How Much is Enough?

by Dr. James W. Jackson
Founder, Project C.U.R.E.
Author, The Happiest Man in the World: Life Lessons from a Cultural Economist

I was born 9 months before the surprise attack on Pearl Harbor that plunged the US into World War II. The development of the war-time industries needed to aggressively defend our nation actually served to pull the US economy out of the devastating depression of the 1930s. My earliest memories and experiences were shaped by the war-time culture and the attitudes of austerity and frugality. There were always shortages. There was never enough. It was much like the reaction of Scarlet O’Hara after the Civil War as she returned to Tara and declared that she would never be without things and money again . . . ever!

When the war was over we entered some pretty heady times. The economy had rebounded. Industry and commerce were humming, and the girls and moms who had entered the work force while the men were away fighting simply stayed on at their jobs. Many of the returning military men headed to school to take advantage of the G. I. Bill of Rights and free tuition. I heard it repeated over and over by the grownups, “I will see to it that my kids have it better than we did.”

It shouldn’t be too surprising, I suppose, that the recent generations have never really concerned themselves with the concept of “How much is enough?” That’s not been the issue. The real issue seems to be “How much can I accumulate?” The kids, grandkids and great grandkids, indeed, have ended up with “more.” But I have yet to be convinced that they ended up “better off.” Our culture has tried to arbitrarily establish some guidelines for enough. When the child is eight years old he or she has had enough of the third grade and will move on with the peers whether the subject matter has been mastered or not . . . an eight year old has had enough of third grade. We set tax laws that say that when you work hard and earn a certain amount deemed “enough,” you will be punished and it will be taken away from you. When you eat too much your stomach can give you an acute warning of enough. But in a heartbeat the taste buds can trump the message and you can madly race on into obesity.

Until I was nearly 30 years old I had never seriously considered, “How much is enough?” My sufficiency was more than adequate. My thoughts during those early years of austerity were that I would be a millionaire someday. By the time I was 30, I was sixteen times over that. It was then I realized that I was addicted to the game of accumulation. My idea of “how much was enough” was simple . . . enough was one dollar more and one more deal completed. It was then that Anna Marie and I decided that we needed to break that addiction, “cold turkey.” We gave away our accumulation of wealth and started over again. We did not take a vow of poverty or pledge to wear a hair shirt. We simply needed to break the addiction to the mindset of accumulation and realistically deal with the question of “How much is enough?”

I have tried to become an attentive observer while traveling in the 150 countries I have visited over the past twenty-five years. I am intrigued by cultures where the people have historically dealt with the question of “enough.” And some of the sweetest words in the entire world are those words of personal responsibility that I am hearing from the lips of my own friends and the members of my own culture . . . “Yes . . . that’s enough!”

Dr. James W. Jackson often describes himself as "The Happiest Man in the World." A successful businessman, award-winning author and humanitarian, Jackson is also a renowned Cultural Economist and international consultant, helping organizations and governments to apply sound economic principals to the transformation of culture so that everyone is "better off."

As the founder of Project C.U.R.E., Dr. Jackson traveled to more than one hundred fifty countries assessing healthcare facilities, meeting with government leaders and "delivering health and hope" in the form of medical supplies and equipment to the world's most needy people. Literally thousands of people are alive today as a direct result of the tireless efforts of Project C.U.R.E.'s staff, volunteers and Dr. Jackson.

To contact Dr. Jackson, or to book him for an interview or speaking engagement: press@winstoncrown.com

Cost vs. Value

by Dr. James W. Jackson
Founder, Project C.U.R.E.
Author, The Happiest Man in the World: Life Lessons from a Cultural Economist

Economic concepts and economic systems matter. We are individually “better off” when we slow down and begin to recognize the subtle signals of the economic structure and learn what they are telling us. A signal from the “pricing system” reveals to us dependable information that will help us make better decisions. Signals tell the producers what the consumer thinks something is worth. Signals tell me where to go to get the best deal. There is always a healthy friction of discontent between the producer who thinks he is receiving too little for the gallon of milk he produced, and the mom who “just knows” the price is too high. That’s good.

