JOLLY OLD ST. NICK

by Dr. James W. Jackson

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

As dry leaves that before the wild hurricane fly, when they meet with an obstacle, mount to the sky. So up to the house-top the coursers they flew, with the sleigh full of toys, and St. Nicholas too. (Clement Clarke Moore)

So, just who is this Saint Nicholas? What does he have to do with Christmas? Even the young Jewish girl, Anne Frank, wrote about Saint Nicholas while hiding from the Nazi soldiers:
                    Once again St. Nicholas Day
                    Has even come to our hideaway;
                    It won't be quite as fun, I fear,
                    As the happy day we had last year.
                    Then we were hopeful, no reason to doubt
                    That optimism would win the bout,
                    And by the time this year came round,
                    We'd all be free, and safe and sound.
                    Still, let's not forget it’s St. Nicholas Day,
                    Though we've nothing left to give away.
                    We'll have to find something else to do:
                    So everyone please look in their shoe!”

Nicholas was born around AD 270 to Christian parents, both of whom had spent time in prison, persecuted for their Christian beliefs. It was the law of the Roman Empire, and the officials were encouraged to confiscate Christians’ possessions, burn their books, and put them in prison or kill them, if need be.

Shortly after the birth of Nicholas, another baby boy was born into the Roman Empire. His name was Constantine. He was born where the present city of Nis, Serbia, is located. His father, Flavius Constantinus, was part of the Emperor’s personal body guard. Eventually, his father worked his way up through the Roman ranks to become not just a Caesar, but an “Augusti,” and ruled over the areas of France, Germany, and Britain in about 307. Constantine proved himself as an intelligent, disciplined, and brave military commander and began climbing the ladder of success in the Roman system. Somewhere along the line Constantine bumped into and embraced Christianity.

Constantine returned from battle in the spring of 303, in time to witness the beginnings of Emperor Diocletian's “Great Persecution,” the most severe persecution of Christians in Roman history. The Roman courts demanded universal persecution for all Christians. In the months that followed, churches and scriptures were destroyed, Christians were deprived of official ranks, stripped of their wealth, and priests were killed or imprisoned.

In the meantime . . . young Nicholas was dedicated to God by his parents in the church at Patara and baptized by the Bishop, who happened to be his uncle. Nicholas became a priest and eventually became the Archbishop of Myra. His personal generosity became legendary. He gave away his own personal holdings to the poor. His personal hobbies were making toys and books for the abandoned children of the orphanages. “Papouli” the children would call to him as he made certain that all those he met never had to do without the necessities of life.

Nicholas spent a considerable amount of time in prison because of his ministry, but because of the many miracles attributed to Archbishop Nicholas, he became known as the wonder worker. He had a reputation for secret gift-giving, such as putting coins in the shoes of those who left them out for him. Other recorded deeds included arranging for a ship load of wheat to be delivered to Myra following a severe drought, his saving some children from drowning, and saving three daughters from lives of prostitution because their father could not raise sufficient money for dowry.

Nicholas continuously taught his people, “The giver of every good and perfect gift has called upon us to mimic God’s giving, by grace, through faith, and this is not of ourselves.” His spirit of giving became contagious, and others discovered the joy of unselfish giving to those around them. Nicholas’ humility exalted him, and his very poverty enriched him.

Constantine became best known for being the first "Christian" Roman emperor. In February 313, Constantine met with Co-Emperor Licinius in Milan, where they developed the Edict of Milan. The edict stated that Christians should be allowed to follow the faith without oppression. It removed penalties for professing Christianity, under which many had been martyred during the persecutions, and the edict returned the confiscated property. The edict protected from religious persecution not only Christians but all religions, allowing anyone to worship as they would choose.

Constantine’s and Nicholas’ paths crossed throughout the rest of their lives. The Church at Rome began inviting Constantine to host some of their councils as a defender of the orthodox faith. In 325, Saint Nicholas was invited as an Archbishop to the Council of Nicaea regarding the nature of Christ. Nicolas was one of the signors of the Nicene Creed.

