Jimmy was 12 now and doing great in school. He was very popular with the other kids and always had a girlfriend. One day, his best friend Steve Hiller asked him,

“Hey Jimmy, what’s your secret? Why are you always way out in front of the pack and always seem to be doing the right thing? You never get in trouble!” Steve had said. Steve, on the other hand, was always getting sent to the principal’s office for one thing or another.

School was out for summer and the boys were walking home together. Jimmy stopped for a moment and turned to his friend and said,

“Hey Steve, let’s go over to the park and sit on a picnic table and talk for a while.” Steve looked at him and smiled.

“Okay, now I’m curious. Let’s go then.” With that, the two boys turned and headed off towards the park which was only a block out of their way.

When they arrived, they plunked their books down on the table and sat down beside each other. Jimmy began,

“Since I could walk, I remember my father sitting me on his knee and telling me about how the world worked. ‘The planet is called Earth,’ he would say. ‘This is our planet.’ He told me. ‘Here, our race is called the human race and as far as I know, we are the only fully sentient race that lives here. We are one race. Sure, some of us look different from each other and some of us have different shades of skin tones but that’s just skin. We are all the same. We are all individuals. We all have two legs, two arms, two ears, two eyes, and two hands and feet respectively. We here, all of us, are the human race!’ he would say.”

Steve shuffled a little bit but remained silent, listening with pure curiosity. Jimmy continued telling Steve what his Dad had said to him all those years ago.

“There are many other species on our planet, and they are called animals. Some of them are quite intelligent but none of them are as intelligent as we humans. At least as far as we can tell. We like to say that we are at the top of the food chain’ and that means we must be the most responsible life forms on the planet. Then he would make sure I was looking straight into his eyes and he would ask me if I understood. I really didn’t understand all of it, but most of it was so interesting that I just nodded that I did.”

Jimmy continued, “My Dad told me that the basic species was first born in Africa approximately 200,000 years ago and that the same species began to colonize the Americas approximately 15,000 years ago. He said that because of this, we all began our human adventure at the same point. Therefore, the key difference between us all is how we develop and exactly how responsible each of us decides to be as individuals. He said that some of us were lazy and just let our lives flow like a leaf floating down a stream and that others of us would take control of our lives and make something great out of it. He called this ‘the individuals quest for self-improvement' and he told me this over and over until he was certain I understood. What I took from it was that in simple terms, if you want to make your own life better, you control your own destiny and we all have the same chance at success since we all basically began life the same way.”

“My Dad was really smart!” Jimmy told his friend. “He said that life is a series of choices and that all of us are given the same choices, so what we end up with is not anyone else’s fault but our own.” Jimmy looked over at Steve who was looking down at his feet.

“I wish my Dad had told me all that.” Was all he said. “I think I am seeing things a little more clearly now,” Steve said. “So then racism is not actually a real thing is it?” Steve asked Jimmy.

“No, it is just a nasty word some people use as a leverage tool to try to get good things to happen for themselves with the help of those of us who were responsible for ourselves and never worried what other people were doing around us. Sure, we all need each other and we need to always be kind to each other but, well, let’s put it like this?” Jimmy said,

“If I want something, I can’t use my neighbor as a ladder and try to climb up on him to reach it. I have to get my own ladder and get it for myself. That’s how responsibility works! I would have to say that this was the most important thing my Dad taught me.” Jimmy told his friend.

“So why do we see so many people in the news calling each other racists?” Steve asked his friend.

“That is because they have very little honor.” Was all Jimmy said in response. “The Japanese people teach their kids that having honor is the noblest and primary thing an individual can do throughout his lifetime.”

Jimmy continued, “it seems like we need to change some things that we learn in our schools. We need to learn honor, kindness, mindfulness, and meditation. We also need to learn more about music and art. There are some very valuable lessons in creative arts you know.” Jimmy said.

Then Steve suddenly jumped up and walked around so he was right in front of his friend.

“Thank you for explaining all that to me buddy.” He told Jimmy. “I think I can still find the time in my young life to make it better for myself by using all the things your very smart Father told you.”

Steve went on to be a state senator and dedicated his life to improving the schools in his state and all the states. The last time Jimmy saw Steve, he was a Congressman and still working on the same program. Life is a series of choices. We are all responsible for ourselves and what we end up with we have chosen so never blame anyone else. In short, we all make our own destiny!

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