Hello again, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to another episode of Freedom's Creed. Today is Wednesday, September the 7th, 2022. A few days ago, I had another birthday. And if nothing else, birthdays are a time to reflect upon our lives, our very existence, and in my case, I feel very fortunate to have the family, extended family and friends that I do. Looking back over the course of my life, that which I am most proud of, that which gives me, I think, the greatest joy, is my family. I wouldn't be who I am if not for my wife and my children. Furthermore, the influence of my extended family members as well as the support and encouragement of friends has been immeasurable in my life. And I appreciate to no end the kind of support and help that I have received from various individuals from time to time throughout my life. One of the things that I was thinking about on my birthday was the fact that we all struggle from time to time in our lives in one way or another. And it's how we deal with those struggles that I want to kind of focus on today and the things that I want to talk about. But for me personally, I have struggled for much of my adult life to actually give myself credit for the good that I've achieved in the things that I have done. Talking to each of my children on my birthday made me realize how much they've always expressed their support for me, no matter what I've done or what I've tried to do. And that kind of support and unconditional love, I believe, is essential for all of us. We all want that in our lives. We all want to be able to not only receive it, but maybe more importantly, give it to others, to give the kind of support and help and encouragement and love that others need, especially those in our family. Regardless of the circumstances or the situation which we may have been raised in, no matter those circumstances, no matter what they were, no matter how great or no matter how horrible they were, I am impressed, I guess, by the inherent desire in many people to want to achieve, to want to succeed. They're people that were dealt the most raunchy hand that you can imagine, yet they achieved and have achieved and continue to achieve great things. So there, to me, there has to be, I know there is, an inherent desire within people to overcome odds, to maybe even have a little chip on their shoulder because they were exposed to something that perhaps no young person or no adolescent, no adult even should be exposed to. Yet, in spite of all of that, they still were able to achieve and to overcome obstacles and in many cases tremendous obstacles that were placed in their path through no choices of their own. And as I've said before, this podcast is dedicated to the proposition of freedom and liberty, and that with those things in place, and that is the backdrop or the foundation from which all of us can build. If we don't have the ability to choose to do what we want, to be able to have the freedom and liberty to pursue a certain course in our lives, one that we choose to do, then what do we have? Who wants to be forced into doing something that they don't want to do? I know it happens all the time, but what I'm saying is that because we live under the Constitution of the United States, we're able to do anything that we desire to do so long as we are not breaking the law or hurting someone else. I've said this before, and I'll say it again, I'll beat that drum for as long as I need to, because it's true. I don't want to sit here and accept or hear the things that those who want to detract from the Constitution, who want to detract from those things that give us the best chance for success in our lives, however, we define that. That's not defined by someone else. We define the level of success that we want to achieve. And that's exactly the way it should be. And if the ability to do that is taken away, then what are we but mind-numbed robots? I'm reminded of when my children were growing up and when it would seem to them, and not just seem, but it actually was, where my voice was being raised and it was like I was yelling at them. And I would just say, I'm just very passionate about what I'm saying and what I'm doing. And they would uh sometimes call me out on that. And I there were times when I, well, probably I was yelling and wasn't that passionate, but there were times also that I was actually passionate about what I was talking about, and I wanted, you know, to be able to convey that to them, to have them feel that passion for what I was talking about. And my passion for the Constitution, for the principles that are contained within the Constitution, revolving around the rights, the liberties, and freedoms which we enjoy in this country. We do have the greatest opportunity for success in whatever we choose to do with our lives. And I will not sit still and be quiet while there are many people out in our society who are trying to tear down the Constitution, trying to make it so that it appears to be a document that only benefits a few, that only benefits those who are most worthy. That's not the way it is. It wasn't created for that. It may have taken a long, long time for the principles contained in the Constitution to be efficacious in the lives of all people, but guess what? It's 2022, and those principles of freedom and liberty apply to all people. I don't care what your race is, I don't care what your sex or gender is. I don't care about any of those other characteristics. The principles of liberty and freedom apply to all people. And lawmakers have a tendency to really screw that up and to pit us against each other. That's how they want it. That makes them more viable. It makes them appear to be needed. And in a lot of cases, I think if they would just go away and leave us alone for a little bit, they would see that things would work out pretty well, I bet. Well, the focus of the podcast today, ladies and gentlemen, is talking about what is impossible. Or just talking about the word impossible. Recently I saw a sign that was promoting a youth soccer league, and the focus of the sign that I saw said, among other things, that impossible is nothing. Immediately my mind kind of started racing, and I thought the whole meaning behind impossible is something that is not possible. And that in saying that impossible is nothing, it's diminishing the very definition of impossible. By saying that impossible is nothing, it takes away from the actual accomplishment when we do something that does appear to be impossible. And then the more I thought about it and even talking about it just now, I almost confused myself about what I was talking about or what I was thinking in my mind. The definition of impossible is incapable of being or of occurring, felt to be incapable of being done, attained, or fulfilled, insuperably difficult. Some of the synonyms of impossible are words such as hopeless, unattainable, undoable, unrealizable, unsolvable. It sounds to me like impossible is