Arel Moodie International (AMI)

What is Success? Who is Arel Moodie? Why Should I Care? These questions are answerd in this blog :)

Friday, January 23, 2009

Offering False Hope To a Nation?


“We’ve been asked to pause for a reality check, we’ve been warned against offering the people of this nation false hope, but in the unlikely story that is America there has never been anything false about hope.” - 44

There is nothing more powerful than finding the words that give us meaning, that give us purpose. There is nothing more powerful than the moment where things actually click in your mind and you finally get it. You finally get what you’ve been striving for, for so many years. You finally feel your inner pitch fork resonating on a frequency that reigns true in your heart. There is little that compares to understanding a message so powerful that you are moved to tears and you feel more “one” than you ever have before.

There are many messages out there of personal development and no one idea is any better than any other. The true importance is to hear a message in a way that will resonate within you, the messenger is only a conduit to bring electricity into your heart and into your actions. You may hear something a million times, and you may do something hundreds of times over, but when you finally “get it”, when you finally just get it, the power in that moment is unforgettable.

My individual mission in life is probably not very different than yours. Like you I strive to make this world a better place in the little way that I can, to touch lives and bring an inner strength to people that makes this life worth living not just for others but for ourselves as well.

After speaking at a conference in Long Beach California empowering the minds of educators, directors and youth to be proactive about this upcoming time in our lives, to not only want change but to actively pursue it and face the challenges with bravery and hope, countless people came up to me and told me that they needed that message, they told me how much meaning to their lives they received in just one hour, they told me how much more they believe that it’s possible. It was hearing people tell wholeheartedly that I was able to give them the needed inspiration, the proverbial “shot in the arm” to start being proactive instead of reactive that sparked inside of me. Something powerful that if it had a name I would share it with you, but it doesn’t or I haven’t found the words yet.

My message can be seen as common sense with uncommon wisdom. I believe where too many others go wrong is that they miss the “2 Phase Approach”. Phase 1 is The Why and Phase 2 is the How. I strive to not only provide my audiences with the Why to get them motivated and fired up but also with the How so they can take that energy and actually do something with it. Too many times we get fired up and lose momentum because we just don’t know what to do next, your mission and mine is to help lead people through the 2 phases, though both are independently and equally important in their own right.

As I sat on the Jet Blue ride back home, I listened to the “Yes We Can” song over and over again, and literally found tears rolling down my face like an avalanche of unstoppable emotion because I realized that those 3 little words, though simple and heard many times truly sums it up for me. Because I know that you and all the people I’m fortunate enough to encounter can. Can be what they want and who they want. Yes we can to opportunity and prosperity, Yes we can and Yes you can heal this nation but most importantly yes you can heal yourself. Never give up fighting for what you believe in, never.

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It is my passion and purpose to add value to people's lives. If you want an amazing Black History Month Presentation for your students? Check our Arel's newest addition Will You Be Remembered?

Tuesday, January 20, 2009

Could Obama’s Speech Be the Worst Ever?


As I was sitting in the airport getting ready to fly to California to speak to a group of educators and youth I was scrambling to get in front of a TV screen to watch the inauguration. Everything seemed to be not going the way I wanted. My flight was at 1pm which means I had to be in the airport for the big speech, the security line was long, and when I got to my gate the cnn.com live stream was so busy that I could not even log on. And when it finally did connect the live feed kept skipping. So far not the most ideal situation. Strike one.

Luckily in the terminal they had TVs playing the speech live but they had two TVs going in the same place with one having about a 5 second delay from the other so it was very distracting to focus in on what was saying. Strike two.

Finally I grabbed a rocking chair and placed myself right in front of the TV set to hear Obama speak. Here comes the third pitch and it was definitely NOT strike three. More like a home run. Was I disappointed? Absolutely NOT! I would be the biggest liar if I said this was one of the worst speeches ever, in fact this is probably going to go down in history as one of the most pivot and powerful public speeches of all time. Anyone who watched this speech knew that Obama kept true to his powerful and colorful language which helps paint a picture that all can see and believe.