Before long, Co-Emperor Licinius’ troops were in a civil war with Constantine’s army. Licinius’s armies were defeated and Licinius was slain. Constantine became the single and most powerful Emperor of the Roman Empire. He then moved the capital to the “New Rome” in Constantinople, where it prevailed for another one thousand years. He became actively involved in building basilicas, including the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, and supporting churches and missions, and promoting Christians to high offices. Constantine was baptized shortly before his death in May, 337.

I love the unique phenomenon of the concurrent lives of Constantine and Saint Nicholas. It is such an overlooked story and such a great example of global transformation taking place at the intersection of culture and economics. In my imagination, I can see each man standing at the intersection deciding how to answer the all-prevailing question, “What’cha gonna do with what’cha got?” What they decided to do, and what they each decided to contribute, altered the course of history. For nearly seventeen hundred years we have reaped the benefits of the decisions of Emperor Constantine.

The generous life of Saint Nicholas became the historical model for the Dutch Sinterklaas, often called "De Goede Sint," and eventually morphed into the British character, Father Christmas, to create the character known to Britons and Americans as Santa Claus. Remember this: Your greatest reward in living will be realized through your giving. Merry Christmas, St. Nick!

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

ANXIETY

by Dr. James W. Jackson

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

Holidays give an excellent occasion to write of anxiety. It is the great equalizer . . . the common denominator of earthlings. What would life be like if we didn’t have the ability to make it complicated? Without anxiety and complication who would be left to purchase the contents on the shelves packed full of sleep and indigestion medicines? He who embraces anxiety hugs a thief who will ruefully strip away your peace, security, and happiness. No one is better off for having invited the vagabond of anxiety for a sleepover. You can't change the past, but you can certainly ruin the present by allowing anxiety to mess with your future.

I quietly chortle to myself when I hear my friends tell me how fortunate I am to have spent so many days of my past thirty years in the “peaceful, laid-back cultures” of Africa, Asia, and Indonesia. They make it sound as if Americans have some sort of exclusive lock-down on the culture of angst, apprehension, and fretful stress. We almost pride ourselves on the perceived exclusivity of frantic, panic, and disquietude. We almost take as truth that no others work as hard as we do, no other culture accomplishes as much as we do, none goes as fast as we go, none deserves to worry as much as we worry, and none works as hard at deserving to wear the badge of anxiety as we do.

However, what I have learned is that the misery of anxiety is universal. It is prevalent in all cultures. Trouble seems to create a capacity to handle the same trouble. In your life you are going to see a lot of anxiety, and you had better be on speaking terms with it. I loved the story Max Lucado told about one fellow who experienced so much anxiety that he decided to hire someone to do his worrying for him. He found a man who agreed to be his hired worrier for a salary of $200,000 per year. After the man accepted the job, his first question to his boss was, "Where are you going to get $200,000 per year?" To which the boss responded, "That's your worry.”

In case you are one of those under the misperception that all foreign cultures are tranquil, composed, and nonchalant, I must tell you I have witnessed some pretty bazaar cases of anxiety in foreign countries. In 2001, I was traveling on one of my earlier trips to Kinshasa, Congo. My host from the ministry of health insisted we travel north out of Kinshasa to the city of Bandundu on the route to Mbandaka. The route runs south of the equator right into the Great Congo River Basin with its virgin tropical rain forests. The road is highly traveled out of Kinshasa, but the quality of the highway deteriorates the closer you get to Bandundu. As we made a sweeping curve, we drove down off a steep plateau to the river basin.

Our driver steered our Land Rover to the side of the road and stopped. We all got out. My hosts pointed out to me the location of a tragic occurrence that had taken place about six months earlier. It had been raining and a portion of the highway had washed out. That was not necessarily unusual in the tropical area, but in the past, should there be a washout in that area, the drivers would simply leave the roadway and steer their cars onto the jungle floor, drive around the washed out area, then back again onto the roadway and continue their travel. However, on that day things did not go as usual.

The first cars pulled off and attempted to drive on the jungle floor, but the rain had softened the stability of the ground and the cars bogged down and were helplessly stuck. Large trucks followed, honking their horns knowing full well that with their driving expertise they could easily get through if they could pass the stuck cars. As they passed the cars, they also became stuck. Now, the cars and trucks just kept coming with their drivers getting less and less patient. The group anxiety began to rise and tempers flared as the drivers of the following vehicles seemed to think that if they would just go a little farther out into the jungle they would find solid ground and be able to pass all the stupid people who had gotten stuck. As they would go farther out in order to pass all the other stalled vehicles, they, too, would get stuck.