While traveling around the world, I am intrigued as I observe various economic signals. I have seen with my own eyes that if you raise the cost of doing something the people will do less of it. There is no behavior that is not affected by cost. Higher income, for example, becomes one of the greatest controllers of the birth rate. When the people become richer they have fewer babies (one of the cardinal factors of the recent occurrence of genocide in Rwanda . . . the Hutus were out birthing the wealthier Tutsis nine to one). 

But there is another set of signals that I have been trying to process lately. There seems to be a direct and positive correlation between “cost” and “value.” Something that comes without cost to you will more than likely be regarded as of little or no value to you. You assign a higher value to something if it has cost you something. There have been studies showing that a college student who has earned the money for his or her tuition will do better than the student who is on a free ride. A bike that is “earned” is treated better than a “freebie.”

I had an interesting thing happen to me in the early days of Project C.U.R.E. People who were preparing to travel to a foreign country and desired to take some donated medical goods with them to present to a foreign hospital or clinic, or medical groups needing clinical supplies for their mission, would come to our warehouse and ask us to furnish them with the goods. We began to assemble boxes of about $1,500 worth of donated medical goods and just let them walk out the door with our blessing. Later, however, I discovered that should those well-intentioned people run into difficulties getting those boxes on the airplane as luggage, or should they encounter aggressive border or customs people upon entrance into the country, they would simply turn their backs and walk away from the donated goods saying, “Oh, well, they were free to us and when we need more we can go back to Dr. Jackson and Project C.U.R.E. will always give us more."

When I learned of what was happening I started charging a fee of $100 for the $1,500 worth of donated goods. That simple personal investment changed everything. From that date forward we never lost a box. And now, even when we donate a huge ocean going cargo container of medical goods valued at close to one-half million dollars, we require the recipient country or sponsoring group to pay the cost of shipping and handling of the container as their “buy-in” requirement. That guarantees that the recipients will be at the customs building in order to protect their investment and see to it that the container is received by the hospital or clinic.

In my mental processing of this positive correlation between “cost” and “value,” I have come to this conclusion: as a rule of thumb, you can determine the true value to you of something by deciding how much of your personal life you would be willing to exchange for that object or service - because there is no behavior that is not affected by cost.

Dr. James W. Jackson often describes himself as "The Happiest Man in the World." A successful businessman, award-winning author and humanitarian, Jackson is also a renowned Cultural Economist and international consultant, helping organizations and governments to apply sound economic principals to the transformation of culture so that everyone is "better off."

As the founder of Project C.U.R.E., Dr. Jackson traveled to more than one hundred fifty countries assessing healthcare facilities, meeting with government leaders and "delivering health and hope" in the form of medical supplies and equipment to the world's most needy people. Literally thousands of people are alive today as a direct result of the tireless efforts of Project C.U.R.E.'s staff, volunteers and Dr. Jackson.

To contact Dr. Jackson, or to book him for an interview or speaking engagement: press@winstoncrown.com

The Seed of Possibility

by Dr. James W. Jackson
Founder, Project C.U.R.E.
Author, The Happiest Man in the World: Life Lessons from a Cultural Economist

In the spring of 1983 I was invited by Rev. Robert Schuller to present a financial seminar at the Crystal Cathedral in Anaheim, CA. As he welcomed the attendees he asked them an interesting question, “What great thing would you attempt if you knew you could not fail?” I still marvel at the uniqueness and subtlety of that question. Over the years I have tried to deal with the question while embracing the phenomenon of “Possibility.” The conclusion I came to was that I wanted to become a “change maker” and help other people in this world become “better off.”

I believe that Project C.U.R.E. became the vehicle that allowed over fifteen thousand of us as volunteers to help tens of thousands of people in at least 123 different countries become better off. People who were attracted to Project C.U.R.E. ended up with their lives changed for the good. I consider myself fortunate because over the years I was able to see the changes in the recipient hospitals, clinics and even entire healthcare systems wherever Project C.U.R.E. was involved. I vividly remember my dear friend, Dr. Vilmar Trombeta, the head of the University in Campinas, Brazil. “Jim,” he said, “you have brought millions of dollars of medical goods and donated them to our University and to our hospital. But, do you know what you brought most to us? You brought ‘hope’ to us.”

