I didn’t fail at anything then I wasn’t really trying. In order to fail at something you need to be doing something new or just trying something. When you try something new that means you’re taking a chance and exploring new territory that will one day make up who you are. 

We are all a product of our past experiences. Some are success and some are failures. When trying something new there is great potential in not succeeding. Failure only is truly bad when you learn nothing from it and keep repeating it or, if you just give up.

It’s sometimes hard to learn from books or from people telling you how to do things but when you try something and make a mistake, oh boy, do you learn from that. Mistakes and failures allow you to grow in knowledge and experience. Thomas Edison failed so many time until he invented the light bulb. One of his famous quotes was “I have not failed I have just found 1000 ways that don’t work.” 

Wilber and Orville Wright learned how to fly by studying the failures of other would be pilots. Otto Lilienthal died in a glider accident in 1896. He had been using his body weight to steer the glider which the Wright brothers realized was not the best way to fly. They used Otto’s failure and turned it into their own success.

The CEO of a major company once said that his company spends millions in failed projects and he’s happy about that. He said that if he didn’t see that money being spent he would know they weren’t trying to invent new products. The most successful people have had the most failures.

Last month I sent a newsletter out on Sustainability. Did you catch all the misspellings? I didn’t until after I sent it out. Yeah, yeah I know, I have spell checker. I was rushing around so much that I forgot to use it. So I made some mistakes. Now what did I learn? Proof read all my newsletters. I learned a valuable lesson, yeah even at my age. 

In the movie, Band of Innocence, Lily failed as the leader of BOI. “Sometimes through failure great success is won.” Those were Grandma Natu’s words to Lily. Lily was giving up and trying to give back the Amulet but Grandma Natu made her see that because she lost a battle does not mean that the war is over.

Remember that many of life’s failures are men and woman who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up. What does that mean? Do you keep trying? Did you give up? Could success have been really that close? Maybe you try doing something a different way.  All I know is that if I give up I’ll never find success and success is in all of us, if we don’t give up.

Go and succeed and be happy when you fail, because you can’t fail without trying and you can’t succeed without failure. Whew.

Oh and listen to an interview with a large corporations CEO. Shhhh listen.

"Sir, What is the secret of your success?" a reporter asked a bank president. 

"Two words" 

"And, Sir,what are they?" 

"Right decisions." 

"And how do you make right decisions?" 

"One word." 

"And,sir, What is that?" 

"Experience." 

"And how do you get Experience?" 

"Two words" 

"And, Sir, what are they?" 

"Wrong decisions"

See sometimes wrong is right. 

Sustainablility

Ok so I don't excited very easily.....oops. My Band of Innocence teachings tell me not to lie so

OK I do get excited easily and right now I'm very excited because I learned a new word. You

might be saying right now "but Robert can just a new word get you excited" and I'd say it depends

on the word. This word has such weight to it that if you tell your parents and teachers they

will be stunned. The way I usually look. The word, get ready, is sustainability. Yup sustainability.

This word I found out is incredibly powerful today. Not only is it a big word but is has

huge meanings. OK now the story. I was invited to a conference put on by Go Green.

Now living in New York I immediately assumed it was for the NY Jets football team.

Then I was reminded that they are Gang Green. Ooops. Ok so it was really a group that gets

together and talks about how to better this world by, you guessed it, sustainability.

Products that last. The guest speaker was Sascha Simon from Mercedes Benz. He talked

about how his company is developing hydrogen cars. Check out his interview.

http://www.treehugger.com/files/2009/09/talking-green-cars-with-sascha-simon-of-mercedes-usa.php

Anyway at this point I would like to apologize for all the adults and the condition we have left this

planet in and I want you guys and girls and animals and plants to really know that there are some of

us adults inventing products with that great word in mind....yup, sustainability.

Now at Go Green I met a man named Mitch Kennedy otherwise known as

Doctor Green. I asked him what sustainability meant to him. Oh just one other thing. If you don't

understand someone when you ask a question let them know as you'll see in my conversation

with Doctor Green because I sometimes don't understand things myself.

"To me Robert, sustainability is: Aligning our need for and creation of energy, transportation, and

products with nature's inherent efficiency of materials and energy use."

At that point I kind of shut down because sometimes I'm a little slow on the swing. My response to

him was, "Thanks Mitch, but can you put it into words for kids to understand because if I have to

translate that there is a 70% to 80% chance I'll screw it up."

He laughed and said "Don't poop where you eat." He also quoted an old Iroquois indian saying, the

same thing Fala Deerhorn of the Band of Innocence has been saying,

"We must consider the effects of our actions on the next seven generations to come, not just

ourselves."

So I want you kids to know that there are company's out there that are looking out for you, you just

have to find them. I love this planet and everything on it and I need you guys and girls to realize

that this beautiful world is yours. Take care of it just as if it was a new bike, or a new doll or a new

puppy. It needs love and constant attention but with that it will be a beautiful place to live as you

grow up which I'm still waiting to do. GO GREEN.

Kids Radio Station-Run by Kids

I just found the only radio station in the world that's owned, operated and run by kids.WKID 96.7 FM is on the air and broadcasting from St. Petersburg, Florida. The kids are between the age of 8 and 16. They have interviewed Criss Angel and they do news, sports and music. They broadcast between 5 and 10 PM on the weekdays and on weekends from noon to 10 PM. I am always scared to talk in front of people but man, I think I can do radio. I can do anything I want and no one ever has to see my face. And the best thing is I never have to see anyone else's face. Check these kids out. www.wkid967fm.com

What have you always wanted to do? 

The 1st BOI Blog-The Challenge

We have now become a society who judge the actions of people but not in a good way. Why do we mis-trust so many? Why do we always look for the bad in people and not assume that everyone is just good? I am 58 years old. I really love animals, kids and adults, all the same. I am spending my life trying to better this world so my kids and everyone’s kids don’t grown up in a world full of violence, lies and greed. Sound familiar. Look around.

Mind you I had a great childhood, innocent and fun, but as I grow up I see the greed and lies that are propagated by us adults. Adults who should be role models. The waste, dirt and legacy we are leaving out children with is insane. The pain we cause animals and this planet in general is criminal. I have decided to do something about it.

I want kids to grow up with dreams and an imagination.

I am not trying to be a kid, as some people have stated, or trying to act like a kid, I am a kid. I can’t help it but that being said I am not shirking my responsibilities like others, I’m embracing them. I have not lost my sense of innocence in believing that we can change for the better and I can do and be anything I want. That truth and compassion can win the day and when someone questions this it makes me think that maybe I’m wrong. Some people would like to cast doubt or dull your dreams but I won’t let them do that to me and you should not let them ever do that to you. Your dreams and beliefs make you who you are. 

I will not allow anyone to stop me from achieving my goal to get every kid in the world to be involved in their planet, their families and their friends. That’s why I created the Band of Innocence. Not to make money or achieve fame. To secure a wonderful future for the children of this world. 

I want to form an army of kids. Millions of children from around the world to stand up and say that they want a better world than what we adults are leaving them. I hope the Band of Innocence will be that movement and if not I hope something else comes along.

The power kids have today is enormous. With Facebook and my space they can connect to kids around the world. What’s happening in Europe, in the US, in Russia? What are kids doing to better their futures? It’s not just growing up and getting a job because  without a beautifully clean world your jobs won’t mean much.

So, you kids, think about it. You have the chance right now to form the biggest team this planet has ever seen. A global community of good guys and girls. That’s right you are the truth and the innocence. Use it before you grow up to be like us. Well most of us.