             
The protocol of African highway management does not include such conveniences as detours or patrol officers to direct such situations. Some people tried to turn around and go back, but there was no way to turn around and go back because the traffic just kept coming around the corner and down the steep road off the plateau. The option available to them was to shake their fists and swear at the incompetence of the others ahead of them and try to go out even further to get around the washout. Each driver thought he was the exception and could find a way around either to the left or to the right.

Before long, there were well over 250 large trucks and cars jammed up in that area. No emergency vehicles could get in to help. No one had food. The thirsty people began to drink the contaminated flood water. They became sick with dysentery. Several died of dehydration. Several people died of heart attacks. One pregnant mother went into labor. There were complications with the birth and the mother bled to death and the baby died. A couple of drivers were beaten to death as fights broke out. It took weeks to unscramble the mess and clear out all the vehicles. My hosts explained to me that the vehicles were spread out over a kilometer wide into the jungle, where they had tried to unsuccessfully pass each other. A total of more than twenty people died as a result of the fiasco.

Plato once advised, “Nothing in the affairs of men is worthy of great anxiety.” The unusual consequences of anxiety in the Congo River Basin that day certainly attested to that. As the old preacher, Charles Spurgeon, used to say, “Anxiety does not empty tomorrow of its sorrows, but only empties today of its strengths.”

Now that we have been serious . . . let me offer to you another option for handling anxiety for your holiday consideration. I overheard a fellow exhorting some of his friends with what I would call, Wisdom with a Warp:
         If you can’t accomplish something all at once, just take it little by little. That way
        you only spend a small part of each day not accomplishing anything, and you can
        take the rest of the day off!”

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

WIND IN YOUR SAILS

by Dr. James W. Jackson

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

We arrived at the market in Kohima at 12:30 p.m. I think if I could just stroll through the Kohima market about noon each day of my life I would be able to save lots of money otherwise spent for lunches. Puii reminded me that the people of Nagaland were historically regarded as great hunters. That fact was underscored immediately as I spotted a variety of monkeys offered there for butchering and cooking. Just a few yards away there were squirrels hanging by their hind legs, and below them were ordinary small birds for the picking.

On the market table to my left were deer quartered but with the hair and hides still on. Then I saw what I didn’t necessarily want to see: short-haired, tan dogs split open from their nostrils to their tails, cleaned and ready for sale. But the kiosk getting the most attention was the site of two older women kneeling down behind their sales table working on the entire forearm of a very large black bear. They had just severed it from the rest of the huge body and were now on the ground skinning out the body of the bear with careful precision so as to perfectly preserve the hide, which would be sold separately.

Having spent a considerable bit of time in Asia, I realized what a prized possession the women had brought to market. Bear meat was valuable and, except for being a bit greasy, would remind you of pork. But the value of the bear was really in the bones and organs and such parts as paws, claws, and skull. The Asians respect the medicinal value of spare bear parts, much as they desire the horns of the deer family.

   
We were at the market by invitation of Dr. Vike Thongu and his dignified and gracious wife, Puii. They had invited me to stay in their lovely home in Kohima while I was in Nagaland, one of the three insurgent states of northeast India. Bangladesh separates Nagaland, Mizoram, and Manipur from the body of India. Nagaland is snuggled up against old Burma and China on the lower slopes of the rugged Himalayas. Nagaland is a place of spectacular beauty and mystique.

At dinner the previous night, an intriguing discussion had precipitated the invitation to the market in order to view the diversity of items offered there. The exotic dinner entrees had included pig and goat (I think) for meat dishes, and lovely presentations of squash, rice, potatoes, and vegetables. But there was one side dish that in the ambiance of lantern light I presumed was ivory-colored pasta mixed with young bamboo sprouts.

“Puii,” I inquired, “please tell me about this delicious pasta dish; I am not identifying the nutritious taste.” Dr. Vike Thongu answered, “You are here in Kohima, Dr. Jackson, at exactly the right time. Only once a year do we have this opportunity, and it is very expensive. We honor you as our guest, for this is the most desired dish of our culture. This is black wasp larva in varying stages of development.” With a closer look, I could see that, indeed, the whole bowl was full of nice, big, plump worms nesting in the tender bamboo sprouts.

