In my opinion the world needs more people like Gordon Tsai. Gordon is this visionary real estate investor/developer whom I had the good fortune to meet when I participated in the Dream Community parade, in Shijr City Taiwan, in 2005.
The Dream Community is something else, I see they have a website now, check it out:
http://www.dccep.org/page1/page1.html
That's Gordon, in the center of the photo covered in green body paint.
Gordon is what I was talking about yesterday, about self-made rich people who are benevolent and kind. Despite being born into a poor family, Gordon has been able to use his savvy real estate investing skills to literally make his dream come true. Gordon is a true philanthropist and has used his wealth to try to enrich the lives of people not only in his community, from other countries. As you'll see in his site, his real estate development includes a puppet theatre, and a cafe which hosts a performance space, and he puts on an annual community art parade inspired from his own travels to the USA. Sustainable living is part of it, despite being in an urban area the development has milking goats, free run chickens and a windmill.
Because of the people I got to know working on community art projects in BC and Washington state, in 2005 I was one of over 30 artists from around the world who traveled to Shijr City to make puppets, give workshops, and help create that year's parade. Thanks to Gordon I had my travel paid for, a weekly stipend, and accommodation from a very kind host family. Unfortunately I lost all my pics of this experience in my house fire in 2007.
Oh wait, but I found this article online, the 3rd photo in it is of me wearing a papier mache octopus on my head! Thanks, internet, thanks, Taipei Times:
http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/feat/archives/2005/10/14/2003275786
I made a giant squid as well, which Gordon ended up using as a headdress for the parade, wearing only black speedos and blue body paint as he ran all around the parade like a nut. Wouldn't it be fun if some of the big real estate developers in Halifax were more like Gordon?
Anyhow the importance of community art and music and festivals will the the topic of future posts, today's idea "Let's All Raise Our Expectations" is meant to be another big picture thinking one.
So I'll point at the example of Gordon and say, hmm, look at all the fun you can have if you have a pile of money. Linking back to yesterday's topic, I'd postulate that folks with big piles of money have the ability to convert it into wealth, and help others increase their wealth.
So my point today is maybe everybody, if only for a short time, needs to remember what their big dream is, and we can all raise our expectations.
I'll admit that I bought into that whole "uh oh, Mayan Calendar, end of world, everyone to the basement with your bushels of supplies and tin foil hats". Not that I really did much at all to prep, so I wouldn't have lasted long. I just wondered if maybe this would be it. But look, we're all still here. So now I'm thinking well maybe this is a beginning of better days. Because this is a more relaxing thought than the alternative "the end is still nigh" thought.
And I've realized that I'm pretty much living my ideal life; which I dreamed up back in 2003, when after 6 weeks of working what I thought was my full time "dream job" there had to be a better way to live than spending 40 hours of my week in a room with windows that don't open. It took 9 years of planning, and what is ideal for me sure won't be for others, but I really feel like I realized a dream.
The other thing I've realized, is the more people who live their dreams (like Gordon) and accumulate wealth doing it, the more people they can help realize their dreams (look at all the artistic types Gordon is subsidizing on his own, look at all the people he's providing with affordable housing) by sharing this wealth, and so on and so on, like that shampoo commercial from the 70's where you're supposed to tell 2 friends how great your shampoo is. Hmmm. Young people reading this blog won't have any idea what I'm talking about, so look, here's the commercial:
So today's idea which might be uncomfortable, is, let's all dream the impossible dream and figure out exactly how we'd want our lives to look and how we'd want the province to look, and go for it. I'm guessing most people would want things that are easy on the planet and good for the community, um, at least I hope so.
Anyways it would beat everyone sulking around thinking must extract resources, must make money, must pay bills... life is hard... what does everyone really want to be? or do? Not what would be a good job or what would make money, but what do you really want? Because I think each person has something inside of them that longs for some perfect way to express themselves and/or live. You might have to use a 'good job that makes money' for a period of time to get there, but it is all part of the process.
There's a tonne of 'self help new age' type stuff out there but I'm really taken by these readings of two books by Wallace Wattles. These are books written in the early 1900's that formed the inspiration for "The Secret". I'm not saying that anything I'm posting on my blog is perfect or the gospel, but the links I've been collecting are all interesting food for thought.
I think it's possible to get rich and not only not be a jerk about it, but to actually help others. Look at Oprah, or the example I gave of Gordon Tsai. I think the key to creating sustainable societies is to help those who have figured out how to get rich, see the value in helping others (who may have skills or dreams that are less likely to generate money) get wealthy, rather than focusing on exploiting people and the environment for the sake of accumulating more money, and then hoarding that money for the sake of having a pile of money.
By helping others get wealthy, I'm not referring just to charity (I have a concept of "uncharity" I'll explain in a future post), but to the act of setting up sustainable systems that would permit others to follow their dreams. In Gordon's case it was having this real estate empire where part of his wealth was allocated to hosting international artists, providing them with an incredible experience. In return the artists added to the cultural fabric he was building around his development. Because he values and loves community art, even though the artists took his money rather than gave him money, they contributed to his wealth and quality of life (because he LOVES running around in body paint in a big community arts parade). Another "symbiotic relationship".
Maybe more environmentally and socially conscious people should consider becoming rich...(in socially responsible ways).
So now some videos:
1. The Science of Getting Rich - Wallace Wattles, 1910
2. The Science of Being Great - Wallace Wattles, 1910
There a few motivational speaker types I've stumbled across whom I enjoy watching. Jim Rohn and Zig Ziglar are my two favourites; I just love their voices. They both seem to share that 'anything is possible' attitude, with good advice on how to become successful.
Jim Rohn - walk away from the 97%
Jim Rohn - Best Life Ever
Zig Ziglar - prime the pump
And I'll end this post with one of my very favourite quotes:
"You can have everything in life you want, if you will just help other people get what they want" - Zig Ziglar
Oh wait, there's more, may as well throw in the classic "Think and Grow Rich" by Napolean Hill:
and this super great quote:
“Whatever the mind can conceive and believe, it can achieve.” - Napolean Hill
Think and Grow Rich - Napolean Hill (written 1937)
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