Although the tournament started with unbridled excitement for millions of stateside fans, their enthusiasm quickly muted as the U.S. salvaged a lackluster draw in the opening match against England thanks to a misplay by the English keeper, allowing the ball to squeak across the goal line.

Game two for the U.S. began dismally against Slovenia, who took a quick 2-0 lead. But the Americans came roaring back in a second-half rally, scoring two goals to tie the match before being robbed of a third and the presumable win after a terrible call by the match referee (causing FIFA to remove him from umpiring further matches).

With momentum on their side, the Americans looked sharp against Algeria in their third match — an absolute must-win if the team wished to advance any further. After more than 90 minutes of scoreless play and tense just-misses, Landon Donovan buried the rebound off of a Clint Dempsey shot to secure an amazing victory and send the Americans to the second round of the tournament for the first time since 1930.

For all the highs and lows of the 2010 World Cup, if ever there was a time for representatives of the United States to surpass a jaded modern America’s expectations of those who lead them, it would be on this monumental, global stage whereupon the U.S. National Team – an American underdog — possesses the historically immense possibility of reinspiring and reuniting an unbelievably dejected people before the eyes of the world.

“The Air of Discontent”

Efforts made on behalf of my primary nonfiction book project, THE QUIET LEADER, entail researching Op-Eds and news articles that encapsulate the spirit of the modern United States and the American people. When I began to take note of a major and historically unprecedented shift in national confidence, I feared that it would only grow worse, and it has.

The American people have lost faith in their leaders and have subsequently developed jaded eyes that look upon all elements of leadership and traditional institutions with cynicism and worry. The depressed modern American psyche is exemplified in a recent piece by Ron Fornier of the Associated Press:

Not the president of the United States. Not the chief executive of BP. Not Congress, federal agencies or local elected officials. From its fiery beginning, the Gulf oil spill has stood as a concentrated reminder of why, over four decades, Americans have lost faith in nearly every national institution.

It’s hard to summon that rising-sun aspiration when the unemployment rate hovers near double digits. When wars in Afghanistan and Iraq continue unabated. When terrorists take aim from inside and outside U.S. borders. When the U.S. Treasury writes massive IOUs to China and public schools write off millions of poorly educated children.

Then along comes the oil spill to remind people of why they don’t trust leaders – and why so many Americans, looking for information and action, are turning instead to blogs, Twitter feeds and their friends.

How did we get to this point where people EXPECT their government to lie to them? And what does it say about where we’re headed? From their government, Americans don’t expect perfection. But the system requires that people at least have faith in their political leaders to be competent and accountable.

Around the same time, Bob Herbert from the New York Times launched into a more scathing and self-loathing opinion piece that harshly characterized the modern United States as indicative of the lack of intelligence of the entire American populace:

When are we going to stop behaving so stupidly? We nearly wrecked the economy and we’re all but buried in debt. But we can’t break up the biggest banks, and we can’t raise taxes. Now we’re fouling the magnificent Gulf of Mexico and ruining entire communities along the southern Louisiana Coast.

Whether these opinions are dead-on accurate and valid, or simply a reflection of overwhelming cynicism and pessimism that has befallen modern America, isn’t even important. The issue at hand is what is unquestionably clear: that the sentiments of anger, impatience, distrust and anticipated-disappointment have become the status quo. As much as they are a product of events that have unfolded in the past, they undoubtedly influence the direction of the country today and will unquestionably effect what unfolds tomorrow.

If Ever There was a Time…

Amid this historical context, some thousands of miles away, a team of representatives of the mess of our modern country and its national psyche suddenly becomes ignited with passion and determination: they stand down a longtime rival, a worldly powerhouse in England; they rally from certain defeat to survival against Slovenia; and then they rise from the depths of elimination to the glory of victory in a last minute effort of heart and vigor against Algeria.

We measure in feet and inches; the rest of the world measures in metrics. We feel degrees in variants of Fahrenheit; they, in Celsius. We call the very sport of the world soccer; they call it football. And though a traditionally disregarded sport in the United States, this team of undervalued and unappreciated athletes donning stars and stripes upon their chests possesses the historic opportunity that no elected leader or CEO, that no company or conglomerate, that no Hollywood star or teenage starlet, that no State-side sport or institution could possible achieve in America, 2010.

This American underdog is capable of exceeding dismal expectations of those who represent us: their fight has given us a chance — if only a reminder that we may, by our choosing — to stand tall again. If ever there was a time for the American people to be inspired; if ever there was a time for our country to be reunited; then let it be here and let it be now; upon the world’s grandest stage, with nothing to lose but so much to prove.

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If living for others is selfless and good, than is focusing ourselves selfish and bad?

