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The Direction of World Change
(plus a special offer for free postcards—10 days left)

March 31, 2004

Welcome to Change Your World!

Hello. My name is Courtney Huntington, and I am the founder of Change Your World.

The two great commandments are

(1) Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength,
(2) Love your neighbor as yourself

These two commands summarize all of our responsibilities. If we can just master these, we will be . . . perfect.

Here at Change Your World, our efforts focus entirely on the second great command: loving our neighbors. Yet notice that at the center of both commands is the same feature: Love. Every action we perform should be loving. Every time we do something, we should think, "How is this going to affect others? Is this in the other person's best interest?" We ought to be putting the interests of others before our own interests. Napoleon Hill put it this way in one of his recordings, "Before you do anything to or for another person ask yourself this question: Will it benefit him or hurt him? And if it will hurt him, don't do it." Seek to benefit everyone you meet.

Another way of saying the second great command is "do unto others as you would have them do unto you." This is the form that we use more often and are more familiar with. We commonly call it the Golden Rule. What the golden rule prescribes is nothing less than putting others first. In his letter to the people in Philippi, the apostle Paul says, "In lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves" (chap. 2, verse 3). In other words, think more highly of others than you do of yourself.

At Change Your World, we apply the second great command in two fundamental ways. The first is Responsibility. I have discussed the importance of responsibility in a previous Founder's Message, and I will expand on that discussion here. To take responsibility means that you readily assume obligations and duties. You do not wait for someone to foist your duties upon you. No one has to tell you to keep your commitments. You actively seek to learn what your duties are and then you actively perform your duties. If you fail to perform your duty and someone tells you about it, you immediately begin to rectify your failure. If you discover your failure without someone telling you, then you take the same measures you would take if someone had "found you out."

Integrity is connected to responsibility. Integrity is being complete, whole, and entire. A person of integrity is an undivided person, with no hypocrisy. Someone who has integrity is the same inside and out: What they think and say match up with what they do. They don't pretend to be more than they are. In addition, they are open, honest, and transparent. Instead of trying to hide their true selves to meet other people's expectations, they try to make themselves what they truly ought to be.

In the first book of his masterful poem, The Faerie Queene, Edmund Spenser tells a story of the Redcrosse Knight, who represents holiness. As the Redcrosse Knight travels to gain glory for his queen, he is taken in by an enchantress, whom Spenser refers to as "false Duessa." She leeds him astray for some time, while his own love wanders alone, seeking after him. At the end of the book, the good Knight Arthur aids the Redcrosse Knight and his love, Una, and then gives them power to choose how false Duessa would be punished. Una declares that to kill so weak an enemy would be spiteful and says they should instead take her rich robes and jewelry from her. When they had removed all her ornaments, they were astounded, because she who had appeared young and beautiful stood before them as she really was, "a loathly wrinkled hag, ill favored, old, whose secret filth good manners bids not be told." She had a fox's tail (that old metaphor of cunning treachery), an eagle's claw, and a bear's paw. When they saw her true appearance, Una said, "Such is the face of falsehood: such the sight of foul Duessa, when her borrowed light is laid away." When we put on false appearance, it will be taken away. Solomon said, "He that walketh uprightly walketh surely: but he that perverteth his ways shall be known." When our rich garments are removed, what will people see beneath? Is our light borrowed? Or does it radiate from within, a part of our being?

Having integrity means the light we shine is our own, not something we borrowed. Listen to this quote from John Maxwell's book, Developing the Leader Within You:

A person with integrity does not have divided loyalties (that's duplicity,) nor is he or she merely pretending (that's hypocrisy). People with integrity are 'whole' people; they can be identified by their single-mindedness. People with integrity have nothing to hide and nothing to fear. Their lives are open books. V. Gilbert Beers says, 'A person of integrity is one who has established a system of values against which all of life is judged.'
    Integrity is not what we do so much as who we are. And who we are, in turn, determines what we do. (p. 36)

In order to do that, we must take responsibilty for our actions. That responsibility must be whole and entire. The responsibility that we take must not be false. It must be honest. If I am truly responsible, then I must take responsibility. If I am not truly reponsible, then I must not take responsibility. For me to take responsibility for what I am not responsible for is merely the flipside of failing to take responsibility for what I am responsible for.

In order to change our world, we must begin by taking responsibility for ourselves. If we fail to be responsible for ourselves, we cannot succeed at taking responsibility for others. Ultimately, each person is responsible for his or her own self. In addition, anyone in a position of leadership bears responsibility for those he or she leads. One who claims leadership but refuses responsibility is not really leading. When we commit to change our world, we must commit to being leaders of change, and in order to do that, we must commit to taking responsibility for ourselves first and foremost.

