\u00a0<\/p>\n
![](\"https:\/\/cdn.empowernetwork.com\/user_images\/post\/2014\/03\/17\/3\/26\/6c9a\/540x293_20140317_3266c9ad09e3df76b365d4f943be90ad_jpg.jpg\"\/)
<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
Today’s quote of the day<\/strong><\/u>\u00a0brings us to an important question.\u00a0<\/p>\n Are we all just merely products of our environment<\/strong><\/u>?<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n Today’s quote is from Mark Caine<\/u> and it alleges that the first step to one’s success is to not fall captive to the environment one first finds themselves in<\/u>.<\/p>\n Many are born into poverty or some other form of disadvantaged youth.\u00a0<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n Not everyone is born with a silver spoon in their mouth.\u00a0<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n I know I wasn’t<\/u>.<\/p>\n I didn’t have it hard growing up by any means….(thanks to my wonderful mother and loving family who kept me protected from the potential pitfalls around me)<\/span><\/em>.<\/p>\n But that still doesn’t negate the dangers that existed in my hometown every day.<\/p>\n See, I’m from a small city called Gary, Indiana<\/u>.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Gary gets a bad rap, maybe justifiably so in some regards, as being a bad place to grow up.\u00a0<\/p>\n I am living proof that there are great people who are raised in Gary.<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n But this doesn’t change the fact that a reputation like this was present about my city<\/u>….<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n This is a newspaper clip<\/a> from the Chicago Tribune in 1994 with news that my hometown had just earned the dubious distinction of being the murder capital of the United States<\/u>.<\/p>\n I graduated from high school in 1995, so of course I was very well aware of the evils going at that time in my city.<\/span><\/em>\u00a0<\/p>\n But although I lived in the “murder capital of the United States<\/u>“, I never felt doomed.\u00a0<\/p>\n I always thought I would rise to greatness one way or the other.<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n I didn’t always know HOW<\/u><\/strong>\u00a0I would rise to prominence, but something deep inside me always knew greatness was within me.\u00a0<\/p>\n I never dwelled on the poverty, crime and murder taking place around me. I was not insensitive to its presence but….<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n I refused to allow myself to think I would not succeed<\/u>.\u00a0<\/p>\n We can’t always control our environments.\u00a0<\/p>\n But what we can control is our mindset. Our attitude.<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n Our commitment and belief that greatness will be attained regardless to what environment you are currently in or obstacles that you are currently facing<\/u>.<\/p>\n With this unwavering commitment and belief…<\/p>\n Eventually the environment you are in will melt away and be replaced by the one of success you’d previously planted in your mind’s eye.<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n So, even if the odds are against you…<\/p>\n Even if you’re growing up in the ghetto….<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n Or in poverty-stricken neighborhoods in the midst of chaos…<\/p>\n You will rise above it.<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n Just paint the picture.<\/strong><\/u> Then go live it<\/strong><\/u>.\u00a0<\/p>\n Please share my blog with your friends!<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n![](\"https:\/\/cdn.empowernetwork.com\/user_images\/post\/2014\/03\/17\/2\/60\/1bfe\/540x293_20140317_2601bfeb2c061536719dbf9e759542aa_jpg.jpg\"\/)
<\/p>\n![](\"https:\/\/cdn.empowernetwork.com\/user_images\/post\/2014\/03\/17\/a\/09\/f570\/540x293_20140317_a09f5708d9ebbcaa2555194a8724b625_jpg.jpg\"\/)
<\/p>\n