On July 15th it was discovered that the the mayor of Bell, California had been taking in a salary $800,000 a year, his police chief was pocketing $500,000. The council members had each received $100,000 for what is essentially part-time work.  All this is happening in a town of 30,000 people. The Los Angeles times broke the story and when it hit the newsstand it created a huge backlash from the residents in Bell. In Los Angeles California, a city with a population 100 times greater than Bell’s, these salaries would still be considered excessive . Bell is a town made up of mostly poor hispanic people with an average income is $27,000. Seventeen percent of the residents live below the poverty line… something went very wrong here…

(Illustration by Chet Phillips)

I get very frustrated with this kind of  stuff,  I consider it thievery! What were they thinking? How did this happen? Did they actually think that they were worth this kind of money. Or were they truly being selfish, greedy and  manipulative.  What makes it more aggravating is that all the people around the mayor, including to council members and the police chief allowed this happen. I guess the fact that  everyone was getting paid crazy money made it easier. As long as the whole group was in on the take, there was no reason to stop the insanity.

I believe the human mind has a hard time accepting that we do selfish and greedy things. To protect ourselves from being “bad” we can choose to use  our  creativity. Our brain can make up lots stories about why this kind behavior is alright. We can justify almost anything. You could hear it in the kind of comments the mayor was making after the truth came out. He said things like, the lights are brighter and the streets cleaner than when I started and this does not happen without someone creating a vision.  I wonder what the conversation was that he was having himself and the other members of the administration. Did they really think they could really get away with kind of thinking, these kind of ridiculous salaries?

The bottom line is that this kind of behavior is why all need to be on a Trust Tour. We have to bring this kind of behavior to an end. We have to find a way to make sure we never fall into the same kind of trap. In a previous blog I mentioned something called J.O.E.. Justify, Organize and Expose. It’s is one way that I think  we can stop this kind of behavior from hurting all of us. We cannot just let this happen anymore. Many people knew about what was happening at Bell but no one made the effort to stop it, until the Los Angeles Times reporter showed up. We all have a responsibility to stop it, especially in ourselves. There is a famous Edmund Burke that says it all,

“All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.”

If you have not seen Day 222 or Day 239 please read and watch them first because this will make a whole lot more sense to you. Steve is one of those characters that you get to meet once in a lifetime. He waled 26,000 miles around America to bring attention to suicide prevention. He lost his son to a self inflicted gunshot and his daughter to an accidental overdose. Steve know a lot about loss and love. This is the third section of three part interview with Steve in his hometown of Vero beach Florida.

On Day 222 I introduced you to Steve Fugate. He is the guy that lost his only son to suicide and his only daughter to a drug overdose.  He then walked over 20,000 miles with a Love Life sign above his head. The video above is Steve’s story as told by Eric Henning. I think he did an amazing job of capturing the core emotion that drives Steve to do what he does. When I met Steve we hit is off right away and I never got a chance to set up my camera. He just started talking so I went with it,  grabbed my iphone and started recording. Steve still gets his point across despite my limited technological skills. Below is the result.  His message is elegant in its simplicity, one that we all need to remember.

I also included some You Tube videos that give more background.  Click here to see them

I received the following email from a friend. I thought you might find it interesting. (I changed her name and email address to provide her privacy)

— On Jul 24, 2010, at 7:54 AM, Mary Lang <mlang@yippee.com> wrote:

I’m writing this with tears in my eyes, I came down here to the United Kingdom for a short vacation, unfortunately i was mugged at the park of the hotel where i stayed, all cash, credit card and cell phone were stolen off me but luckily for me i still have my passports with me.

I’ve been to the embassy and the Police here but they’re not helping issues at all and my return flight leaves in few hours from now but am having problems settling the hotel bills and the hotel manager won’t let me leave until i settle the bills.

I’m freaked out at the moment.

Mary Lang

Click here to see the rest of the dialog

— On Sat, 7/24/10, <todd@trusttour.com> wrote:

Subject: Re: I’m writing this with tears in my eyes

To: “mlang@yippee.com”

Date: Saturday, July 24, 2010, 08:14 AM

How can I help?

