Month: January 2012

Drop Out of Popularity Contests

Don’t waste your time in life trying to get everyone to like you.  Additionally, don’t worry about trying to keep those who like you now to remain liking you—just do you.  You will find that you will live a happier life when you’re more concerned with doing things that please you.  When you devote too much time to attempting to figure out what is going to satisfy every single person around you, then you will lose who you are in all of those efforts to please everyone.  You cannot be all things to everyone.  In no way does this piece advocate for you to be a selfish person, it just acknowledges you have to take time for yourself to enjoy the things you love to do.  You have to appreciate yourself.

When you periodically do things that are totally for yourself, this does not make you a selfish person—it makes you a person who understands that you cannot truly know how to be happy for someone else until you’ve made yourself happy.  Don’t depend on other people to make you happy.  You have the ability within yourself to make yourself happy.  When you depend on other people to be happy, then you’re going to face a significant number of disappoints in life.  You may never be truly happy when you wait on others to create true happiness within you.

True happiness originates within yourself.  Yes, others can and will help your happiness to mature but don’t let others be the foundation of your happiness.  If other people are the foundation of your happiness, it will inevitably crumble.

Too many people are far too focused on how they can get everyone to like them.  You must understand that everyone will not like you.  Some people will not like you without any rationale—don’t try to force them to like you because you won’t win them over.  It’s better to have one or two good or great friends than to hang around a thousand people who you’ve fooled yourself that they’re your friends just so you can tout you have such a large number of friends.  It certainly does not seem like you’re attempting to truly please yourself when you do this type of thing.

Participating in popularity contests will leave you exhausted, empty, disappointed, and unhappy.

Live in your own spotlight!

Have enough confidence in yourself to believe you can do whatever you desire to do.  When people tell you that you cannot do something, transfer their negativity into positive energy.  You don’t have to settle for doing the popular things that will gain you instant approval from people who are looking for microwave success.  You have to know that if the path to success you have carefully planned takes years and not days, that you’re going to reach your goals and you’re no lesser of a success story than those who were fortunate to achieve success in a shorter period of time.  For those who achieve success in a shorter period of time than you, please be sure that they’re truly successful and not putting on a visage of success.

Worry about yourself sometimes.  Stop looking for approval from other people.  People who win popularity contests really lose tremendously in the game of life.

Enjoy life.  Be stress free.  Live free!

Antonio Maurice Daniels

University of Wisconsin-Madison

Move beyond Complaining about New State Voter Identification Laws

On this day, Revolutionary Paideia pays tribute to the life and legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.  Dr. King’s contributions to the United States of America are immeasurable.  It was because of his unwillingness to remain silent in the face of egregious injustice and oppression that gave us all an opportunity to understand what America can truly be when we live up to the utopian ideals and values promulgated in the Declaration of Independence.  As I watched the annual tribute to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. at Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, Georgia on television, I very much enjoyed the beautiful celebration of the life and legacy of Dr. King.  The celebration of Dr. King’s contributions to America and the world were exquisitely stated by a range of diverse individuals from America and across the globe, evincing a microcosm of the utopian multiracial democracy Dr. King envisioned.

Although I thoroughly enjoyed and appreciated the excellent tribute to Dr. King at Ebenezer Baptist Church, one thing that troubled me was many speakers stated their opposition to new state voter identification laws that, in their opinion, disproportionately impact the poor and minorities, but no one presented a plan to help them to overcome the barriers of the new state voter identification laws.

It’s important to highlight that Mayor Kasim Reed, mayor of Atlanta, did assert that people who have state identification cards need to make sure others who don’t have them get them.  Instead of investing so much energy in protesting new state voter identification laws, such as the one in Georgia, there needs to be greater focus on how to get everyone a state identification card.  While one can understand people having frustrations with new state voter identification laws that they contend adversely impact the poor and minorities, and function as a poll tax, protesting without offering solutions is unproductive.  For those who are concerned about the new voter identification laws being a means of suppressing votes, then use your resources to pay for people to receive state identification cards who cannot afford them.

