| In 1937 Napoleon Hill published his now famous book, | | | | Hill has the answer in Think and Grow Rich where he |
| 'Think and Grow Rich.' This book was published and | | | | predicts: "The business depression of the Great |
| sold in the midst of the Great Depression, which | | | | Depression marked the death of one age and the |
| spanned ten years from 1929 to 1939. Think and | | | | birth of another. This changed world requires practical |
| Grow Rich took 25 years to complete as its author | | | | dreamers who can and will put their dreams into |
| studied and interviewed over 500 of the world's | | | | action. The practical dreamers have always been, and |
| most successful people of its time. As a result, Think | | | | always will be the pattern-makers of civilization." |
| and Grow Rich, has been and continues to be a best | | | | Is this who we are, the "pattern-makers of |
| seller of all times, selling 30 million copies. It is the first | | | | civilization?" The world as Obama asks needs each |
| of its genre in "personal-success" literature during an | | | | and every one of us to do our part in restoring |
| era, which launched North America, Europe, and other | | | | America and our own lives to the greatness and |
| industrialized nations into an economic slump of such | | | | prosperity we deserve. Are we all, including Obama, |
| magnitude that by 1933 11,000 of the U.S. 25,000 | | | | the first black man to run for the presidency and win, |
| banks had failed, and massive unemployment | | | | "practical dreamers" capable of rising to the |
| continued to rise. In our present recession, it seems | | | | challenges of Obama and Hill in a time when past and |
| America and the world has revisited the past. | | | | present have collided, and our future depends on us? |
| Perhaps, it is also time to revisit this landmark book | | | | "We must catch the spirit of the great pioneers of |
| and gain insights, once again, to how all of us young | | | | the past," says Hill, and become pioneers of the |
| and old, rich and poor, black, white, Asian, etc. can | | | | present and future. |
| contribute to and gain from the current economic | | | | Let us again exam Numerology's number definitions |
| crisis personally and financially. | | | | as I did in my article, 'Obama and the Spirits of |
| October 29, 1929 (Black Tuesday) the stock market | | | | History,' against the dates and events of this article: |
| collapsed. In a single day 16 million shares traded and | | | | The recession years of 2007 = 9, 2008 = 10, and |
| 30 billion dollars simply vanished. Unemployment | | | | 2009 = 11=2. Nine means Completion (Bush's time |
| continued to drop for three years until 1932. | | | | almost up, wall street and big businesses, home |
| Franklin Delanor Roosevelt was elected President in | | | | mortgage crisis, banks collapsing, completing their |
| 1932 and introduced major changes in the structure | | | | cycle of misuse and abuse). Ten means Rebirth (out |
| of the American economy by increasing government | | | | with the old in with the new everything). And, 2 |
| regulations, and instituting massive public works | | | | means Balance, Union, Receptive, Yin (isn't this what |
| projects. By March of 1933 the nation is so desperate | | | | we believe Obama brings to the White House, to all |
| that Congress passes the Emergency Banking Act of | | | | individuals, to these issues). |
| 1933 to stabilize banking industry by backing it with | | | | October 29, 1929 - adds up to the #8, which means |
| the federal government. | | | | power and sacrifice. Is that not what occurred for |
| During this same time while the world and especially | | | | men and women everywhere in the overwhelming |
| America battled the Great Depression, Mother Nature | | | | power of the Dust Bowl and the Great Depression. |
| voiced her opinion on the greed and politics of man. | | | | Homes were sacrificed as people were uprooted and |
| In 1931 severe drought hit Midwestern and southern | | | | migrated like flocks of wild birds to unknown lands. |
| plains; crops die, dust blows everywhere. By 1932 | | | | This era of sacrifice and power lasted ten years. The |
| dust storms increase and America is gripped by what | | | | number 10 as previously stated means Rebirth. |
| becomes known as the Dust Bowl. The Dust Bowl | | | | America and the world had an opportunity to start |
| area spreads covering more than 75% of the | | | | again. To get it right. The depression improved in |
| country, affecting 27 states where men, women, | | | | 1939 due to WW II orders. The number 1939 adds |
| children must cover their faces with rags and their | | | | up to 4, which means Creation. It is a time to create |
| windows with wet sheets in an effort to not breathe | | | | and to restore the world. Yet, this comes on the |
| in the raging dust. Mother Nature continues this | | | | wages of a world war, of the creation of weapons |
| rampage until the end of the Depression in 1939 | | | | of destruction. Was this a cleansing so we could |
| when during the fall rains finally come down bringing | | | | begin anew? By 1941 America enters WW II and the |
| an end to the great drought. Along with it comes | | | | depression is officially over. 1941 adds up to 6 which |
| WW II, and an end to the Great Depression when | | | | means Reaction (which Americans did by entering the |
| unemployment improved as American factories | | | | war), Flux (where the entire world stood and the |
| flooded with overseas orders for armaments and | | | | war created), and Responsibility (of each and every |
| munitions. When will we learn and therefore apply the | | | | one of us for the past depression, the present war, |
| golden rule: Man and his environment are one. | | | | the future of our world). |
| What did we learn from all of this? Is war the only | | | | Napoleon Hill states: "Depression began to fade into |
| solution to peace and harmony, to countries, | | | | nothingness...as the spell of fear in the minds of the |
| economies, individuals working together for | | | | people gradually fade away and become Faith." His |
| themselves and others? In his second inaugural | | | | book encourages us to Think, use our minds to |
| address of 1937, F. D. Roosevelt states: "I see | | | | create and prosper, gives step-by-step guidance both |
| one-third of the nation ill-housed, ill-clad, ill-nourished.... | | | | within and without. He request we, "Take courage, |
| The test of our progress is not whether we add | | | | for these experiences have tempered the spiritual |
| more to the abundance of those who have much; it | | | | metal of which you are made-they are assets of |
| is whether we provide enough for those who have | | | | incomparable value." |
| little." Did we? | | | | Think and Grow Rich is much more than a How-To |
| The exact date of our current recession is still | | | | book. It is the book, which launched all other self-help |
| debated. Most believe it began in 2007 with the | | | | lectures, books, programs such as Tony Robbins, |
| presidency of George W. Bush, escalated into the | | | | Rich Dad, Poor Dad, The Secret, etc. Within its pages |
| wall-street meltdown of 2008, and being cleaned up | | | | are the necessary steps that each of us can take to |
| by the 2009 presidency of Barack Obama. | | | | get back and move forward, to reclaim and remake |
| In today's bleak circumstances where we verge on | | | | our lives. So, perhaps this new world we are once |
| the precipice of a Great Recession, our current | | | | again forging can be helped by an old story, a lasting |
| president, Barack Obama makes the following | | | | remedy that works and survives no matter what the |
| statements on March 27, 2009, at his first online | | | | times. Because as Obama continues to state in his |
| "Open for Questions" Town hall: "I've been working... | | | | online Town hall Meeting, "We, as a nation have |
| to ensure that we're not only making it through this | | | | already begun the critical work that will lead to our |
| crisis, but come out on the other side stronger and | | | | economic recovery. A recovery measured by |
| more prosperous as a nation over the long term." Will | | | | whether jobs are being created and families have |
| we? How do those of us facing a "come-back," begin | | | | more money to pay their bills.... in the end it's a |
| all over again? How do we convert our dreams and | | | | recovery measured by whether it lasts, whether it |
| ideas into money and see ourselves prospering as | | | | endures; ... whether we build our economy on a solid |
| Obama and Hill states is possible? Perhaps Napoleon | | | | foundation. |