Todd Welch

-–On Jul 24, 2010, at 8:26 AM, Mary Lang <mlang@yippee.com> wrote:

OMG!!!Glad you replied back, This is a terrible experience, I need your help, I have nothing left on me right now and I am lucky to have my life and passports with me it would have been worst if they had made away with me passports.Well all I need now is just $2150 you can have it wired to my name via Western Union I’ll have to show my passport as ID to pick it up here and i promise to pay you back as soon as I get back home. Here’s my info below:

NAME : Mary Lang

STATE : Cambridge Cambridgeshire CB4 1QQ

COUNTRY : United Kingdom

As soon as it has been done, kindly get back to me with the confirmation number, I promise to refund the money back including the TRANSFER CHARGES. Let me know if you are heading to the WU outlet now????

Mary Lang

-

– On Sat, 7/24/10, Todd Welch <todd@trusttour.com> wrote:

Subject: Re: I’m writing this with tears in my eyes

To: “Mary Lang” <mlang@yippee.com>

Date: Saturday, July 24, 2010, 09:34 AM

OK no worries, it will all be alright, I am here for you. Don’t let fear get to you, it will just make things worse. People that do these kinds of things don’t trust themselves, that is why they end up hurting others. They think it’s ok because someone has done it to them. It becomes a way of life -very sad for them.

I am going to ask you a question to make sure this is legit … everyone knows my favorite color is… just answer that question and I will send money immediately.

Todd

—- On Jul 24, 2010, at 9:41 AM, Mary Lang <mlang@yippee.com> wrote:

Am still waiting for the confirmation number from the western union. So keep me posted then when get back home we talk about you favorite color

Mary Lang

— On Jul 24, 2010, Todd Welch <todd@trusttour.com> wrote:

Subject: Re: I’m writing this with tears in my eyes

To: “Mary Lang” <mlang@yippee.com>

Date: Saturday, July 24, 2010, 11:09:28 AM EDT

Mary or whoever you really are…

I decided to respond to your last email with this short poem, written especially for you…

My favorite color is blue

Just like the morning sky

I dream of something new

A time when we don’t have to cry

When we know we are all the same

I wonder if others ask why

We play this stealing game

I have a tear in my eye

You probably have realized by now that this was a scam. My friend had no idea this was happening. The person behind this email changed only one letter on her address so it was very hard to discover the deception. They prayed on my compassion for my helpless friend. These are evil deeds. It is this kind of behavior that infects the world. I have started to think about new ways to stop these folks. I think I found the ticket. I think we need to be proactive in exposing them. I am going to introduce you to a new Trust Tool. Meet J.O.E. – it stands for (J)ustify (O)rganize and (E)xpose. More on JOE in another blog coming soon.  Stay tuned…

Yesterday I visited the Florida Holocaust Museum. As I approached the entrance, I realized I had set myself up for a heavy experience. It was not going to be a relaxing Sunday afternoon, but that was alright with me. I have only 765 days left on the Trust Tour and this was a great opportunity to remind myself what happens when trust really goes wrong. There is no more dramatic example in human history of selfishness, hate and manipulation. If you have been alive for the last decade or more you probably know enough about the holocaust to fill a small book, so I don’t need to describe all those horrors. I will say however, yesterday I felt myself hit new levels of outrage and sadness.

In my short visit, I started to identify some behaviors that are uncomfortably familiar and consistent with what happens in our society everyday. The only difference is the depth and the volume. It is not over, it is still happening today, just on a much smaller level. Below I listed the ones that likely contributed to horrible things we did to our fellow human beings during WWII.

