Paralysis or Paradise?

That's an easy choice, right? Who wouldn't choose Paradise over Paralysis?

And yet, many Americans live their lives in exactly the opposite way. They choose to be paralyzed, waiting for the perfect situation before acting.

This week, George Steinbrenner passed away, proving that all the wealth in the world won't stop the inevitable transition. When he died, his New York Yankees were worth $1.7 billion.

A lot of people were frustrated by his willingness to spend whatever was necessary to win. I know when our family's beloved San Diego Padres finally put together a pennant winning season in 1998 with journeymen players, many of whom accepted lucrative free agent deals the next year after proving their worth on this Cinderella team, the Padres lost in the World Series to Steinbrenner's well-paid Yankees. At a pivotal game in New York, which my family watched on the scoreboard video monitor at Qualcomm Stadium with 20,000 other die-hard fans, the umpire missed calling a third strike on a big name Yankee, who on the next pitch cleared the bases with a homer that changed the momentum of the series.


Fans in many other cities undoubtedly have their own tells of woe regarding those damn Yankees, but Steinbrenner himself was probably best known from his inclusion by impersonation and occasionally even cameo on "Seinfeld". Say what you will about him, Steinbrenner must have had a great sense of humor, and he was obviously a great businessman.

Today, everyone is worried about what's going to happen with the economy and what the government will screw up next. While it isn't unreasonable to make contingency plans, you shouldn't stop living. When Steinbrenner bought the Yankees in 1973, the world was a mess. Vietnam was dragging on, Nixon was unpopular, inflation was taking off and General Motors was thought to be an evil monopoly that dictated the auto world. From that time forward, things kept changing, just as they always do. We had the oil crisis with gas station lines and 18% interest rates under President Carter, loss of American prestige with Iran taking Americans hostage, recovery with monetary policy under Reagan, several recessions and bubble busts of various assets, and what was generally an economic roller coaster ride.



Had Steinbrenner looked out to the future like many pessimists today, would he have bought the Yankees or been scared into paralysis?

If he hadn't taken the chance to buy the Yankees for $10 million (that's million with an M), he would have missed out on what turned out to be the most amazing ride of his lifetime, and a little profit of almost $1.7 billion (that's billion with a B, as in 1,000 millions per billion).

Am I telling you to go out and buy a professional sports team? No, but you should get out and live your life, doing what is important to you. Most of us will never be super wealthy, but most Americans live better than the richest people from 200 years ago anywhere in the world. We can travel the world, possibly finding in some distant land an idea for a product or meal that would make us successful in our own home towns.

There are always great cruise deals available, but for some people, the time will never be right. They will wait for the economy to improve, or to see a specific deal they saw two years ago when they weren't quite ready to go for some other reason.

"I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live." The choice is so obvious in this excerpt from Deuteronomy 30:19, Sunday School children require no further rationalization.