Book: Escape The System. Author: Joe Barnes From: Surrey, UK When I first discovered Escape The System, by Joe Barnes, I thought it was going to be a typical 'How to get rid of a job you hate' instruction manual. Instead, I was very surprised to find something so much deeper than the usual fare. This book is about how to deprogram yourself from society's conditioning so that you can live life on your terms, follow your dreams and be a change agent in our world. Joe goes to great lengths to explain how 'The System' can keep you from pursuing your dreams and what you can expect if you either submit to it or challenge it. The System, in this case, is society's laws, customs, guidelines, rules, traditions, best practices, politics and values. Its influence is vast, pervasive, insidious, covering all areas of society (human relations, educational, governmental, religious & corporate institutions, popular culture, fashion, news and current opinion.). This System demands obedience, conformity and for its authority to go unchallenged. These values are forced fed to us the minute we are born until the moment of our death. It strongly encourages everyone to do the following: *American Dream: (birth. attend grade school. college. marry. get a big mortgage. buy SUV or minivan. have kids. work 40 years. shop. retire. die.). If you don't follow this path, you risk being labelled as ....... (fill in the blank) and relegated to the fringes of society economically and socially. *Church: submit completely to God/Jesus/Allah/Buddha/Zeus/Neo/Apollo and you will be allowed in heaven. If not, your non-compliance ensures eternal damnation in the afterlife. *School: be obedient. truth comes from authority. stay within the lines. be reasonable. memorize this. pass these tests. go to the next level. Or we will label you, flunk you and cast you aside. *Work: get a good job. be obedient. work long hours. multitask. keep your head down. climb the corporate ladder. retire at 65. receive a gold watch. do otherwise and you will be terminated. and The System and your peers will consider you a loser and/or stupid. In and of itself there is nothing wrong with following these institutions or their ideals. If that is what you truly desire. The author persuasively argues that we are constantly being sold this pre-package lifestyle throughout our lives complete with 'vanilla' priorities, ideas and opinions. *Spouses sold separately. So this begs the obvious question. How do we tell if we truly believe something or been sold the beliefs we hold? This is a great book for those who don't fit in, original thinkers, dreamers, free spirits, visionaries, superheroes, artists, designers and people who want to make the world a better place. Buy it today and finally escape the system. Click here. Visit Joe's website www.screwthesystemnow.com Follow Dwayne on Facebook for all of his latest reviews. #escapethesystemnow #amazon Joe Barnes
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By Dwayne Williams Most people don't know the Reginald Lewis Story. And those few that do usually focus on how rich he was. In 1992, a year before his death, he was the 246th richest person in America, according to Forbes Magazine. His real legacy, in my opinion, is that anything is possible if you put your mind to your goals and truly commit yourself to achieving them with action. As you will see in the paragraphs ahead, he used creativity, moxie and grit to blow past all expectations considering where he started from. Personally, he is one of my all time favourite heroes. I've read 3 books on this man. And he was absolutely magnificent throughout his whole life. There's a lot to cover. So let's get on with it.
Reginald really became Reginald Lewis in high school. He was star quarterback of the school's football team with a winning record. When he graduated, he earned a football scholarship to Virginia State University, a historically black college in Richmond, Virginia. Where he continued his winning ways. But as fate would have it, he hurt his knee, permanently sidelining his career and ending his scholarship. Depressed. He sulked around for a while before rededicating himself to his studies. Eventually, he shot up to the top of his class academically. Near the end of his senior year in college, his counsellor informed him of a new 3 month program that Harvard University had for black students to take classes over the summer. The aim of this program was to help them gain experience at a ivy league school and use it to apply to graduate schools. He readily accepted. He and other top students from black colleges across the nation spent the summer as quasi students of Harvard University. Reginald loved everything about the most prestigious school in the world. As the program was ending in late August, he confided to a few of his classmates that he was going to Harvard in the fall. They thought he was crazy. Somehow, someway he was determined to get into Harvard Law School. So as his fellow classmates were leaving, he stayed behind and signed up for law school classes along with the incoming regular students that fall. Reginald was attending classes for a couple of months before Harvard Admissions Department finally caught up with him. A meeting was scheduled. He had a lot of explaining to do. "Why are you still here?" and "Why should we let you stay?" All involved said that he was well prepared for those questions. Opposition melted as he gave very detailed reasons why he belonged at Harvard University. By the end of this meeting, he was invited to stay on by an all white admission committee. As a result of Reginald Lewis's actions in the fall of 1966, he is the ONLY student in Harvard Law School entire 200 year history, to be accepted into the college WITHOUT filling out an application. Later when he became a massive success in the business world, he donated $5 million dollars to this law school (the largest single donation at the time). After his death, they named the law school after him - The Reginald F. Lewis International Law Center. He also has a museum dedicated to his life and career at Virginia State University, which he gave a million dollars to. |
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November 2020
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