It Ain't Over Until It's Over ...Lessons in Tenacity..Victories in Uncertainties

It Ain't Over Unt il It 's Over !

Lessons in Tenacity Victories in Uncertainties

Reflection by Jim Killon

Did You Know?...

Colonel Harland Sanders was down to just his $105 a month social security check after he was forced to close his restaurant when the state rerouted the highway bypassing his place. He was out of the chicken restaurant business but he still had the essence of his success. The recipe. At 62 years old he went from restaurant to restaurant with his special recipe trying to convince owners to use it and pay him just four cents for every piece of chicken they sold. Over 1000 times he was rejected.

Then finally someone said yes. And another, and another. In 1965, Colonel Sanders sold his interest in Kentucky Fried Chicken for 2 million dollars (over $15 million in today's dollars) He retained a seat on the board of directors, received a $75,000 lifetime salary and remained the brand ambassador. Imagine if he quit when he reached his 999th rejection.

Whether business, personal, non-profit or in sports, persistence in the face of upsetting defeats and disappointments will help you to find a new and even better direction for your efforts. 2018 has been one tough year and it would be easy to accept defeat after defeat and walk off into the sunset. Changes for New Hope is my secret recipe and when rejected a thousand times I will re-adjust, jettison what doesn't work, find what does and do it bigger and better going forward. If you are with us, feel the love. After all, it ain't over until it's over.

Have you ever had "One of those days?" Every traffic light is red, you button your shirt crooked and your shoes are on the wrong feet? How about one of those years?

2018 has provided more than its share of kicks in the head and I have been getting dizzy from them, let me tell you. Spoiler alert, this does have a happy ending, as all my stories do. I will even share the reason, in advance, that I am writing this story for you and that is, never give up. If you have a project, a business, a relationship or a passion in your life that suddenly, and inexplicably goes horribly off the rails, ask yourself if the idea was worth your effort to begin with (of course it was) and how horrific it would be to walk away from it, if that would be your choice. (of course it isn't)

2018 arrived on the heels of December's 2017's final disappointment with the benefit rock concert I had planned for the victims of the El Niño phenomenon which devastated the coast of Peru and left thousands homeless. Planners, the bands scheduled to play and the publicity organizer, just vanished, without a note or goodbye, into thin air and it had to be canceled. Those who lost everything in the devastation, still have not recovered and I was absolutely sick over it. Solutions were available and were just shrugged off. Apathy is humanity's most profound humiliation.

Then 2018 arrived. Chronologically, it unfolded like this; February our friend who has managed our website for eight years, was contacted to see why our website changesfornewhope.org suddenly and unexpectedly converted to changesfornewhope.weebly.com.

After several excuses, he went ghost, vanished, and left me to fend for myself. Thousands of followers could no longer find us. I found a new site builder and had to reconstructed everything into changesfornewhope.com. from scratch, regrowing our base again.

Then a long time friend and supporter of Changes for New Hope also vanished expectantly.

Victimes of the 2017 El Nino disatser

Not a word of explanation or a goodbye, just zap, a ghost. We had to find new support for the children that he had generously provided for many years. Not an easy task, let me tell you. And then, I got an email from my mother, now well into her nineties, saying she has been diagnosed with lung cancer. A week later she writes to tell me that my younger brother has also been diagnosed with colon cancer and the outlook is grim.

The community leaders at Secsecpampa, where we had our one group of children for over eight years, announced that they want their building back to store construction equipment and that we needed to vacate it. We did and finally decided that it was no longer conducive to have classes in a tiny room that a family offered us. Regrettably, Secsecpampa disbanded after serving several dozen children over the years. Donations have not been sufficient to acquire another location. In July, as you may have read in our August issue, I was viciously attacked in front of my home by two thugs for unknown reasons and was nearly beaten to death. Though I filed criminal charges, they in turn filed charges against me because I defended myself quite vigorously. Concerned friends advised me to leave the country and abandon everything here, however, I am dug in and refuse to surrender to issues just because it gets tough. In August a volunteer placement organization, that CNH has been partnered with in the U.S. for almost a decade, decided that "our values were not in alignment" anymore and terminated our relationship. I suppose that was based on my position that volunteers arriving with us need to be mentored to grow and learn. I believe that we have an obligation as leaders to be mentors. I considered their anemic efforts akin to a glorified puppy mill that collects significant fees from potential volunteers and sends them off with little concern for what happens to them afterward.

A SILVER LINING YET?

Add these factors to the day to day occurrences that life, anywhere for anyone, deals with and you might imagine that I would be at the breaking point. I mean, what the hell, I had a good run. Almost ten years in Peru, almost 4000 children are living better lives because of what we have done for them. Six books written, eight art exhibitions, five in national museums, this successful magazine, winning the David Chow Humanitarian Award. In nine years I have done more than the next twenty organizations with a fraction of the support or boots on the ground help. Now it all seems to be coming to an end, involuntarily. At age 62, social security will support me comfortably in Peru, my residency card is on its way so I never have to leave. I could retire, live my life selfishly, maybe even travel and have some incredible memories of those wonderful children over these last many years.

But that's not the way I'm wired !

Sure, I get disappointed just like anybody else. I am human too and feel depression just like we all do. The difference between a humanitarian hero and everybody else however, is we get back up. Too many people are counting on us while others may be trying to count us out. Solutions exist. If I am looking for them, I will find them. I always have.

The Silver Lining!

After years of our project being an after school program, I decided we can be far more effective and reach thousands of new children by focusing on anti-parasite/ vitamin campaigns at schools and communities throughout the Ancash region of Peru. Our target is 10,000 children. Anemia rates of 54% (and higher in rural areas) will no doubt be greatly reduced. Narcissistic international volunteers will be replaced with local teachers and community leaders with a vested interest in our progress. After my attack, I have healed up completely. As it turns out my attacker has a previous criminal history for assault, making his claim that I attacked him ludicrous. The volunteer puppy mill that jettisoned us will be featured in an upcoming article with, no apologies. What are we going to do for donations? In 2019 we have a fund raising event planned in the Boston area with the kindness of a country club there and in Caraz we are planning a 3 day international retreat to teach mindfulness, meditation, personal growth and development, living to your fullest potential. Limitlessness. This monthly magazine will continue to be printed and reach thousands and we finally will be developing YouTube videos about success in life regardless of the obstacles. Never give up, live large my friends, live deliberately . Always!