Dr. Trombeta went on to explain, “When you first came to visit us all of our people were excited, but they were secretly skeptical. Other Americans had been here and promised things and then never returned.” He continued, “but after the first container arrived and all of us saw that it was for real, our whole University and hospital changed. Even our staff meetings changed. Instead of our department heads and leaders getting together and complaining because we couldn’t do this or that, they started seeing ways that things could be done. Everything miraculously changed. If Project C.U.R.E. has enough faith in us to give us over a million dollars of medical goods, then we can surely figure out how to get things done with what we have.”

Then, of course, Project C.U.R.E. had brought incredible change to sick and dying moms and dads and kids all over the world, like the ten-year-old girl on the Serengeti in Tanzania, Africa, whose life was miraculously saved. Project C.U.R.E. was not the change, but it had become an “Agent of Change.”And change and miracles have not just happened on the other side of oceans. Some of the most dramatic changes associated with Project C.U.R.E. have taken place in the USA . . . in Denver, Houston, Phoenix, Nashville, Chicago, and eleven other operational cities.

Individuals have had a chance to express themselves in love and caring. The compassion that was bottled up inside of them did not have to be physically taken to a foreign country to be expressed and realized. They had the opportunity to do something for a hurting world in a tangible way right near where they lived. Project C.U.R.E. has been the vehicle that has carried those people’s feelings of love and compassion to the other side of the world and effected change. And it all seemed so impossible at the beginning.

The question Robert Schuller asked the people in Anaheim is equally relevant today. I would like to challenge you today with the very same question, “What great thing would you attempt if you knew you could not fail?” It is very possible that the dream could become a reality in your life if you would dare to act upon it.

Dr. James W. Jackson often describes himself as "The Happiest Man in the World." A successful businessman, award-winning author and humanitarian, Jackson is also a renowned Cultural Economist and international consultant, helping organizations and governments to apply sound economic principals to the transformation of culture so that everyone is "better off."

As the founder of Project C.U.R.E., Dr. Jackson traveled to more than one hundred fifty countries assessing healthcare facilities, meeting with government leaders and "delivering health and hope" in the form of medical supplies and equipment to the world's most needy people. Literally thousands of people are alive today as a direct result of the tireless efforts of Project C.U.R.E.'s staff, volunteers and Dr. Jackson.

To contact Dr. Jackson, or to book him for an interview or speaking engagement: press@winstoncrown.com

Writing Your Story

by Dr. James W. Jackson
Founder, Project C.U.R.E.
Author, The Happiest Man in the World: Life Lessons from a Cultural Economist

The story of the Soviet Union is one of sadness, greed and tragedy, not only domestic tragedy but exported tragedy as well. Early on, they had burned through the resources and accumulated wealth of the Czars and were forced to pursue a political philosophy of militarism and expansionism. After they had raped and pillaged Central Asia they still needed more tribute. The only economic component of growth known to their system was taking from someone else. Of necessity, they eventually turned their sights on the resources of Africa, but needed a stronghold. In 1974, a Soviet sponsored coup overthrew Haile Salassie of Ethiopia, the second most populated country in Africa. They established a Marxist-Leninist military junta known as the “Dreg.”

In 1977, neighboring Somalia captured part of Ethiopia. Fifteen thousand troops from Russia, Cuba, South Yemen, East Germany and North Korea arrived to support the “Dreg.” Following the border dispute, the USSR just kept pouring in more “advisors” as well as armaments, tanks, jet fighters, rocket launchers and guns until every strategic location was controlled by the Soviets. Then came the genocide and forced deportations of dissidents to neighboring countries. Man-manipulated “famines” forced millions to become refugees as the Soviet leadership explained, “You don’t need to kill all the fish, simply drain the pond and all the fish will die.”

The “famines” galvanized the resistance groups under the leadership of Seeye Abraha in the northern regions. They, too, were going to write their story. Another story would be written by a young man of royal linage, Daniel Yohannes, from Addis Ababa who was whisked away from Ethiopia to be educated in the US. Daniel became one of Project C.U.R.E.’s first board members.

For over 20 years the freedom fighters desperately tried to overthrow the Soviet-directed regime but no one came to Ethiopia’s aid. The free world simply said. “Well, some day the Ethiopians will realize that the Soviets are a menace and will throw them out.” The only weapons the freedom fighters had to use against the enemy were ones they could take away from the communists. The only show of international help came from organizations shipping food in response to the “famine.” Much of that aid was confiscated by the communists and sent on to Russia to help cover the food shortages there.