Although thinking and acting exclusively for ourselves is indeed selfish, to place focus on one’s own self-improvement and personal development–becoming happier and more positive, fostering a stronger and more compassionate spirit, striving to be a better person–is not selfish because bringing out the best of your Self will certainly benefit friends, family members and all of those whom you encounter.

When we are happy, those around us are influenced to feel happiness. When we are positive and tranquil, those around us will feel more positive and tranquil, too. When we strive every day to bring out the best of ourselves, others around us necessarily benefit. In this way, focusing on ourselves is not selfish; we actually serve to better ourselves on behalf of others.

How to Better the Self Without Being Selfish

The definition of selfishness is to be more concerned with one’s own interests, needs, and wishes while explicitly ignoring those of others. Being selfish means that you show that your personal needs and wishes are thought to be more important than those of other people. To be primarily self-concerned is to necessarily neglect others. But by these definitions, couldn’t striving to better ourselves through introspection and inner growth be considered selfish, as well?

Here on DaveUrsillo.com I write a lot about self-improvement and personal development topics. Am I endorsing people to be more selfish? Hardly. When we intently focus on ourselves with the goal of becoming better persons, we are not acting selfishly so long as the betterment of who we are on the inside will benefit those around us, from our families and friends to coworkers and strangers we encounter every day.

Social studies prove that one’s own happiness has a direct influence on the happiness of family members, friends, and other men and women with whom we interact. There is a direct, though often subtle, connectedness between how one’s mood and actions can influence the mood and actions of others. Happiness begets happiness, and sadness begets sadness. Thus, when one embarks upon an inner journey to improve his or her Self– one’s spirit or soul, who one is on the inside–one person can necessarily come to improve the lives of those around him or her because more compassionate, happier, and positive people have a direct influence on everyone he or she encounters and interacts with.

Improving the Self is like Improving One’s Health

An equivalent of self-improvement and personal development through which one strives to better the Self in an unselfish way is focusing on one’s own health through exercise, eating well or even quitting smoking. Few of us would ever consider exercising, eating healthily or breaking the addiction to smoking cigarettes as selfish acts, and yet they place deliberate focus and attention upon one’s Self.

As with striving to be more healthy, improving our inner selves necessarily benefits those around us, too. If we quit smoking and live healthier lifestyles, we are lengthening our lives not only for ourselves but for our families and friends and all of those around us. When we strive to improve our thinking patterns and behaviors, and work to develop our inner spirits to be warmer and happier, everyone that we encounter benefits.

Showing concern for one’s self over others is selfish. But when we strive to become happier and more positive, work to foster a stronger and more compassionate spirit and become better people, we explicitly place attention on the development of ourselves for the definite betterment of those around us. In this way, we focus on ourselves without being selfish, because bringing out the best of us is what’s best for others.

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The extent to which the modern economic recession has disproportionately impacted the rising American generation–”Generation Y” or the “Millennial” generation–by way of disproportionately high unemployment and underemployment threatens to widely distend the ordinary window of time through which members of any rising generation can socially and professionally develop into formative positions of influence and leadership.

During such desperate times of foreign and domestic struggle, the dangerous and plausible consequence is that next generation of American leaders in the Millennial demographic–upon whose shoulders the conceivable survival or demise of the country ultimately rests–will be all the more disadvantaged in their rise to ever-important ranks of leadership in the United States, and to the plausible detriment of the entire free world.

What may result is a “Generation Y leadership gap,” or a distended period of time during which there is a noticeable deficit of influential leaders from Generation Y that would have ordinary and more immediately followed those of the Baby Boomer generation and Generation X, in subsequent order.

To avoid what could become a destructive deficit of leadership during some of the most significant and determinative decades in America’s history, young members of Generation Y will today be all the more compelled to press themselves to rise to positions of respectable influence among their generation and quickly achieve the respect of the aging American generations. As a nation, we will be obligated to forge relationships of respect and teamwork, for neither Generation Y nor the Baby Boomers will be able to minimize the impact and consequences of modern economic and foreign struggles alone.

The Forthcoming Gen-Y Leadership Gap

The effects of the modern economic recession on an entire generation of rising Americans could last upwards of an entire decade. The plausible consequence is that Generation Y–the next group of American leaders–will be starting that much further behind in their rise to positions of influence in America, which are going to be so important to the direction of the country during difficult times of trial, struggle and desperation.

Because the depth and magnitude of the modern recession is so disproportionately impacting members of Generation Y, and on the brink of their rise into full adulthood, those who consider themselves to be leading members of the generation must work all the harder to rise from the depths of these troubling times in order to forge working relationships with the parent generation, the Baby Boomers, to begin a new and cooperative union or what New York Times columnist Thomas L. Friedman calls, a “Re-Generation.”

Although unemployment and underemployment have so drastically and disproportionately disadvantaged recent college graduates and members of Generation Y, Millennials have at their disposal a wide array of unique tools, including the power and potency of instantaneous communication to a wide audience through social media, to overcome the deficit of upward social and professional mobility and in order to attain a status similar to that of conventional career influence.

