Since Anne was able to join me, we decided to stay an extra day and explore our nation’s capital. We walked a good ten miles, taking in the many sites DC has to offer. At some point we found ourselves climbing the steps of the Lincoln Memorial. And then, unintentionally, we both stopped short of reaching the massive marble statue and bowed our heads… eighteen steps short to be exact. With heads bowed, we read the inscription engraved in the step, “I HAVE A DREAM. Martin Luther King, Jr., The March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, August 28, 1963.” My mind raced and I became overwhelmed with emotions. Without thinking about it, we found ourselves standing on the very step from which Dr. King delivered his historic speech.

After a moment… I honestly don’t know how long we stood there… we eventually made our way up the remaining steps and listened to the National Park Ranger’s presentation. While his presentation was informative and the monument was inspiring, I couldn’t stop thinking about Dr. King. I returned to the step and stood directly on it. Looking out over the National Mall, I closed my eyes and traveled back to 1963. I was five years old when Dr. King shared his dream, but I remember it vividly… watching it on a black and white TV screen, hearing it repeated on the radio, listening to adults and kids discuss it as I tried to reconcile his words, their words, and my thoughts about the turbulent times. Dr. King was then… and remains… one of my heroes.

I opened my eyes briefly to take in the entire scene before closing them again and trying to remember the words spoken here some 48 years ago. He conveyed so much in such a profoundly eloquent and compelling way. But it was the end of his speech—the part where Dr. King departed from his prepared notes and improvised—when his vision became known to the world. Apparently, Mahalia Jackson, an African-American gospel singer, prompted him by shouting, “Tell them about the dream, Martin!” And tell us he did.

When we returned to our hotel that evening, I looked up the “I Have a Dream” transcript and read the words several times. Then something profound struck me. In this iconic speech, this brilliant man masterfully referenced numerous biblical allusions, Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address, the Emancipation Proclamation, the Declaration of Independence, Shakespeare’s “Richard III,” an old Negro spiritual, and so much more… all in seventeen minutes! What more can be said?

During the journey, Huck is bothered by the fact he’s helping Jim escape. He realizes by doing so he’s actually “stealing” someone’s property. At one point, his conscience gets the best of him and here’s what follows:

So I was full of trouble, full as I could be; and didn’t know what to do. At last I had an idea; and I says, I’ll go and write the letter – and then see if I can pray. Why, it was astonishing, the way I felt as light as a feather right straight off, and my troubles all gone. So I got a piece of paper and a pencil, all glad and excited, and set down and wrote:

Miss Watson, your runaway nigger Jim is down here two mile below Pikesville, and Mr. Phelps has got him and he will give him up for the reward if you send. Huck Finn.

I felt good and all washed clean of sin for the first time I had ever felt so in my life, and I knowed I could pray now. But I didn’t do it straight off, but laid the paper down and set there thinking – thinking how good it was all this happened so, and how near I come to being lost and going to hell. And went on thinking. And got to thinking over our trip down the river; and I see Jim before me all the time: in the day and in the night-time, sometimes moonlight, sometimes storms, and we a-floating along, talking and singing and laughing.But somehow I couldn’t seem to strike no places to harden me against him, but only the other kind. I’d see him standing my watch on top of his’n, ’stead of calling me, so I could go on sleeping; and see him how glad he was when I come back out of the fog; and when I come to him again in the swamp, up there where the feud was; and suchlike times; and would always call me honey, and pet me, and do everything he could think of for me, and how good he always was; and at last I struck the time I saved him by telling the men we had smallpox aboard, and he was so grateful, and said I was the best friend old Jim ever had in the world, and the only one he’s got now; and then I happened to look around and see that paper.

It was a close place. I took it up, and held it in my hand. I was a-trembling, because I’d got to decide, forever, betwixt two things, and I knowed it. I studied a minute, sort of holding my breath, and then says to myself:

“All right, then, I’ll go to hell” – and tore it up.

Twain forces us to confront the reality of slavery head-on. When Huck reaches this moral crisis, he makes a decision. Was he right to violate the accepted social code and religious dogma he’d been raised to believe or should he have betrayed an innocent individual who needed and loved him… and someone whom he loved and needed, too? To most, this decision seems obvious. But like today’s moral dilemmas, it didn’t back then.

Going against tradition or society’s accepted norms isn’t easy… even when you’re doing what’s right. No doubt, many members of today’s society consider those who challenge the status quo to be wrong, guilty… or even dangerous. If you study history and reflect on your own life, you realize time has a way of shedding light on our choices. Right, wrong or indifferent, they are all exposed with time. We can justify them, but that won’t change them… we are each individually responsible for the choices we make. That said, if doing what’s right means doing what’s wrong, I concur with Huck Finn… “All right, then, I’ll go to hell.” What about you?

