One time I took my family on a death march.

The day started out as a normal walk in the park. The three of us loaded up the car with the dogs, Scout and Isis. It was one of those really hot days. Add to that, the stifling humidity, and it was one of those types of days that old people die. It was really hot, so I made sure to bring a backpack full of water. There was enough to keep three humans and two dogs hydrated for hours.

We started on the trail, and we were having a great time. In the suffocating heat, we seemed to go through the water pretty quickly. That was cool, because it sure lightened the load in the backpack I was carrying. I figured that the trail we were on made a 4 or 5 mile loop back to where we started.

You see, there eventually came a point where we were deep in the woods, exhausted and out of water. We saw no sign of the end.

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Life can throw some curve balls at you. You can either get caught up in the frustration of it all, or you can use it as an opportunity to make something extraordinary. What follows is a story of how I did exactly that.

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What are the “politics of empowerment?”

To explain the politics of empowerment, it’s probably easiest to start with what it isn’t. It isn’t the competitive model.

The competitive model says that for A to win, B must lose. For B to win, A must lose. It often does work that way in specific areas of life, but the pattern falls apart when applied to life itself, as a whole. In other words, if a company has 1 open position and 10 applicants, it fits the competitive model. Nine applicants lose and only one wins. In a football game, one team wins, and the other loses.

Life itself does not work this way. It’s a common misconception to apply this thought pattern to life itself. As a result, people think that if someone is wealthy and successful, that person must have done so through betrayal, selfishness, and other unethical means. Worse yet, it cripples others who actually fear success because of this societal lie that’s been constantly programmed into our culture. Yes, people actually fear success because they think the rest of society will suffer as a result.

It simply doesn’t work that way.

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