I sat there focusing on what he was saying and as many of my fellow Americans probably felt Obama’s words were being spoken directly to me. His message was that of personal responsibility and forward movement to create the world and the life that we want. The underlying message seemed to be that we are a special people, a special nation that will allow its citizen’s to rise to the level of our individual ambition. We can build bonds amongst our brother abroad and fight those that want to destroy rather than build.

To imagine where we have come in just 60 years, from a place where someone like me could not be served in the same restaurant as my mother to becoming the president of this great nation is amazing. Think about how much can happen in such a short period of time, in as little as a year or just in one day.

What will you do to make the next phase of your life different then the last? No matter what your political post we all have one president and have witnessed history. What history will you make for yourself? What new level will you reach when you are feeling tired, upset, frustrated, feeling like hope is lost and you just don’t have what it takes to succeed. What will you choose to do? What action will you take to realize all is possible with the proper belief and the proper consistent action? What will you do to leave behind a legacy that is worth talking about. What proactive choices will you make to make your life what you feel it should be? Will you choose to look at the world with a clenched fist or an open hand?

If today proves nothing else, it is proof that anything is possible if you believe. Change will not come over night, but have resolve that it will come. Will you be a builder or a destroyer?

Do you want an amazing Black History Month Presentation for your students? Check our Arel's newest addition Will You Be Remembered?

Monday, January 19, 2009

Dreams Come True




I felt with the historical inauguration that is happening tomorrow, it would fitting to pay tribute to our past leaders of change. As I mention in my presentation on Leadership called "Will You Be Remembered?" You Can Either Excel At Making Things Happen or Making Excuses...Which One Will You Choose Today?

Watch The Video and Read Along, I think you owe it to yourself to be moved by this



I am happy to join with you today in what will go down in history as the greatest demonstration for freedom in the history of our nation.

Five score years ago, a great American, in whose symbolic shadow we stand signed the Emancipation Proclamation. This momentous decree came as a great beacon light of hope to millions of Negro slaves who had been seared in the flames of withering injustice. It came as a joyous daybreak to end the long night of captivity.

But one hundred years later, we must face the tragic fact that the Negro is still not free. One hundred years later, the life of the Negro is still sadly crippled by the manacles of segregation and the chains of discrimination. One hundred years later, the Negro lives on a lonely island of poverty in the midst of a vast ocean of material prosperity. One hundred years later, the Negro is still languishing in the corners of American society and finds himself an exile in his own land. So we have come here today to dramatize an appalling condition.

In a sense we have come to our nation's capital to cash a check. When the architects of our republic wrote the magnificent words of the Constitution and the declaration of Independence, they were signing a promissory note to which every American was to fall heir. This note was a promise that all men would be guaranteed the inalienable rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

It is obvious today that America has defaulted on this promissory note insofar as her citizens of color are concerned. Instead of honoring this sacred obligation, America has given the Negro people a bad check which has come back marked "insufficient funds." But we refuse to believe that the bank of justice is bankrupt. We refuse to believe that there are insufficient funds in the great vaults of opportunity of this nation. So we have come to cash this check -- a check that will give us upon demand the riches of freedom and the security of justice. We have also come to this hallowed spot to remind America of the fierce urgency of now. This is no time to engage in the luxury of cooling off or to take the tranquilizing drug of gradualism. Now is the time to rise from the dark and desolate valley of segregation to the sunlit path of racial justice. Now is the time to open the doors of opportunity to all of God's children. Now is the time to lift our nation from the quicksands of racial injustice to the solid rock of brotherhood.