A few years ago, one of my employees asked why we weren’t pursuing a specific client more aggressively. “They’re huge,” he said. “We could be doing far more business with them.” He was right… and that’s exactly why we weren’t pursuing them. We already had too many resources focused on that account. Having started my company from nothing, I quickly learned the importance of having a diversified client base. It’s easy to be enticed by a huge client. The money and perceived stability are great… until the real cost comes due. Freedom always has a price. I told my employee, “The Lord giveth and the Lord taketh away… the same holds true with a big client.” As tempting as it may be, “Don’t put all your eggs in one basket… or focus all your resources on one account.”

In 1894, Mark Twain’s Pudd’nhead Wilson wrote, “Behold, the fool saith, ‘Put not all thine eggs in the one basket’—which is but a manner of saying, ‘Scatter your money and your attention’; but the wise man saith, ‘Put all your eggs in the one basket and—watch that basket!’”

I’m not suggesting you scatter your money or attention… but being human, we eventually stop watching the basket. This is especially true at the macro level. Without critically thinking, we along with countless others continue putting all our eggs in the same basket. The more we do it, the easier and more natural it becomes. Eventually, the number of eggs expands beyond our individual or collective comprehension. Its reach becomes so intrusive we stop seeing it.

To accommodate the growing number of eggs, the basket must continually expand. This expansion necessitates additional employees and mangers to service, direct and control activities. Initially, the experts in charge assure us that they are acting in our best interests and protecting our eggs. In time they find communicating a waste of time… so they stop. Besides, as the basket grows, more and more people are employed to keep it running… friends and family members, too. The basket expands far beyond eggs and infiltrates every aspect of society.

People who question this mass expansion are considered social outcasts. Those requesting honest transparent information about the basket and its eggs are labeled troublemakers. Those who demand information are called anarchists. Asking questions is seen as disrespectful… and those who dare suggest alternative places to put eggs are considered unpatriotic.

Surprisingly, most citizens accept the word of these experts, (those they believe much smarter than themselves). Many people like the idea of being taken care of and not having to think about eggs, or anything else for that matter. They talk amongst themselves and reinforce the positive messages they’re given by basket spokespeople and talking TV heads (from basket-owned networks). By consensus, it’s believed so long as troublemaking truth-seekers are kept at bay, everything is fine… until reality surfaces like the morning sun and sheds light in the dark crevices of the ever-expanding basket.

Without warning, there’s trouble in paradise. “Unexpected and unprecedented events have mysteriously unfolded,” experts warn. The basket is now destroying the environment, wildlife, corrupting the monetary system, healthcare, business… everything imaginable. We learn that everything is connected to the basket.

Since it was the brilliant experts that created the mess, it is only they who are qualified to fix it. Amazingly, most citizens agree with this position. With unprecedented power, the experts conclude, “To prevent this disaster from getting worse…. and to save countless jobs and the entire world economy for that matter, we must add more eggs! We have no other choice. If we don’t act now, all eggs and life as we know it will be lost!”

The tipping point always tips… and lately it’s been tipping uncontrollably in the wrong direction. But we do have choices. We can continue putting all our eggs in the same corrupt, dangerous, outdated basket… or we can truly regain our independence and create a new transparent future filled with alternative thinking, diversity and an endless number of baskets. Where will you put your eggs?

Buddha’s words seem more pertinent than ever today. Maybe time is the truest test of wisdom?

Back in high school, a friend of mine from a neighboring town was arrested for smoking pot. The following day I nervously stopped by his house, uncertain of what to expect. His mom, whom I knew well and respected greatly, answered the door. She was clearly (and understandably) shaken up by the event. At some point, my buddy, his mom and I ended up at the kitchen table talking about what happened… and more importantly, what my buddy’s future held.

I will never forget that discussion, mostly because of the way his mom reacted to the problem at hand. She seemed less concerned about him getting caught, or even smoking pot—than the fact it wasn’t his idea to smoke it. Unlike most parents who would have been screaming about the dangers of drugs, how marijuana was an illegal gateway drug, how this would hurt the family’s reputation, and so on… she mentioned none of these things. At first I thought I must be missing her point. But as the conversation continued, she made it perfectly clear—I wasn’t.

To her way of thinking, not being a leader was bad… but not thinking the situation through and caving in to peer pressure… that was unacceptable. In fact, she considered these issues a bigger crime than the one he had been caught committing. She said, “Sheep follow blindly… individuals think and then take appropriate action, regardless of what others say or believe!” She explained that not thinking independently and taking personal responsibility was a serious character flaw. And when people don’t think for themselves, it becomes dangerous—not only for them but for those around them. Her insight and wisdom that day had a great impact on me—and her son, too. She made his problem a learning experience.

Today when I see adults blindly follow rhetoric or chanting group-speak, I see more than sheep—I see danger. As an American, I defend everyone’s freedom of speech and expression—especially those with whom I vehemently disagree. As an individual, I cherish the freedom and power of independent thought. As a truth seeker, I listen to many points of view and then spend time in personal contemplation.

Whether it’s politics, religion, business, healthcare reform, corporate bailouts, drugs… or anything else… when we blindly go along with the crowd, we lose our true independence and freedom. Without taking personal responsibility and seeking the truth, we are no different than my buddy was back in high school. Actually, we’re much worse… we’re old enough to know better.