something that is not supposed to be able to be done or accomplished or completed. So that when someone actually does do what is perceived by others to be impossible, then it makes it that much more grand. It makes it that much more outstanding that someone has actually achieved something that everybody else thought was impossible, and maybe even that individual thought was impossible, but it was accomplished. It became possible. I believe that oftentimes the human spirit wants to be able to do things that are impossible. We want to be able to achieve what is so-called impossible, and we want to be able to know that the reason why we do things that are looked at as being impossible, not so much because we want to prove to other people that we can do it, but to prove to ourselves that we can do it. Now, I'm not saying that there's no satisfaction in doing something that someone thought was impossible and that we couldn't do, that, oh, you gotta be kidding me. You're gonna do that? No way. You don't have the talent, you don't have the skill. That's impossible. How many times have we heard people tell us that? That's impossible. Why are you wasting your time even thinking about this? So, in my mind, the impossible is something, it's not nothing. Impossible is something, it's something that we can actually achieve. So that when we do something that is impossible or that could be defined as impossible, we know we've actually done something that's worthwhile, even dare I say, monumental. So I say let's go out and go for it and do that which is impossible. Because if it's perceived to be impossible, then when we do actually accomplish it, whatever that is, if it's running a marathon or hiking, what they call in Colorado is a 14er. For those of you who don't know, a 14er is a mountain peak that is 14,000 feet or higher, and there's nearly 60 of those in the state of Colorado. Whatever your impossible is, whatever someone says to you is impossible, and they give you then the drive to achieve the impossible, then the human psyche is to say, I will achieve it, I will make the impossible possible. You know, there are probably too many people in life that focus on what can't be done instead of on what can be done through hard work and perseverance. Sometimes the sad state of human affairs, people want to just drag other people down into the gutter with them for some weird notion or some crazy idea that if other people achieve things that are perceived to be impossible, well then if they're just sitting on their couch and eating potato chips and watching reruns, then there must be something wrong with them. Well, I'm not going to comment here on what is wrong with them, what may be wrong with them. But why do people who have a love affair with their couch and their television set and junk food have to criticize other people and diminish the accomplishments of other people? I think it's because they probably feel a little bit guilty because they're not doing anything to improve the status of their own life. And because of that, the natural thing I think that people want to do in that case is to bring other people down. Personally, I don't have time for that kind of negativity. If there are days that I want to sit on my couch or in my bed and watch reruns of some stupid, idiotic sitcom or any other TV show, then I'll do it. I'm not going to spend my life doing it. I may spend a few days here and there doing it. And even then, I almost feel guilty for doing it, although I am spending quality time with my wife when that happens. But the bottom line, folks, is that those who want to do, those who are doers, people who want to achieve, shouldn't be denigrated by other people who don't have that desire to achieve or to do. And frankly, I think the people who are overachievers and people who really excel at doing what they do, they couldn't care less about what other people think about them. And I think that's exactly how we should live our lives. I mean, really, is there anything we can't do with hard work and perseverance in our life? We have the freedom and the liberty to achieve whatever we want. No one can keep us from doing what we want to do. Ultimately, we are the only one who gets to decide our fate for the course of our lives. We get to choose that. And to me, that is the American spirit. That is what it means to live in America, to live in a place where liberty and freedom reign, and where because of it, we can do anything which we set out to do, no matter how impossible it may seem. You know, we're all aware of untold accounts of people who have stared down the impossible to achieve greatness. It happens all the time. We may not hear about it, but it does happen more often than we probably think. We're all familiar with the stories and the accounts and history of people doing the impossible, whether that was breaking free from the chains of slavery, whether that was having the faith and determination to make it out of a concentration camp, to make it out of any uncertain or seemingly hopeless situation. As a matter of fact, we have many examples of people who have made the impossible possible, and not only possible, but achievable. I think that's the real key, that something that is impossible or not possible becomes doable. Well, ladies and gentlemen, I'd like to end the episode today with a great quote from a gentleman by the name of David Goggins. If you're not familiar with Mr. Goggins, do an internet search and you'll find out who he is. He's nothing shy of superhuman. In fact, he's uh what I would consider a freak of nature because of his accomplishments. During his training to become a Navy SEAL, he had this to say, quote, Why am I here? Those innocuous words bubbled up in our spinning minds each time we got sucked under a monster wave at midnight when we were already borderline hypothermic. Because nobody has to become a seal. Becoming a seal is a choice, and what that single softball question revealed in the heat of battle is that each second we remained in training was also a choice, which made the entire notion of becoming a seal seem like masochism. It's voluntary torture, and that makes no sense at all to the rational mind, which is why those four words unravel so many men. End of quote. Ladies and gentlemen, no matter the hand that we've been dealt, no matter the circumstances with which we face in our lives, even at this very moment, I believe we have been destined to do great things. And along the way to doing those great things, there are going to crop up some things that are going to seem impossible. But if we work hard, if we persevere, if we stay dedicated to the goal at hand and to the object in our minds that we want to achieve, then we'll achieve it, and nothing can stand in our way, except, of course, the person looking back at you from the mirror. Overcome that beast in the mirror and go out and do the impossible. With that, if you can think it, you can plan it. If you can plan it, you can do it.