My Mother Is My Hero [Ryan Blair- 10.22.06] 

Much can be said about the "American Dream" having come from anything but a "Dream". I can tell you that I am glad I "lived" and I am grateful for every moment I've experienced.  It gives me an appreciation for life that I would not have otherwise. 

In my neighborhood, crime, drugs, and poverty were common place.  This was all my mother (a single mother) could afford living on the minimum wages of a deli worker.  My mother and I lost our entire family to drug addiction: my father, my brothers, my sister. Like many families, we lost everything and everyone to drugs.

For this reason, my mother is my hero. She gave me faith, faith that I would overcome my challenges, those with learning, those with poor self-esteem, those with the societal class system that had labeled me a kid from a bad neighborhood, in poverty. 

A young man growing up without a male role model is a recipe that often creates a bad taste, and as a young man, I was "We'll.. acting in bad taste". 

Living on the streets, in the care of families other than my own, kicked out of high-school practically the day after I started, I was forced to grow up in the blink of an eye, in an environment that was taking me nowhere good. 

My own babysitter murdered in a drive by shooting, my every belonging robbed from me, my family stolen by the addiction of drugs, my own dogs poisoned to death by a vengeful neighbor, I remember laying awake night after night wondering why I was dealt such a bad hand. 

A teacher once asked me "what are you going to do with your life" and I replied, I won't make it past 21. I can name half-dozen close friends that didn't make it past 21.

Yet today I live a life unlike anything I had ever dreamed of growing up. 

In Awe of all the experiences I am so proud to live.  I am so grateful for the memories that have led me to this very moment. I am grateful to my mother, my family, the mentors, teachers, business partners and true friends for all that they've given to me.  I guess you could say I now live the "American Dream".  One, where opportunity is limitless, where you are in the driver's seat, the vehicle, entrepreneurship.  The destination...  The dreams and visions we seek.  

I am a student.  A student of business, a student of human potential and a student of life.  Ironically, I am also a teacher, teaching anyone who will be open to learning about the truths that I know, about the future that I see and about potential that we all have within us. 

I've had the pleasure of crossing off many goals from my list.  At an early age I've created 4 significant companies and worked side by side with the smartest minds in many subjects. Yes these accomplishments are nothing compared to what we are now creating.

My proudest moments are in the subtleties of life.  The fact that now I am able to help people get the same opportunity I had.  To witness families come together in unity, to work toward family goals.  To see single mothers pass on the entrepreneurial values that we teach, to attract to our team with both the brightest entrepreneurs in the nation, and those just beginning their journey, to feel people of all ages and backgrounds create a new perspective on life and to hear sounds of paradigms shifting all over because of the work we do.  There's no greater sensation, there's no greater victory than the feeling of contribution. 

I am of the belief that everything happens for a reason, I believe that all my experiences, both the victories and the defeats, were for a purpose. I believe that you are reading this for a reason.  I wish I could be there in person right now to shake your hand.  Hopefully soon that wish will come true.  I have no doubt that our future holds massive success, how much will be determined....  Determined by the value we provide, determined by the quality of those individuals that join us, determined by all the visions of life, health and prosperity, that we transform into a reality…