It would be fatal for the nation to overlook the urgency of the moment and to underestimate the determination of the Negro. This sweltering summer of the Negro's legitimate discontent will not pass until there is an invigorating autumn of freedom and equality. Nineteen sixty-three is not an end, but a beginning. Those who hope that the Negro needed to blow off steam and will now be content will have a rude awakening if the nation returns to business as usual. There will be neither rest nor tranquility in America until the Negro is granted his citizenship rights. The whirlwinds of revolt will continue to shake the foundations of our nation until the bright day of justice emerges.

But there is something that I must say to my people who stand on the warm threshold which leads into the palace of justice. In the process of gaining our rightful place we must not be guilty of wrongful deeds. Let us not seek to satisfy our thirst for freedom by drinking from the cup of bitterness and hatred.

We must forever conduct our struggle on the high plane of dignity and discipline. We must not allow our creative protest to degenerate into physical violence. Again and again we must rise to the majestic heights of meeting physical force with soul force. The marvelous new militancy which has engulfed the Negro community must not lead us to distrust of all white people, for many of our white brothers, as evidenced by their presence here today, have come to realize that their destiny is tied up with our destiny and their freedom is inextricably bound to our freedom. We cannot walk alone.

And as we walk, we must make the pledge that we shall march ahead. We cannot turn back. There are those who are asking the devotees of civil rights, "When will you be satisfied?" We can never be satisfied as long as our bodies, heavy with the fatigue of travel, cannot gain lodging in the motels of the highways and the hotels of the cities. We cannot be satisfied as long as the Negro's basic mobility is from a smaller ghetto to a larger one. We can never be satisfied as long as a Negro in Mississippi cannot vote and a Negro in New York believes he has nothing for which to vote. No, no, we are not satisfied, and we will not be satisfied until justice rolls down like waters and righteousness like a mighty stream.

I am not unmindful that some of you have come here out of great trials and tribulations. Some of you have come fresh from narrow cells. Some of you have come from areas where your quest for freedom left you battered by the storms of persecution and staggered by the winds of police brutality. You have been the veterans of creative suffering. Continue to work with the faith that unearned suffering is redemptive.

Go back to Mississippi, go back to Alabama, go back to Georgia, go back to Louisiana, go back to the slums and ghettos of our northern cities, knowing that somehow this situation can and will be changed. Let us not wallow in the valley of despair.

I say to you today, my friends, that in spite of the difficulties and frustrations of the moment, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream.

I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: "We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal."

I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at a table of brotherhood.

I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a desert state, sweltering with the heat of injustice and oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice.

I have a dream that my four children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.

I have a dream today.

I have a dream that one day the state of Alabama, whose governor's lips are presently dripping with the words of interposition and nullification, will be transformed into a situation where little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls and walk together as sisters and brothers.

I have a dream today.

I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plain, and the crooked places will be made straight, and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together.

This is our hope. This is the faith with which I return to the South. With this faith we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope. With this faith we will be able to transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood. With this faith we will be able to work together, to pray together, to struggle together, to go to jail together, to stand up for freedom together, knowing that we will be free one day.

This will be the day when all of God's children will be able to sing with a new meaning, "My country, 'tis of thee, sweet land of liberty, of thee I sing. Land where my fathers died, land of the pilgrim's pride, from every mountainside, let freedom ring."

And if America is to be a great nation this must become true. So let freedom ring from the prodigious hilltops of New Hampshire. Let freedom ring from the mighty mountains of New York. Let freedom ring from the heightening Alleghenies of Pennsylvania!

Let freedom ring from the snowcapped Rockies of Colorado!

Let freedom ring from the curvaceous peaks of California!

But not only that; let freedom ring from Stone Mountain of Georgia!

Let freedom ring from Lookout Mountain of Tennessee!

Let freedom ring from every hill and every molehill of Mississippi. From every mountainside, let freedom ring.

When we let freedom ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God's children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual, "Free at last! free at last! thank God Almighty, we are free at last!"

Martin Luther King's I Have A Dream Speech

Countdown to Jan 20th

Do you want an amazing Black History Month Presentation for your students? Check our Arel's newest addition Will You Be Remembered?