Organizations like the National Urban League can use their resources, including their money, to pay for as many people who cannot afford to pay for a state identification card.  If you’re really concerned about people not being able to pay for a state identification card to vote, then why not pay for them to get one if you have the money?  Why not have a billionaire financer of liberal causes, George Soros, to fund efforts across the nation to get state identification cards for those who cannot afford them?  This is a time when liberal organizations have to come together to pool their resources to cancel out the impact that new state voter identification laws have on the ability of the poor and minorities to vote.

If there is real evidence of these new state voter identification laws preventing people from being able to vote, then the evidence needs to be offered.  While we want to make sure that everyone who has the right to vote can vote, we need to have concern for voter fraud as well.  Although it may sound good to say that we need to be more concerned about getting more people to vote once, and emphasize how difficult it is to get them to vote once, there is a reality that people attempt to commit fraud at the polls.  Evidence of voter fraud has been presented.  Now, it’s time for evidence to be offered that proves that new state voter identification laws suppress votes.

Antonio Maurice Daniels

University of Wisconsin-Madison

What’s Up With These Kickers?

Increasingly, we’re witnessing how many kickers are not performing satisfactorily at all levels of football.  To put it bluntly, many kickers are causing many teams to lose.  Although it’s kind to say that “we win as a team and we lose as a team,” the reality is one player can cause the team to lose.  As a football and basketball coach, I know how important it is to teach your players about teamwork and winning and losing as a team.  However, as a successful young coach, I’ve learned that it’s vital to hold a player accountable for the things he does on the field or court.  It’s not always the team that does not do what it is supposed to do, but it is often an individual player who does not do what he is supposed to do.  Coaches must hold a player accountable and not the team accountable when a player does not do the things he needs to do to help the team win.  Without question, many kickers are costing teams games they should win.

It’s understandable if a kicker misses a 40 yard field goal or longer.  However, when a kicker misses a short 25 or 30 yard field goal, it’s completely unacceptable.  Missing an extra point is unpardonable.  Kickers need to understand that they need to work as hard as anyone else on the team to be ready to execute the tasks they are asked to perform during a game.  We’re all going to make mistakes, but missing a short field goal is something a kicker should not do during a game.  One cannot even begin to defend a kicker who misses an extra point.

We’re learning just how valuable kickers are to the game of football.

When punting the ball, it’s essential for kickers to make an effective punt to put the opposing offense in a spot on the field that is unfavorable for the opposing team.  During the kickoff, they need to put the ball in a spot that is going to make it most difficult for the opposing team to be able to get good field position.

Many coaches are going to have to put greater emphasis on establishing and maintaining a good kicking game.  While we don’t want to cause a kicker to commit suicide because of a missed field goal or extra point that resulted in a loss for his team, coaches are going to have make sure that a kicker is just as ready for each game as any other player is.

While most people who desire to play football want to be a quarterback, running back, wide receiver, or some other high profile position player, it’s a good time for you to become a kicker because you could make a significant amount of money right now, considering there’s a dearth of good kickers currently playing the game.

If you have a good kicker on your team, make sure you let him know how much you appreciate him.  If you have a struggling kicker on your team, then let him know how vital his improvement is to your team being able to be successful.

Antonio Maurice Daniels

University of Wisconsin-Madison

You Were Just Convenient—Don’t Trip

You can make yourself look and feel like a fool when you think that a person was and is so mesmerized by you sexually—when in reality, he or she was just having sex with you just because you were available.  Some people think that because a person was asking and/or wanting to have sex with them a significant number of times means that he or she has an obsession.  If you’re this type of person, then you need to reconsider your thinking.  If a person has a high sex drive or is just looking for affection because there is really not many options available in the area, then you’ve got to understand that it’s not really about how great you are, but more about you being able to supply the person’s needs.  Therefore, don’t go around thinking that you’re all that because the person was desiring you so much—he or she could have been just using you for sex, and you’re going around thinking that he or she just cannot get enough of you.

