Founder's Message Archive

You can read past editions of our Founder's Message. Visit our Founder's Message Archive by clicking on the button below.

Go here      

---

The Direction of World Change (cont'd.)
(plus a special offer for free postcards—only 3 days left)

April 7, 2004

Welcome to Change Your World!

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

Last week I started with the two great commandments:

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

You may recall that Change Your World focuses its efforts entirely on the second command. We are primarily interested in helping you improve your relationship with those around you. You may also recall that we apply the second great command in two fundamental ways. The first, which I described last week, is Responsibility. In order for us to change our world, we must change ourselves first. In order for us to change ourselves, we must take responsibility for ourselves. (To read last week's message, click here.)

The second application we use here at Change Your World is Courtesy. We have to start by taking responsibility for ourselves. When we do that, we judge ourselves to see how we measure up to the standards we've set. We compare ourselves to the same standards we compare others to. Notice the focus of responsibility: toward ourselves. Once we've focused on ourselves, taking responsibility for our actions, then we turn our focus on others. We don't take responsibility for them, though; we deal courteously with them. We should be harder on ourselves than we are on others. So we take responsibility for ourselves, and we overlook the faults of others.

Each person can only take responsibility for one person: him or her self. That's it, ultimately. There are times in life when we obligate ourselves to others in a way that requires us to be responsible for them. Parents, for example, obligate themselves to their children when they bring them into the world. Parents oversee their children's development, caring for them when they can't care for themselves. Ultimately, though, the child must take responsibility for his or her own life and actions.

Courtesy is what we do when we have taken responsibility for ourselves and are willing to bear with others while they take responsibility for themselves. Courtesy is gracious politeness, an act intended to honor or compliment. Being courteous means your are kind and considerate toward others, looking out for their best interest. You are polite, gracious,  and well-mannered. Courtesy is simply love. Love, in the fullest sense of the word, and you will be courteous.

The word courtesy comes from the old courtly traditions of medieval Europe. It referred to the royal retinue, or the judicial assembly. To visit the king or queen, a person went to "court." At court, certain formalities were in place, and each person who came to court was expected to act accordingly. Proper "courtesy" depended on one's rank in society. The more noble in ancestry and rank, the more intricate the courtesy expected.

The concept of courtesy broadened as years rolled by. Now, of course, the U.S. has no king or queen and no aristocracy as such. There are still formalities we must observe, depending on where we are. A courtroom still has fairly strict formalities, as does the U.S. Congress. A job interview has formalities. You enter the room, introduce yourself, shake hands, wait to be offered a seat, etc. If you sit too soon, you may insult your hoped-for employer.

My concept of courtesy encompasses elements of these narrow applications but applies more broadly to every moment of our lives. The goal must be to learn to apply the broad concept in specific ways to our various circumstances.

I want you to think of courtesy as what we do when we're considerate of others. Courtesy doesn't have to mean some dead formalistic actions that we do only because we feel like we have to. Courtesy, properly practised, is merely the outward show of kindness that lets others know we really do care.

How do we here at Change Your World intend to apply these principles of Responsibility and Courtesy practically? First and foremost, we are trying to apply these principles to ourselves. We are trying to take responsibility for ourselves, and we are trying to treat others with courtesy.

As we do that, we discover things that work and things that don't work. We've already developed a list of resources that we will recommend in the future. We are creating great plans for unveiling these resources in the way that will be most beneficial to you.

For example, we have found The One Minute Millionaire to be an extremely helpful book. If you are interested in becoming financially independent or—more importantly—living a richer, fuller life, then we think you'll find The One Minute Millionaire a wonderful resource. Robert G. Allen is the author of two of the largest selling financial books in history, Nothing Down and Multiple Streams of Income. And Mark Victor Hansen  is the co-author of the very popular Chicken Soup for the Soul books, which have sold over 60 million copies. Visit The One Minute Millionaire here.

We are also developing products and services that will bring together some of the best and brightest change creators today. If you receive our newsletter, you already have a taste of what we hope to provide you in greater depth through our Change Your World Program. In addition to material from other change artists, we will provide principles that we have distilled from over 2,000 years of writings about making our world better for everyone. These principles are so profound that we just can't wait to share them with you.

Next week, I will tell you more about what Change Your World is and what we do. For now, I want to leave you with one parting thought. In case you're wondering if Change Your World is about political activism, let me answer that now: No. All of those at Change Your World work with our local, regional, state, and national government officials. But Change Your World isn't about bringing about change through the political machinery. We strive to bring about change by active engagement with those we encounter every day. Our goal is to apply and communicate sound principles of change, which begins with ourselves and those around us. We believe that lasting change must begin at the grass-roots level, bringing about community change one person at a time. If the individuals in the community refuse to change, then the community can never change. The members of our communities must take responsibility for themselves.  Change Your World focuses on the principles of change and applying them in specific ways in our daily lives, in our interaction with others, and in our community as a whole.

Please take us up on our offer for free postcards. You only have 3 days left!

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!

               

        

it's private