WWW.PATMESITIONLINE.COM
PAT MESITI E-ARTICLE
The hardest question you’ll ever answer. What do you really want in life? I recently put this question to a group of real estate professionals.
animal than a human being. As I got closer, I discovered that the sound was coming from this young man I was about to visit. AIDs had These people were high-income completely ravished his body. earners. Their response to my question was that it’s a very When I walked into his room, hard question to answer. I what was meant to be a 19disagreed. You see, I know what year-old young man looked I want in life, and if I can figure like a 95-year-old man. His hair it out, so can you. I want to had fallen out and he had prosper. I want to create wealth. lesions down one side of his I want to help other people face. His eyes were shut tight become wealthy. I want to help and his face was black and people who are disadvantaged blue. This was merely a go to another level, and to do skeleton of what was once a that I need money. strapping, handsome, athletic young man. He was having Some years ago I was in difficulty breathing and, once Orange County, California, and the nurse helped him to sit up, I was asked to visit a young we were introduced. Then I man who was about 19 years asked him, “Steve, how are you of age and dying of HIV. As I doing?” approached the hospital ward I could hear the sound of In a sad, husky voice he something gasping for breath. replied, “Not good.” It sounded more like an
1
I asked him if the medication was helping. “No, it’s not helping me,” he said. Then he looked at me a little confused and said, “A minister came in here yesterday and prayed for us all to get healed.” “Steve, did anybody get healed?” I asked. You see, I believe in miracles. I’ve seen some miracles in my time. You may not believe in miracles, but you are a miracle! Through his one eye that was open, and with a look of sadness, anger and confusion, he said, “No, man. Nobody got healed.” I then blurted out the dumbest question I have ever asked in my 47 years on this planet: “Steve, don’t you want to be healed?” What a dumb
WWW.PATMESITIONLINE.COM 2
question to ask a 19-year-old guy, whose life had been savaged, ravaged and eaten away by this hideous disease!
rate. The theme of our program was ‘turning nightmares into dreams’. We graduated around 400 young men from heroin addictions, cocaine addictions, I’ll never forget what happened ‘ice’ addictions, and so on. next. He turned to me, one side of his face looking After they graduated, I would battered and bruised, one eye ask them, “What does your shut tight, lesions down one world look like when you leave side of his face. On the other here? What does your future side of his face his skin was look like when you get out of clear and healthy. His one this program?” They would open eye turned beetroot red reply, “Well, I’m free of drugs, as he looked at me. Tears I’m happy, I’m getting on with formed and fell down his my mum and dad, and my cheek. “No, sir,” he said. “I mum’s hugging me…” These don’t want to be healed. I just boys had to define what they want to be loved!” wanted before they could leave the program. You see, At least Steve knew what he once you make up your mind wanted. The question is: do what you want, the choices you? I made sure that for the you make thereafter are much remaining few weeks of his life simpler. You and I would Steve was surrounded by surely agree that if those boys friends and members of our couldn’t see their future, rest community. I made sure he assured that their drug was embraced by the love he dealers could! They had to so desperately craved. beat them at their own game. What a tragedy that most people go through life and cannot articulate in a sentence what they really desire. A wise man once said, “He who is everywhere is actually nowhere.” What do you really, really, really want? Can you honestly define it? Can you specifically say what it is? Or is it some pipe dream or something you read in a magazine or saw in a movie? If you can define what you want, it will be a lot easier to obtain.
The only thing we really had to do with some of those guys was to get them to think differently. There are plenty of detox centers in my city with a low 14 percent success rate. The truth is, we don’t have a drug problem, we have a vision problem. Young people with a hope, a future and a destiny do not inject drugs into their veins. I am of the opinion that a clear vision of your future will inspire you to put up with any pain in the present. Ask any Olympian who has won a gold medal and they’ll tell you the same. The joy of the gold medal causes all the pain of past training to fade away into insignificance. A mother giving birth to a child will put up with nine months of weight, struggle and morning sickness. And when that child is born, the overwhelming joy pushes into the past all the pain of pregnancy and birth.
I remember one day a lady came into our facility and I asked her if I could help her. She said, “I’ve come to pick up my dream.”
I believe most people get so busy and stressed wondering how their plans are going to happen rather than simply focusing on the purpose for their plans and believing that It didn’t immediately occur to they actually will happen. You me what she meant, so I said, see, if you have a reason, “You’re here to pick up your you’ll find a way. dream?” (I thought that perhaps she was interested in me!) So often in life people don’t find a reason because they are “Yes,” she said. “My son, so inoculated from the pain of Robbie. He came in here nine their past that they can’t see months ago and he was a any way that their plans will nightmare. Now he has come to fruition. So the first What does your world look graduated. He has become a port of call for a prosperous like? dream. Where is he? Where’s mindset is to clearly define my dream? Where’s my boy?” your why—your purpose and I used to run programs to help your dream. rehabilitate drug addicts and Such beautiful, positive, uplifting we had an 86 percent success words! [PM]
PAT MESITI E-ARTICLE
The hardest question you’ll ever answer.