In 1996 I met a dignified Ethiopian woman in Denver. Her name was Tadeleah and her home was Addis Ababa. I met her at a fund raising dinner where I was speaking to help raise money for the shipping costs of millions of dollars of donated medical goods from Project C.U.R.E. into Ethiopia. Tadeleah had been a freedom fighter during the Soviet occupation. Twenty years later she was a Cabinet Member in the newly formed government and Minister of Women’s Affairs for Ethiopia.

On my next trip into Ethiopia I was accompanied by Daniel Yohannes. We were welcomed at the Addis Ababa airport by Seeye Abraha, new Minister of Defense for Ethiopia. Also there were the Ambassador to the US, the Governor of the Tigray region, the Minister of Health, and Tadeleah. All had been leaders of the Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRKF). They were busily engaged in restructuring a new Ethiopia after the miracle victory over the communists. They were now writing their new story.

One of the evenings I was in Addis Ababa Daniel and I were invited to Tadeleah’s home for dinner. We were graciously received by her three daughters. Her lovely home featured wood floors and comfortable furnishings. Tadeleah had prepared a traditional Ethiopian meal where soft, spongy bread made from teff called “injera” was stacked four layers deep. Each slice was about 20 inches in diameter and the stack covered a low round table where we gathered. Placed on top on the injera were food items, such as spinach, squash, corn, fish, lentil beans and rice. As we talked we would tear pieces of injera from the top slice, pinch or scoop up a vegetable or meat and put it into our mouth. As we were finishing our injera one of the girls placed a covering on the wood floor and built an open fire of charcoal in a cast iron pot. She roasted coffee beans by gently shaking them over the fire and then meticulously brewed the coffee over the same fire. The uniqueness of the ceremony was exceeded only by the aroma and taste of the Ethiopian coffee.

During the dinner I commented about a picture close to the table and asked if the man in the picture was her husband. Tadeleah confirmed that it was and hesitatingly she began sharing with us the heart-rending tale of the price of freedom in Ethiopia. Her husband had been an early leader in the resistance fighting. The communists had captured him and forced Tadeleah to watch as they tortured him to death. Tadeleah became one of the fiercest and most respected leaders in the movement.

When she was captured she was leading a group of women and girls out from a village that had been surrounded by the communists. They were firing mortar shells and grenades into the village killing the inhabitants in the crossfire. Tadeleah had sneaked into the village and tied the women and girls together in a group so they would not get separated as they attempted to escape to safety in the dark of night. The enemy discovered their escape and caught them. Tadeleah, who was dressed like an old pregnant peasant woman, managed to escape again, but as she was leaving, a young girl with tears in her eyes begged her not to leave them because they would then have nothing and no one. Tadeleah then came back to try to help them one more time. That time the enemy rec­ognized her and she was condemned to death. For the next 13 years she cheated the firing squad but remained in solitary confinement until she escaped again. She told us that close to half of the freedom fighters were women and when the com­munists would capture a group of their forces they would nearly always shoot all the women on the spot because they were the fiercest fighters, being the last to ever surrender their weap­ons. The women could absolutely terrorize the enemy and get the advantage in close hand-to-hand fighting. It was because of the important role that the women had played in the war that they now had been given some of the most important jobs in the new government. I listened very carefully as Tadeleah relived her story.

Rogue nations write their stories, insurgency freedom fighters write their stories, and each individual writes his or her story for history. We are the sum total of every moment and every event of our lives on this earth, and we decide how each episode will shape our story.

Dr. James W. Jackson often describes himself as "The Happiest Man in the World." A successful businessman, award-winning author and humanitarian, Jackson is also a renowned Cultural Economist and international consultant, helping organizations and governments to apply sound economic principals to the transformation of culture so that everyone is "better off."

As the founder of Project C.U.R.E., Dr. Jackson traveled to more than one hundred fifty countries assessing healthcare facilities, meeting with government leaders and "delivering health and hope" in the form of medical supplies and equipment to the world's most needy people. Literally thousands of people are alive today as a direct result of the tireless efforts of Project C.U.R.E.'s staff, volunteers and Dr. Jackson.

To contact Dr. Jackson, or to book him for an interview or speaking engagement: press@winstoncrown.com