Lead, Follow, or, Get Out Of The Way!

 

LEAD, FOLLOW, OR,

GET OUT OF THE WAY!

Written by Jim “Gymbeaux” Brown, December 18, 2021 

It was Thomas Paine who said, “Lead, follow, or get out of the way.”  Yep, it was THE Thomas Paine who said that in the late 1700’s.

It was Gymbeaux who in the 1990’s wrote, “You can lead, you can follow, you can get out of the way, or you can sit alongside the road and throw stones at those who are leading, following or staying out of the way.”  Yep, I wrote it.

Now it is 2012, January to be exact, and in his book “Chasing Daylight” author Erwin Raphael McManus writes:

“Somewhere along the way, out of desperation, I began to ask the same people who identified the need to become a part of the solution.  The response was almost always uniform: ‘Oh, no, not me.  I just felt it was important to point out the need.’  This is where sideliners are particularly lethal.  They have so much time to watch life go by that they have a great view of all the problems, which inspires them, especially when they assume their role in life is to point out what’s wrong.  They conclude that their contribution is at best to suggest solutions and then sit back and evaluate how well we are doing.  If you’re not careful, sideliners can move you by need, control you with guilt, and leave you dead from exhaustion.”

What does McManus mean when he refers to “sideliners”?  He describes how a great many people are perfectly satisfied to sit on the sidelines rather than get into the game and maybe take a few risks in doing so, maybe kick the winning field goal, sink the winning shot, drive in the winning run, make the million-dollar sale, or, write the bestselling book - you get the picture.  I think McManus would find out that “sideliners” make up most if not all of the 80%, in reference to the 80/20 rule.  Think about it.  For every project there are 2 out of 10 who get involved; really get involved.  The remaining 8, as I interpret McManus, are satisfied to sit back or would prefer to point out what the minority of 2 are doing wrong and then resume their position on the side of the road and wait for the 2 to make the course corrections needed to satisfy the gang of 8.

As much as I like the above excerpt from Chasing Daylight, I prefer what I wrote in the 1990’s, let me repeat it in case you-know-who did not originally pick up on it:

“You can lead, you can follow, you can get out of the way, or you can sit alongside the road and throw stones at those who are leading, following or staying out of the way.” 

Not a lot has changed since Paine in the 1700s, Gymbeaux in the 1990s and McManus in 2012.  On this the occasion of 2021 coming to a close and 2022 about to open, the 80/20 rule still applies but the terminology has changed to meet the demands of today’s fading culture definitions.  Today you are either AWAKE (the 20%) or you are ASLEEP (the 80%).

I don’t know if school children still read the book The Remarkable Story of Chicken Little originally written by John Greene Chandler in 1840, but they should.  In case you haven’t read it, the story is about a chicken that goes around warning people about things that are not true.  Then when the chicken discovers something horrible that is true, no one believes the chicken.  I believe that is where the phrase, “the sky is falling” originated.

I know exactly how Chicken Little must have felt because I read the book, The Naked Communist written by W. Cleon Skousen.  The book first identifies The Communist Party USA and how it existed in 1958 (and still does) and how the Party identified 45 specific goals that if achieved, the Party will have effectively overthrown America without firing a shot.  If you would like to read all 45 objectives, check them out at:  http://www.rense.com/general32/americ.htm

Just like Chicken Little, few if anyone believed me when I tried to warn them of what was happening throughout America based on what was written in The Naked Communist.  If anyone believed me, they didn’t convey that fact to me.  I could see with my own eyes what was happening and year by year the specific objectives were being accomplished one-by-one.  The disgusting part was that Americans were helping them to achieve their goals thus making them to become the ”useful idiots” Karl Marx first identified.  Here is the definition of “useful idiots”:

In political jargon, a useful idiot is a derogatory term for a person perceived as propagandizing for a cause without fully comprehending the cause's goals, and who is cynically used by the cause's leaders.

A perfect example of this principle at work involves The Black Lives Matter movement, known as BLM.  BLM was founded by Marxist trained individuals.  On the surface, who would not agree that Black Lives Matter? Except for the most racist of racists, most people would think that BLM would be a good thing. In reality, actual racists are few and far between.  To make the movement work, the founders needed to disguise THEIR REAL CAUSE by cloaking it behind the many BLM chants and banners we have all seen in 2020 and 2021.  Yet if you actually looked at the BLM web site, their mission statement is not even close to what the BLM leaders and followers want the rest of the world to believe.  In other words, people “without fully comprehending the cause’s goals”, were “used by the cause’s leaders.”  You could not find a more perfect example. Also not known by many, if you actually went to the BLM web address, you were re-directed to the Democrat Party Donation Page.  What does that tell you?  I don’t know if it still a connect to the DNC but it was when I checked it.  Check it for yourself.  If it is still linked, they are dumber than I thought they are.

But it goes on!  I personally think that the largest group of “useful idiots” can be found within the Teacher’s Unions throughout America if not the world.  One of the 45 objectives of The Communist Party was to infiltrate teachers’ unions and more critical, define the curriculum that is being taught to our children.  None other than Soviet Union Leader Nikita Khrushchev, predicted that this was going to happen as described in The Naked Communist.  He believed what Vladimir Lenin said “Give me just one generation of youth, and I'll transform the whole world.” 

If you put the two together, you will discover that (1) our children have been taught for decades to dislike America, maybe even hate America, just as Lenin said and (2) the Communist Party HAS taken over the teachers’ unions in America.  Of course, that is my opinion but I share that opinion with a great many fellow Americans most of whom are in the 20%, not the 80%. 

If you are not familiar with the 80/20 Rule, it applies to everything!  For example, 80% of your achievements will come from just 20% of your efforts.  20% will work and achieve great results in school whereas 80% will do as little as possible and still graduate.  I recommend reading the book The 80/20 Principle: The Secret to Achieving More with Less, written by Richard Koch, it’s priceless.

ARE YOU PART OF THE 20% OR ARE YOU PART OF THE 80%?

ARE YOU SURE?

ARE YOU READY TO STAND UP AND DEFEND DEMOCRACY AND FREEDOM, THE 20%; OR, ARE YOU GOING TO SIT BY THE SIDE OF THE ROAD AS AMERICA TURNS INTO A COMMUNIST COUNTRY, THE 80%?  Me?  I’m definitely a member of the 20% group!

SPECIAL NOTE:  The day will come, sooner rather than later, when members of the 80% club will sit and wonder, what did he know, what did he read, what did he watch that I didn’t know, read or watch?