A Little Manifesto for A Little Revolution

EDITOR'S NOTE: Today's post comes from guest, Carleton Christianson O'Kristenson, businessperson, fly-fisherman, seeker of the inner revolutionary.
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You want to lead a revolution, big or small? The thing you gotta do is surround yourself with great revolutionaries.

People who are All-In People.

Zealots who commit. Who don't think they're a revolutionary. But who know how to act like they are.

People who know they're gonna take a bullet when their boat hits the beach and the ramp crashes open like the greatest of the great generation.

There's no blinking in revolutions.

No "Where's the data?"

No "What proof do you have?"

No "What's the poll say?" or "What am I investing in and can you show me how it's going to compare to the yield my muni-bond fund gets?"

No, you want people who know the world's a revolution. Who know you triumph or you get killed. Who don’t deliberate when the clarion calls. Whose love loves the idea of a good world always becoming a better place.

Always.

Whose heart beats to an inner bass drum, booming deep inside them somewhere, pounding to a loud two-count, Boom-Boom, Boom-Boom, as they march in-step with sisters and brothers shouting an anthem succinct, pumping and driving life into your every step.

We Are!

Boom-boom.

All In!

Boom-Boom.

You want to be a great revolutionary then you better man-and-woman-up with fearless people who get that fear is not just a part of the deal. You need people who get that fear is the whole enchilada for them and everyone around them.

You want, you need, people who’ll look that demon in the eye on the hour, every hour of the day and say, "Yeah I see you're still there you no good, worthless, piss-ant. No doubt about that. Go ahead have your run of my soul but here's the deal demon, you don't matter cuz there's only one way this is gonna work out. I win. You lose. Now enjoy the ride, demon. I’m goin' all in."

We Are!

Boom-Boom.

Fear-less.

Boom-Boom.

When you size-up your brothers-and-sisters-in-arms, make sure your vetting gets to the most important question first. That question being:

"You scared?"

"No way," most of folks will say.

If so, you oughta run fast because they're full of bull-shitake mushrooms. They’re not All-In'ers. They'll blink exactly at the wrong moment. And in the end, these frauds don't give a rip about saving your butt or anyone else's butt except their own.

You want sisters and brothers who can't sleep at night. Passionate, disciplined. Intense, self-controlled. "Smash-cinderblocks-in-the-basement-and-anything-else-that-needs-to-be-stomped-on-and-broken-through-without-breaking-a-sweat-or-losing-control-or-losing-faith" kind of comrades.

Yes, you'll also need humor and a group of some-bodies you're gonna be eager to wake up to and look at every morning. And that means eager to be looking at good and close, eyeball-to-eyeball, arm-in-arm, shoulder-to-shoulder. Ask yourself, “Do I really want to get that tight with that brother and that sister?”

If the answer’s not “HELL, YES!!!” then you should move on.

You need people who get that there’s one thing, and only one thing for sure, about the world: Revolution's the thing.

Christ died for it. Darwin made a science of it. Now, lucky us, we get a shot to live it.

Revolution's been going on since we crawled out of the swamp and grew lungs on land.

And guess what?

New living, breathing, pulsing life is growing all around us, always getting pumped full of new energy, fresh purpose, forming in places we never imagined, or worse, hoped would never take hold and worked hard to keep beyond line of sight.

But, there’s no stopping the revolution. So, no sense playing safe now, amigo. We don't save our souls by saving ourselves. No, we save our souls when we give in and get on with it, giving ourselves up to Something Bigger than us, transforming, transubstantiating our substances to that point of no return when we roll over and go all in –We Are. Boom-boom. Fear-less. Boom-Boom. – with and for the love of your sisters and brothers.

Face it, my game and your game will be over before either of us ever know why they started in the first place. Time now to let it roll and get on with it, get on with the revolutionary in you, in me.

Revolutions' big and small are the thing right now. They're saying, "There's only three places to be. Find, join, or start a cause. Then get on with the march!"

We Are.

Fear-less.

Boom boom.

All In.

Boom boom.


--C.C. O'Kristenson

EDITOR'S NOTE: Today's post comes from guest, Carleton Christianson O'Kristenson, who was born in March 2011 in a Starbucks in Minneapolis and currently serves as the main character in my soon-to-be-released business parable, THE CHIEF REVOLUTIONARY OFFICER. Har har.



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