I have been so busy helping with the Thomas Jefferson Education Forum in Rancho Cucamonga on March 3, 2012 that I have not posted anything in a while. But it has been a learning experience for me and I am grateful to say that I am being mentored through example from a true leader. The founder of the FATJEF (www.fatjef.com) is Deena Ortiz. This will be the fifth annual one held for the Inland Empire and surrounding areas. She asked me to help her coordinate and confirm speakers, take care of any requests they may need, make sure bios and session descriptions are up-to-date, etc.
And since I am privy to the behind-the-scenes details of making sure this forum is a go, I also know that the state of the economy has affected the number of people registered for this event to be lower than other years while the rent of venue has increased. So when I found this out, I sincerely asked Deena, "What do you want to do? Will this leadership conference still go on even if you lose money? How much money are you willing to lose?" Her response was an inspiration to me, something only someone who has invested in a leadership education would respond. She said that even if she had to lose out on the few thousand dollars it would take to allow it to take place, she (and of course, with her husband's support) knew that this leadership forum has such an important message, even crucial to the sustaining of liberty for our country, that it MUST happen! I know the family is not abounding in money, but they do budget for philanthropy every year. This would just come out of that budget - simple as that.
Now that is a leader; she is truly displaying virtue - doing what is best for the whole with no regard to what would be best for self.
And here is what Thomas Jefferson said about the importance of continuing education of the people and why it is crucial. Our present state of liberty is diminishing and we need to act.
Convinced that the people are the only safe depositories of their own liberty, and that they are not safe
unless enlightened to a certain degree, I have looked on our present state of liberty as a short-lived
possession unless the mass of the people could be informed to a certain degree.
--Thomas Jefferson to Littleton Waller Tazewell, 1805
And that is why the forum must go on! I hope (really) that some of you will attend. People are donating their time and resources to bring you information that can cause a positive transformation in your life and in the lives of those around you. Most are not receiving one single penny except what they might sell in the vendor hall (more examples of leaders in action).
And for that I am truly grateful for my mentor, and she probably does not even know it...but I do. And that makes all the difference in my life.