For the remainder of that memorable evening I could hear Mark Twain’s injunction ringing in my ears: “Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn’t do than by the ones you did. So throw off the bowlines – sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails . . . Explore. Dream. Discover.”

I was not the only person around that table who was exploring, dreaming, and discovering. I found the doctor and his wife to be two of the most dedicated and creative people I had ever met. Mother Teresa used to say, “If you can’t do great things, do little things with great love. If you can’t do them with great love do them with little love. If you can’t do them with little love, do them anyway.” Dr. Vike Thongu and Puii were doing great things . . . with great love!

Dr. Vike Thongu’s hospital was located on a narrow, steep street in the heart of the busy city. Painted across the front of the building were the following signs: “C. T. Scan Service,” “Ultrasound Machine Diagnosis,” “Pharmacy,” and “Endoscope Surgery.” Puii and Dr. Vike Thongu were running the most technically advanced hospital in the whole northeast section of India. Their story of insight, discipline, hard work, and entrepreneurial risk-taking was unparalleled. Dr. Vike Thongu was a gifted surgeon. He performed every kind of surgery from orthopedics to skin grafting to delicate brain surgery.

The couple had begun with only a dream and a small clinic and pharmacy. They set aside 10% of all their pharmaceutical products for charity and performed at least 10% of all medical procedures for those who could not pay. They saved another 10% and purchased a piece of property for their hospital. They began to build their forty-bed hospital on a cash basis. The discipline and hard work paid off handsomely.

They knew that if they could offer the advanced technical services, they could capture the medical market. They would not take even needed medicine for their own children out of the pharmacy unless they paid the full price. They had no money to buy beds or other furniture for the hospital, so they made their own beds and sewed their own mattresses and sheets. When the hospital opened, they needed divider partitions between the beds. So Puii took the drapes out of their own house and sewed them into usable panels.

Soon they outgrew their hospital, and, with discipline and the money they had saved, they were able to purchase the adjacent property to build another forty- bed facility. In order to help pay for the new facility they began to rent out rooms in their own house.

As an economist and businessman, I was in awe at the entrepreneurial example of the wonderfully dedicated Christian team of Dr. Vike Thongu and Puii. Their eyes sparkled as they unfolded the story to me. As Steve Jobs would say, “The people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world are the ones who do.” They had never acquired an MBA degree from Harvard or Yale, but they were outperforming classic business planners by leaps and bounds and making sure all the time that their charity work was never cut short. They told me that Project C.U.R.E. was the first organization from the outside to ever come and help them. I left with so much admiration and respect for the two of them. Their level of hard work, discipline, frugality, and absolute confidence and obedience certainly must make God smile everyday!

So, throw off the bowlines – sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails . . . Explore. Dream. Discover.

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

MARKET BASKETS

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 March of 1999, the U.S. State Department closed our Embassy in Belgrade and withdrew all diplomatic support personnel. Travel restrictions and travel warnings had been issued. Secretary Albright and NATO had made the threat of air strikes, and without the signatures on the proposed accord, bombing by U.S. aircraft began on March 24, 1999, and continued through June 10, 1999. During those seventy-eight days of continual air strikes over the Serbian Republic of Yugoslavia, 25,200 sorties, or missions, had been flown in which 1,100 aircraft took part dropping more than 25,500 tons of explosives on the Serbian territory of Yugoslavia. The total force of the destructive explosives was more than ten times greater than the force of the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima. All of that action was without ever having declared war on a sovereign country, or the U.S. Congress giving any approval of the action. It was strictly a decision by the Clinton Administration.

A huge wave of anti-NATO, and especially anti-American, feeling swept over Yugoslavia and the neighboring countries. It was into that setting that Project C.U.R.E. was requested to go. I had been asked to travel directly into the smoking ruins of Belgrade itself and assess the situation with the idea of supplying medical goods to hospitals and clinics which had, because of the extent of the conflict, depleted their resources.