You have to understand that people have sexual needs and when options to have sex are limited, you may just be their means to an end.

While you are out telling people that the person is obsessed with you, you must have been obsessed with the person too because you were willing to have sex with him or her so many times.  Did you ever think about this?  Did the thought ever cross your mind that you were the one getting dominated and played?

Just because someone asked and/or wanted to have sex with you a significant number of times does not mean that you are a good sexual performer.  Again, if he or she has limited options available, then you are just his or her most reasonable option to having sexual intercourse.  Now, when people have extremely high sex drives, they may try to get sex from almost anyone available.  Therefore, you could be that person who was just available to help them satisfy their sexual appetite.

For those of you who think that you are some type of sexual prize, you might need to reconsider your thinking. You might just be someone’s useful idiot.  Did you ever consider that you are and/or have been someone’s useful idiot?

Things are not always what they seem.

Excessive arrogance can cause you to overestimate your sexual worth.  It can cause you to not try to make yourself better each time you have sex.  Therefore, while you thought that you were providing the individual with the greatest sexual experience that he or she has ever had each time you had sex, you really were not because your excessive arrogance led you to never ask how you performed.

If you’re a whore, that is, you have had sex with so many people, then you should not be parading around like you’re something special.  Please! Everyone in town has probably slept with you.  What’s special about you now?

Be careful about thinking that everybody wants you.  It can be that they see you’re just easy and always available.  Do you feel so arrogant now?

Antonio Maurice Daniels

University of Wisconsin-Madison

Honor Second Chances With Your Ex

If you messed up with someone you once was in a serious relationship with and he or she gives you another chance, then you certainly should not revert to doing the same things that caused the person to break up with you the first time you were in a relationship.  You cannot argue about the person needs to trust you when you’re doing the same things that ended your previous relationship with him or her.  Yes, if your ex has agreed to take you back, then he or she should be willing to trust you again and not immediately start accusing you of wrongdoing.  However, you cannot engage in the same practices that resulted in the termination of your first relationship with him or her.  If you do, then it’s justified for him or her to question you about potential wrongdoing(s).

For instance, if the reason your ex broke up with you in the past was you cheated on him or her, then you would not want to be in the bed with him or her at 3:00 a.m. texting.  This is completely unacceptable.  If the reason why your ex broke up with was you were spending the majority of your time with your friends and not enough with him or her, you might not want to make that same mistake again.  It already takes a significant amount of courage for your ex to take you back after you have done something wrong for him or her to break up with you in the past, so you have to be very considerate about the things you do during your newly established relationship.  Avoid giving your partner even the slightest impression that you’re involved in wrongdoing.

Open and frank communication is mandatory to establishing and maintaining a successful relationship.  Many of the phenomena that couples fuss about would never evolve into problems if they would establish open and frank communication.

If you want your newly formed relationship with your ex to have a chance to succeed, you also need to avoid telling him or her lies.  You need to tell your partner the truth even when it seems like telling the truth is impossible.  Please don’t lie about small things.  If you have to lie about small things, then your partner will have a difficult time trusting anything you say and do.  Of course, without trust your relationship will end quickly.

Focus on the positive things that led you and your partner to reunite.  Far too often, we concentrate primarily on the negative and not enough on the positive.  Now, if there are not enough positive things for you and your partner to focus on, then just save yourselves a whole lot of trouble and don’t reunite.  Your relationship will be doomed from the beginning if you don’t have enough positive things to concentrate on.

Before you make an attempt to reunite with your ex, be sure that you’re mentally, physically, and spiritually prepared.  It can be a beautiful thing to reunite with your ex, and it can be an ugly thing to reunite with your ex when you’re not prepared to do so.

Antonio Maurice Daniels

University of Wisconsin-Madison