The question, of course, is to what extent the Great Recession will impact and distend the ordinary window of time that would allow this generation of young American adults to progress at a “normal” pace to positions of influence and leadership in the workplace and realms of public service. Undoubtedly, the next generation of American leaders will have a significant impact on the direction of the United States and the entirety of the free world. It depends on Generation Y to rise to the occasion–in spite of the turmoil and tumult that will disproportionately disadvantaged them for years to come.

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If a raindrop were to ponder her existence, would in life she tremble with fear? For, at the very moment she is birthed, so begins her downward demise.

Miles above her final resting place, she is conceived by moisture and air. She leaves the sky as her womb, born unto descent, as one of many who embark together upon a similar, downward spiral.

What irony that her very conception spells her downfall, which in turn spells her definite end. Yet, were it not for the certainty of her fall would the life of a raindrop ever be possible.

Barriers of the Mind

While a raindrop does not ponder its existence or the meaning or purpose of its life, in as little as asking a most simple question, “If,” do we as humans–deeply emotional, sometimes intelligent, highly complex creatures–open doors of our minds that might otherwise remained closed.

Opening these obstructions of the mind can reveal to us an endless amount about ourselves, about others, and about our world. In doing so, we truly enable ourselves to learn and grow. To open one’s mind is to challenge the status quo of logic and our oft stubborn human nature for the betterment of our inner development. And yet, for all the end value of such efforts, opening rigid doors of the mind is a tiresome and arduous task.

The tragedy is not our unwillingness to open barriers of the mind, but merely that we often haven’t the keys to do so. When we rethink what has already been thought, question the commonplace, and consider something ordinary in an extraordinary way, we allow ourselves to reconsider everything that we thought we already knew. Truly, in as little as asking simple questions like “if,” “why,” or “why not” do we grind the sometimes stubborn nature of our human minds as a locksmith does to misshapen metal and forge keys to new discoveries.

Asking Questions Can Help Forge the Keys

The simple act of posing questions–even questions that seem backward or contradictory at their inception–possesses the unique ability to forge invaluable keys to open doors of the mind that would have otherwise remained locked and shut. Answers are what resolves the unknown of questions. But, so too can questions inspire their own answers.

We ask such questions in spite of what logic and convention dictate. While even the most backward of questions and contradictory of theories may–at their inception–appear to be nothing but nonsense, had humankind not asked so many questions, created so many keys, and opened so many locked doors, we’d have never collectively progressed through history’s hotel: a series of winding, dark halls and rooms of close-mindedness, from what was the past and to this moment, today.

We forge keys on behalf of a better today and on behalf of a better tomorrow. We ask such questions because that which at first may sound utterly backward could reveal to us more than we initially thought imaginable. After all, the life and death of a raindrop is not much unlike the journey of human life.

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What separates ordinary daydreamers from doers and achievers is the difficult process that must be endured to see one’s dreams through to reality.

By their nature, dreams can dissuade their very pursuit because of how much willpower, strength, and ability it takes to achieve them.

A dreamer eventually and always comes to realize that the pursuit of one’s dreams and all that is required to see them through to reality is an arduous road that will test the dreamer’s strength, power of will, and character. But in the end, the difficult process of achieving one’s dreams is what separates daydreamers from the doers who are determined to achieve them.

The Beauty of Dreaming

What is beautiful about dreams is that anyone and everyone can dream. They are an enabling, empowering, inherently human “equalizer” that remain when we are boiled down to our core. Strip any person of his or her ethnicity, religion, and culture, and dreams are certain to lie underneath. But if everyone has dreams, why wouldn’t everyone fully pursue them?

Dreams are distant and elusive. What makes them feel so far away, so fleeting, and difficult to attain is that our aspirations demand so much of us to see them to fruition. We must prove to ourselves, to others, and to even our dreams themselves that we possess the confidence, the strength of mind, and the sheer ability to make them a reality.

The Process Separates Daydreamers from Doers

The difficult process separates daydreamers from achievers. “Doers” willfully endure the challenges, hurdles, and hardships because they are willing to struggle and sacrifice in order to achieve their dreams. Daydreamers can wish and aspire all they please, but in the end, those who do not wish to run the proverbial marathon of dream-chasing will never be able to cross the finish line.

All that separates one’s dreams from becoming reality are trials in the forms of patience, creativity, hard work and dedication. Whether or not we fully understand the challenges of pursuing one’s dreams and all that it will take to achieve them, doers and achievers realize that the challenges must be endured if one wishes to make them a reality. Otherwise, we would be little more than ordinary daydreamers who allow the fleeting and elusive nature of our dreams to pass us by.

Post Photo Credit: Kyle Steed on Flickr.

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