A Divided People

Whenever we generalize about a sub group, we are becoming separate from them. They become different, something to stay away from. They can make us feel uncomfortable. They look, talk, eat and think differently. They may do things we don’t approve of. All of this can make us feel threatened. In extreme examples we forget that they are human beings. Maybe they have a different religion, color, education, political view, economic status or sexual orientation. Maybe they have tattoos, or weird hair, maybe they are old or homeless. It was not just Jews that were burned in those ovens, it was people that were “different.” Today, we need to be very careful about demonizing anyone or any group.  We must refrain from anything that separates us from our fellow man. We are all human beings and one people, we are them, they are us.

Trusting Yourself

At least some of the fault for the holocaust was the empowerment of Hitler. Many, many people had to step aside and give him his power. Many more, pledged their loyalty to him. The early followers had much of the responsibility for the devastation that followed. He was obviously a sick man, by every definition a psychopath. Yet they cheered him on. I have some thoughts about how that happened, but the question that I cannot get a perspective on is… why did they stop trusting themselves? At some point, the German people stopped trusting themselves and started trusting Hitler. He became a god like figure, the savior of Germany. Why would so many turn to this man for direction? Was it fear?  Did Hitler give them hope?  Was it out of greed and selfishness? I began to to wonder if idolizing any person is trouble. When we turn people into gods (even our celebrities) do we make them something they could never be? They are human – just like us, right?  Maybe the real answers are to be found inside of us. Maybe we call it by different names like God, or intuition, or gut feelings. Maybe there is a moral compass built right into each one of us, one that we can use to navigate the full experience of our lives. Maybe that is what we need to trust in the future.

We All Have A Choice

At the end of my tour I listened to an audio thanking me for coming and suggesting that I help to make sure this never happens again. It suggests that we will all have the power to bring harm, and the power to bring love, that it is a choice we each make everyday. There was a visual time line showing that humans are still at it. It did not stop after WWII. There were similar horrible events that consumed much of the last century, in fact one as recent as last year in Darfur. So it seems that the Holocaust lives inside each one of us.  We are all capable of helping to create another one as well as preventing the next one. I found hope for us in a quote from Anne Frank as I left my experience at the museum.

“It’s really a wonder I haven’t dropped all my ideals because they seem so absurd and impossible to carry out. Yet I keep them, because in spite of everything I still believe that people are really good at heart.

On March 13th 2002 at exactly 5:00 PM I wrote an email to myself. It was a difficult time and I was trying to push myself through. What I needed was some clear direction but from who or where? There was no one around that understood the depth of what I was going through. I decided I had to trust myself. there was no other choice. So I sat down and wrote Todd’s Tips.

1)            Enjoy every minute of every day.

(You don’t know how long you have – guard your time)

2)            Make a list.  “What I want to do before I die.”

(Then start doing them right now!)

3)            Go to battle with what is attacking you.

(Use knowledge, tenacity, and courage as your weapons – know thy enemy )

4)            Keep a positive attitude.

(There is a seed of opportunity in every set back)

5)            Be aware of your impact on others, set the example.

(In giving to your family and others you receive more than you may have imagined)

By writing the ideas down, they took on real meaning.  I have read them many times over the years and I still think they are valid, particularly if you are battling confusion in your life or a physical ailment. I was dealing with both at the time. I needed something to keep me motivated and to provide much needed direction. I believe that all you need to know is right inside of you. I also believe it can be hard to access this internal wisdom. There are many voices that want to be heard, there are many competing ideas that require action. It is hard to know which one to listen to. So I have learned to start writing. When you write things down it can help focus that energy. Consider writing yourself an email today. What advice and direction do you have for yourself?  You will look at it again and again over the years, and each time you read it you will find new meaning. Just think what the world would be like if everyone trusted themselves a little more…. that is why I am on the Trust Tour and that is why I need your help.

The other day my niece asked me to help her with her school homework project. She sent me an email saying she had to interview an entrepreneur.  I thought I would share my answers with you as trust uses many of the principles of entrepreneurship, especially risk.

Jen,

You are making me work hard.. Here are the answers to your questions. Good Luck!