The U.S. State Department, along with the International War Crimes Tribunal, announced they were placing a five million dollar price tag on the head of Slobodan Milosevic. Serbia restricted its borders to keep out bounty hunters. I was finally able to secure a visa for my passport through Yugoslavia’s Embassy in Canada.

Once I had checked into my room at the Moskva Hotel in downtown Belgrade, I realized there was no air conditioning. When I opened my hotel window I additionally realized I was right in the middle of a huge political protest rally. The protesters were demanding the ouster of President Slobodan Milosevic. They were also registering their extreme disfavor of the U.S. and NATO military actions. I was in the middle of some intense emotions.

From the relative safety of my hotel room, I curiously studied the activities of the individuals gathered in the large intersection below. As a Cultural Economist, I was seeing more going on in the intersection below than just frustrated and angry protesters. I was seeing the clash of economics and culture taking place in its rawest form.

The study of economics has to do with the efficient allocation and organization of resources for production. Cultural economics concerns itself with the relationship of culture to economic outcomes. A given culture will influence political systems, traditions, and religious beliefs, the positions of importance held by the families, the formation of institutions, and the value placed on individuals. Likewise, economic systems have the power to affect and shape the cultures. All of those factors were in play in the intersection below.

My past thirty-five years of international travel have greatly influenced my beliefs and world view. I have had the opportunity of standing in Moscow, Russia, and personally witnessing the collapse of the old Soviet Union. I was in Brazil and Argentina when their unraveled economies were experiencing three thousand percent inflation. I was in Zimbabwe while they experienced the consequences of the foolish mistakes of the Robert Mugabe regime. I have been in Iraq, Afghanistan, Cambodia, and China while they were going through their cultural upheavals. I have come to believe that global transformation, national transformation, corporate transformation, and individual transformation has everything to do with cultural economics.

Culture, with its components of traditions, institutions, families, and individuals, intersects with classic economic factors like land, labor, capital, and the entrepreneur. It is there that history takes place. It is at that intersection of culture and economics that transformation occurs.

But how does culture influence and dictate economics as it travels through that intersection? How do economic factors influence and dictate culture as they pass through that intersection?

Whether we like it or not, we each have a curbside involvement in that intersection, and I find that exciting and fascinating. Everyone alive has gathered at the curbside of the intersection of culture and economics.

Each person has been busily shopping at the market place and carries a fine market basket in his or her hand. Inside the market baskets are the most valuable possessions each person owns. The individuals have literally traded their lives for what they have in their baskets.

The personal inventories in the baskets include financial possessions and individual possessions of physical, intellectual, emotional, volitional, and temporal characteristics. Family, friends, and influence are included in the relational possessions. Also included are spiritual and other special possessions that are unique to each individual.

All of the shoppers are gathered there at the curbside of the intersection of culture and economics with their market baskets in hand. They possess the power and opportunity to ultimately determine what happens at the intersection of culture and economics. They hold history in their hands: by injecting the things from their market basket into the traffic flow of the intersection, they determine the direction, timing, and outcome of the flow of traffic.

The greatest and most powerful question that faces each one of us gathered at that intersection, regarding the contents of our market baskets is, “What’cha Gonna Do with What’cha Got?” How we answer that question determines the outcome and recordation of history.

What is it that you have in your market basket today? What do you plan to do with it?

After spending considerable time in examining and reviewing what I have in my market basket, I’ve made up my mind and this is what I plan to do: I want to spend the best of my life for the rest of my life helping other people be better off. I look into my basket and see the potential of a lot of evil in this world. But I also see an overwhelming amount of virtue there to be dispensed. I believe that virtue is extremely powerful in its influence.

While standing at the intersection of culture and economics, I would like to be among those who believe that by living and dispensing unrestrained amounts of virtue into the equation of culture and economics, we can be extremely effective and positive agents of cultural and economic transformation.

Someone once told me, because things are the way they are, things will not stay the way they are. Or, as C. S. Lewis would say, “It may be hard for an egg to turn into a bird: it would be a jolly sight harder for it to learn to fly while remaining an egg. We are like eggs at present. And you cannot go on indefinitely being just an ordinary, decent egg. We must be hatched or go bad.”

I don’t want to rot or go bad. I do want to hatch and become a dynamic transformation agent bringing help and hope to the people in my world.

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