On this remarkable anniversary, please read or watch this reading of The Declaration of Independence.
Resolve is the determination not to dissolve.
Over the years I have used as an illustration for the difference between purpose, vision, mission, and values the example of President Kennedy’s statement in the early 1960s: “By the end of this decade we will place a man on the moon and return him safely.”
What was it he gave us? He stated a vision and a value.
The vision was a man on the moon. The value was the sanctity of one human life.
It was not enough to walk the moon; the man had to return safely. The mission culminated in Apollo 11 on July 20, 1969 when man did walk on the moon and a few days later the astronauts returned safely to earth.
But what was the purpose?
The typical guesses are about Sputnik and the Space Race with the Russians. In fact, the purpose rests within Mr. Jefferson’s Declaration of Independence: Pursuing Happiness.
Mr. Jefferson capitalized the word “Happiness” to honor and emphasize it as a proper noun with more than a casual definition, as he did Life and Liberty. Happiness was not a moment in time; it was a way of life intentionally woven by the signers into the very fabric of the soul of the US Citizen. It was a sense that comes from
- doing what is right
- redressing wrongs
- having resolve instead of dissolve
For most of us the tough times lead us to dissolve in self-doubt or a sense that we are on the wrong path because others disagree with us or it is not the popular notion. In essence, we dash our dreams and start all over.
Do we have such little opinion of the “Creator who endowed us” that we call into question our opinion? Do we so disdain ourselves that we drag down those who have resolve to make our point?
My hope is that more than a few of us embrace the opportunity to better set our resolve—to understand and to articulate our purpose, vision, mission, and values endowed by the Creator.
If we should all come to a deeper sense of our place in life, history, and the future, then each us will have the resolve to live our lives on-purpose and to know that our time on this planet did make a difference.
And, yes, we will then be living in the On-Purpose PlanetTM.