1. What does risk taking mean to you?

As an entrepreneur I cannot be successful without taking some Risks. Risk can mean failure which brings up the emotion of fear and people avoid something that scares them. That’s also the reason so many people quit. Entrepreneurs know they must get beyond their fear of seeing failure as a learning experience. We adopt the philosophy of “failing faster” so we can be successful sooner. Think of Thomas Edison and the number of times he had to fail on his way to finding a successful light bulb.

2. Would you say you need creativity to take risks, or courage?

Creativity and Courage are like sisters, Creativity is envisioning something new or rearranging parts in a new way that has not been seen before. Courage is the ability to put those ideas into action. Both creativity and courage involve leaving open the opportunity to fail and therefore both have risk.

3. When do you think taking a risk is a bad thing?

Whenever you sacrifice a highly held value for a lesser one. For example taking hard earned money that you need for food and shelter and gambling it in an attempt to get more. Or risking short term pleasure and sacrificing long term physical health or relationships.

4. Why would someone take risks?

In order to grow yourself you have to change. The Chinese symbol for change is the combination of two words, Risk and Opportunity. You cannot improve your life without taking some risks and the more risks (value based) that you take the more you will grow as a human being. This is true for individuals and organizations.

5. Why would some one consider risk taking an important life skill?

Everyday life asks you if you want to get out of bed and risk that it might be a good day or a bad day. By saying yes to risk you say yes to your life and your potential. The more you make risk taking a habit/skill the more you will manifest in the world, the more of you that is in the world the better the world will be. I often think that the mothers of the world are ruining the next generation of innovators. What is it they say to their kids on the way out the door? “Be Careful” , right? They should be saying “Honey, Don’t forget, TAKE SOME RISKS”! So…get out there and take some RISKS.

Thanks for making me think about my own philosophy on risk.

Love

UT

I have always been a bit confused by the term Jihad, which I understand to mean “Holy War”. It is an oxymoron, you know… two words used in a phrase that are in direct contradiction with each other. When I hear holy war, I get a picture of hate filled men with weapons in their hands chanting death to someone or some group. I wonder why all the hate?  Why would anything connected to the word holy promote killing people?  I admittedly am not an expert on the religions of the world, so when I say I don’t understand, I truly don’t get it.

This an area I think we all can learn more about as it the most likely flash point in our world. So I starting with wikipedia and looked up the definition for Jihad.  It says there are a wide range of opinions about the meaning of jihad. Muslims use the word in a religious context to refer to three types of struggles: 1) an internal struggle to maintain faith, 2) the struggle to improve the Muslim society, 3) or the struggle in a holy war. The differences of opinion are the result of different interpretation of the two most important sources in Islam, the Qur’an and the ahadith. In western societies the term jihad is often translated as “holy war”. Muslim authors tend to reject such an approach, stressing non-militant connotations of the word.

Okay, this makes more sense to me, definition number 1 is the idea of an internal struggle. This is familiar and consistent with what I am learning on the Trust Tour.  It is the struggle to be honest with ourselves, to do the right thing, the struggle for authenticity and in this case the struggle to stay connected to god.

Definition number 2 also makes sense. It would seem logical and right that if you are getting living with integrity, getting it right on the inside, staying connected with god, then this would naturally carry over to your society.  It is the struggle not to be selfish but to balance your life to include making a positive impact on your society.

As to definition number 3… I dunno…I still don’t get it… we are back to the holy war thing again. I probably need more education than I am going to get from wikipedia in one day. I also have beliefs here that make it hard for me to see anything positive coming form this kind of behavior.

Instead of fighting a holy war, we need to fight those things that disconnect us – like… holy war. Killing will just lead to more killing and long term misery for all. We need to learn to respect each other. There must be some universal values that every man holds to be important in their life. Maybe things like Individual Rights, Respect, Honor, Integrity, Fairness, Happiness, Love and Security. If we want to fight a war, it should be against those things that divide us and for those things that bring us together. Integrity means whole and we need to learn to share the benefits of being one whole human family. Now that is a war worth fighting.

That is why I am on the Trust Tour , that’s why this is important and that’s why we need to raise the bar on trust.