20160501 (hope for sale)

Creflo Dollar's Fayetteville GA home and "ministerial" Gulfstream

As I beheld the drunken figure 

Asleep on the park bench I thought,

“Oblivion only defers the pain 

Until you awaken--you’ve lost

The relief not enjoyed it. The

Rock must still be pushed up 

The hill, you've less time, and

You’ve wasted your strength.” 

Nevertheless the deceptive and

Minuscule respite is enough

To keep you searching for the

Easy out. No one responds to

Pleas for help. What can they

Do? Get in your head and 

Rewire your brain? If it were

That simple, obstacles would

Long ago have faded by your 

Wish. No amount of desperate

Desiring eased your state. The

Tools of others’ success were

Not available for you. From 

Where did they obtain untiring

Effort, those who ran and found

A second wind? Motivational

Speakers are a curse not a cure.

To them life is just a matter of

Reaching deeper down, of 

Never giving up, of finding

Some extra measure when you’ve

Reached what you think is the

Bottom. “You’ve got to know

What you want. You’ve got to

Know what you’re willing to 

Give up to get it. And you’ve

Got to will it, “ Eric Thomas

Pounds his fist on his chest 

As he rattles off his formulae 

For success. Tony Robbins 

Admits having hit bottom 

But asserts he developed tools

And he’s never going back. 

He readies himself for success

Each day by waking up grateful. 

“You can’t be angry or down

When you’re grateful.” Then 

He “primes”his day thinking

Hard on what he needs to do

And visualizing his tasks already

Done. These are people who 

Have built themselves from

Tough beginnings. Thomas 

Describes himself as a homeless

Teen eating out of garbage cans.

Robbins relates he grew up

With an alcoholic mother and

Four alcoholic fathers. He took

A job booking seminar speakers,

Occasionally subbing for 

Them, when he realized he

Was better at it than they 

And struck out on his own. 

Thomas built his body, went

Into sports, and excelled.

Neither tells of the many along 

The way for whom the formulae

Failed or for whom luck didn’t 

Get willed into being. Like

Classic snake oil salesmen,

Hucksters of early advertising, 

And preachers of the Prosperity

Gospel they prove again no 

Matter how deeply you believe,

Wishing will not make it so

And flim-flammers will profit 

Off the desperate.

c. J.S.Manista, 2016