Next week, we will look at the second fundamental application of the second great command: Love your neighbor as yourself. And I will describe to you some of the specific plans we have at Change Your World to apply these principles in practical ways. Until then . . .

With many blessings and wishes for successful positive change,

Courtney Huntington
Founder

Free Postcards

Keep reading to learn how to get free postcards.

I have an outrageous goal. I and my team want to distribute 10 million Change Your World Postcards this year! But more importantly, we want to give $100,000 to charity this year! We don't have any idea how we're going to do it. We simply believe that we are. But we can't do it alone. We need help from thoughtful people like you. Would you help us take this message of hope and change to the world?

You might wonder how you possibly could. It's seems like a huge task. But we believe you can. All you need to do to start is tell your friends to visit this site. How many friends should you tell? It doesn't have to be a lot. Just decide that you'll only tell ten friends about Change Your World. Refer them to this page, and tell them to read this message that you're reading. Why are we asking you to do this? Because we believe that you are the kind of person who wants to make this world better. You are the kind of person who is willing to do the hard things that most people shy away from. And you are the kind of person who is willing to start by changing yourself first.

We have a special offer for you, too, as our way of saying thank you. We know you're committed to making our world better, otherwise you wouldn't still be reading. So as our thank you for telling your ten friends about our goal to raise $100,000 for charity, we want to give you a free pack of postcards. Each pack contains 14 cards. This is completely on your honor. You don't have to fill out any form or give us any information. We trust you. We know that you are hardworking and honest, and we know you'll only ask for your free pack, if you actually send ten of your friends to Change Your World. We believe that everyone one who visits our site is out to benefit us. We are what W. Clement Stone called "reverse paranoids." To take us up on our offer, all you have to do is send us an email to order@howtochangeyourworld.com and include the words "I'm a reverse paranoid" in the Subject line. That's it! We will send you a pack of postcards at no cost to you. We will choose one of the four designs you see below. If you want to tell us anything else, feel free to write us a note in the body of your email.

Your cards should arrive in 2-4 weeks. We currently have a limited supply, so if you order now, you will guarantee that you receive your cards ASAP. We hope our next shipment of cards arrives before the current supply runs out, and we will let you know immediately, if you should expect a delay. We don't foresee a delay, but we cannot predict the level of response we will receive, and we will fill every request that comes in answer to this offer. Of course, you can understand that we must limit  the timeframe for this offer. This offer is only available to those who respond before Easter. Your request must have a date of or prior to April 10, 2004—the Saturday before Easter. Why not place your request now? All you have to do is email us at order@howtochangeyourworld.com and include the words "I'm a reverse paranoid" in the Subject line. Don't wait. Do it now.

Now that you've placed your request for your free postcards, why not consider taking your commitment to the next level. We have a special offer to help kickstart your involvement with Change Your World. We will give you ANOTHER FREE PACK OF POSTCARDS, if you simply agree to buy two more packs. All you have to do is tell you want another free pack of postcards. This offer is subject to the same stipulations mentioned in the previous paragraph. You must respond by the Satureday before Easter! And because we do not know what kind of response we will get to the offer above, we cannot guarantee we have your postcards in stock at the time you order. We will fill your order in the order it is received when our new shipment arrives. Your order will be filled. To tell us that you want to take us up on our offer for another free pack of postcards, all you have to do is choose which packs you want and click the button. Remember that you will be receiving a total of 3 packs, but you'll only have to pay for two of them. Why not accept this offer now?

We currently have 4 designs available:

               

        

               

        

Please tell us what we've done well and what we can do better. Tell us what products you'd like to hear more about. Contact us at info@howtochangeyourworld.com. If you haven't already signed up for our newsletter, take a few minutes to sign up now. It's packed with great information, and it's free. Sign up here: Change Your World for Good.


P.S. Remember that you have until April 10th to request your free postcard as a thank you for sending ten friends to our website. You are on your honor. We trust you to keep your end of the bargain. So if you haven't already made your request, why not do it now? All you have to do is email us at order@howtochangeyourworld.com and include the words "I'm a reverse paranoid" in the Subject line. Just do it.

P.P.S. Once you've taken advantage of our free postcard offer, take advantage of our offer for ANOTHER FREE PACK OF POSTCARDS. If you haven't already, get another free pack of postcards by simply buy two others. All you have to do is choose the combination of card packs you prefer and click "Yes!" We can't wait to send them to you!

               

        

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