Prosperity: The Choice Is Yours
August 15, 2003
The Long Shot That Captured America's Heart
By: Dave Cole
In the 1930's the realities of the Great Depression
drove deep into most men's hearts. At the time the
average American worker was earning about $500 a year.
At least those who were fortunate to find work.
Times were hard, there was little to cheer about.
Adolph Hitler was in the news and everyone knew
trouble was brewing in the world.
Ten years of hardship had just passed, the hardest
economic times in our history. Americans needed something.....
something that they could relate to, something that they
could find hope in.....something that would give them encouragement.
Encouragement....hope.....faith, that the little guy
could pull out of this depression and make a go of it,
that men who were formerly down and depressed could
come from behind and make a decent life for himself
and his family.
America found it's hero in a rather unique form.
A horse named Seabiscuit.
He had short legs, asymmetrical knees that didn't
quite straighten all the way giving him a crouching
stance and an odd, inefficient "eggbeater" gait
that one writer likened to a duck waddle.
No one ever thought Seabiscuit would amount to much,
his career had been noteworthy only in its appalling rigor.
Seabiscuit was a horse that no one really wanted.
Yet, he had something inside of him that was inherited
from his grandfather, the immortal racehorse,
Man O' War. That something was a tenacity, a bull dog
determination..... a spirit of winning.
With that spirit and the determination and patience
of his owner, trainer and jockey, Seabiscuit began winning.
Seabiscuit was something that folks could relate to.
Something that had been given little chance of ever
succeeding, something that had a lot of problems
and adversity to overcome.....Seabiscuit was now
the little guy who came from behind and beat the odds.
Seabiscuit gave people hope. Hope that they too could
come from behind and win in life.
In 1937 Seabiscuit garnered more newspaper column
than Hitler, Mussolini, Roosevelt, Churchill, or any
other public figure. He had won 10 major events, broken
5 track records and taken in the most winnings of
any race horse that year....yet he was not named
Horse of the Year.
An eastern black beauty that had won the Triple Crown
named War Admiral was instead, picked as Horse of the Year.
But, Seabsicuit was rapidly becoming the heart throb
of America. His owner, Charles Howard was a worthy
salesman who knew how to "play the press" ...
America soon clamored for a match up.
Seabiscuit & War Admiral Race
On November 1, 1938 the two horses went head to head on
a small race track that held just 16,000 seats.
By race time there were 30,000 fans in the stands
and another 10,000 in the infield. The rest of
America virtually shut down to listen to the broadcast.
Even President Roosevelt delayed a press conference
to listen.
It was no contest. Seabiscuit hit the finish 4 full
lengths in front and had ran the race in near world
record time.
The little horse from nowhere, the little guy with
the wobbly gait, the horse nobody wanted, beat War Admiral,
the big strong guy with all the right moves and with
the big money behind him.....Seabiscuit had become the long
shot that captured America's hearts.
By the end of 1938, Seabiscuit had won 33 races,
set 16 track records and equalled another. He was
literally worth his weight in gold, having earned
a world record $437,730, nearly 60 times his purchase
price.
With the looming war in the papers, America now
had something they could relate to, something that
gave them the hope and determination they needed
to understand and know they could survive whatever
would soon come and know that they could come out
of the Great Depression on top and victorious.
We all need something to believe in, we all can relate
to the little guy who comes from behind, the one
who is forgotten and made fun of and who nobody
really gives a chance to make it....the long shot
that overcomes and makes good.
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Prosperity Newsletters
You can read all of our past newsletters online here:
http://www.choosetoprosper.com/ezine_archives.html
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Now Is The Only Time You Have
OPPORTUNITY IS ALL AROUND YOU
"The people that really succeed in the world
are the people who get up and look for the
circumstances they want, and, if they can not
find them, they make them.
The lure of the distant and the difficult is
deceptive. The great opportunity in your life
is where you are right now. Properly perceived,
every situation becomes an opportunity for you.
Your destiny is not a matter of chance, it is a
matter of your choice. It is not something you
wait for, but rather something you achieve with effort.
You develop opportunity by applying persistence
to your possibilities. Opportunity is all around you.
Look for it, and you will find it.?
Author Unknown
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Success or Failure
You always have the choice to move toward success
or toward failure. . .
* S-ense of direction
* U-nderstanding
* C-ourage
* C-harity
* E-steem
* S-elf-confidence
* S-elf acceptance
* F-rustration
* A-ggressiveness
* I-nsecurity
* L-oneliness
* U-ncertainty
* R-esentment
* E-mptiness
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Your Prosperity: Market Bulletin
You may be searching for your first opportunity, or
for something to add to your portfolio, we believe that
multiple streams of income are important with any online
business.
NOTE: all paid ads will also be put up on our web
page. This will increase your exposure significantly and do it
for a long term.
This will also be a tremendous benefit to you because
as Google spiders our web pages, your sites will achieve
higher rankings because of the links we carry back to you.
*****************************************
Leave You With a Laugh.....
The Indians asked their Chief in autumn if the winter was
going to be cold or not. Not really having an answer, the
chief replies that the winter was going to be cold and that
the members of the village were to collect wood to be prepared.
Being a good leader, he called the National Weather Service and asked,
"What type of winter could they expect this year?"
The man on the phone responded, "This winter was going to
be quite cold indeed."
So the Chief went back to speed up his people to collect even
more wood to be prepared. A week later he called the National
Weather Service again, "Is it going to be a very cold winter?"
"Yes", the weatherman replied, "its going to be a very cold winter."
So the Chief goes back to his people and orders them
to go and find every scrap of wood they can find.
Two weeks later he calls the National Weather Service
again: "Are you absolutely sure that this winter is going to be very cold?"
"Absolutely," the weatherman replies,
"You can tell because the Indians are collecting wood like crazy!"
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