Tomorrow I begin a short vacation before a stint in the Bahamas, Brazil, LA and then back to Sao Paulo, Brazil for Miss Universe in September. I’m fortunate to have the trust of my superiors to carry the responsibility I do and I always aim to make them look good for instilling that trust in me.

But, no matter where I am or what I do, the experiences I’ve had with Children International are the most humbling and rewarding of my life and always at the forefront of my mind. The system is simple. You take the most destitute poor children in the world, use $22.00 per month to provide an education and clothing, and you end up producing hard-working members of society.

In November of 2010, a group of us volunteered our time to travel to the Dominican Republic and shoot a few messages for the good people at Children.org. There is no scam just beautiful kids, who without Children International and people like you, would have no opportunity of removing themselves from the inevitable destitution that otherwise awaits.

I hope you enjoy our work, and help change the world. These pieces don’t do justice to how incredible the program is, but I hope they encourage you to think about how small the sacrifice is for you to make. www.children.org – $22.00 / month:

“Thank You” – is a speech delivered by students and graduates of the program. The woman who says doctor is a doctor and graduate of the program.

“Life or Coffee” – For less than the cost of 4 Starbucks coffee’s you can provide education, medical care, dental care, clothing, pride, love and opportunity. Blows me away how far so little can go.

“Where They Live” – The woman walking and picking up the child is telling her story of how her life changed.

There will always be differences between people. Our tastes and likes are as varied as the number of stars in the sky. Politicians will argue for the interests of their party, their constituents and themselves, as they have since before the States were United.

The problems you read about in the paper make it sound as if all hope is lost. From the enormous debt, high jobless rate, struggling economy, increased suicides and senseless murders, one could easily conclude that the United States has lost its hold on what once was.

What is clear to me is that like life, politics is messy. Nothing is perfect and nothing ever works out the way you expect it. However, Bam Bam’s vision and poetic delivery remind me what’s great about the United States. Although there is an impossible idealism upon which this country was founded, we all strive for success, however we may define it.

The United States provides opportunity unlike any other country in the world. No it’s not easy nor guaranteed that you will make it. But, you have the opportunity to work hard and aspire to that which you dream. Bam Bam wasn’t born the President. Babe Ruth wasn’t born a baseball player and Samuel Langhorne Clemens wasn’t born Mark Twain.

Although there is no guarantee that all opportunities will produce the success you desire. There is a common element among those who capitalize on opportunity. it’s hard work.

This is the land of opportunity, of which I am an example. Some call it luck, I agree. Luck is the moment in time when hard work meets opportunity. I am not sure who said it, but I’m confident it was hard work that figured it out.

Work hard citizens of the world. Yes there are other options, but they offer no reward. Best of luck Mr. President.

It appears we are quickly running out of fresh water and oil, democrats and republicans still don’t get along, the Leafs haven’t won a cup since 67, and we continue to act as if our actions have no consequences. That said, Hans Rosling shows us that on a macro level we’ve made extraordinary progress in the last 200 years. Go us!

The longest running problem with shooting video on a DSLR is audio. The picture is beautiful and the dynamic range is fantastic, but the onboard audio controls are basically non-existent. There a few options to combat the audio dilemma with two most common being the Beachtek attachment and the Zoom H4N.

I went with the Zoom because the sound was better and I didn’t have to mess with trying to set the levels correctly in order to combat the native audio gain produced by the 5D. This meant I had to sync my audio in post, but it was better than dealing with trying to correct audio in post and remove a hiss.

Why am I speaking in the past tense about this audio issue? Because there is a solution to all your DSLR audio problems and if you already have a zoom the cost is less than $25!

Click HERE to see how a couple of recent graduates from OU solved the problem driving every DSLR video shooter mad. Thanks gentlemen.

Without personally experiencing the dire living conditions of those on the bottom of the societal hierarchy I was truly oblivious to what life meant. Of course I can imagine not having a bed, running water, sanitation or waste disposal, but without being there that image never left the dark matter of my mind.

You’re affected by everyone you meet.

I’ve preached about doing good and being better to anyone that’s known me. I’m concerned for the world on a number of levels, but kids born into extreme poverty with no hope for a better life struck a chord with me first. Having worked with Children International with Miss USA it was obvious to me that they were one of the hardest working most legit organizations on the planet. I saw directly where my money goes; to my sponsored child. He gets an education, food, clothes and most importantly, an opportunity and hope.

Immediately after my experience with USA I offered my services to shoot, edit and produce as many quality commercials as I could come up with in a weekend. We settled on 3 spots, hashed out the creative, picked locations and locked in a weekend. Taking Leah was important to me because like me, she’s working toward greatness and I knew the experience would be life altering. Tom was an easy choice because he lives life with great purpose and is eager to contribute his skills to make the world a better place.

Together, with the incredible work and organization of CI and their people on the ground in DR, we came, we shot, made people smile, and because of my wife, introduced an entire village to ice cream.

Now it’s your turn. Don’t be good, be great and trust what I’m saying about www.children.org. Sponsor a child, start a recycling program, unplug electronics you aren’t using, just do something. Idleness is weakness. We gots to take care of mamma earth, we only get one shot to get it right or she’ll bounce us from this rock.

Family Portrait

But no doesn’t have to be the end. Quite the contrary, no is merely an obstacle or the end of one adventure and the beginning of another. As long as you’re prepared for an uncomfortable onslaught of no’s, yes is just around the corner. Now that doesn’t mean it’s not gonna hurt when you hear it, but persevere and you might just surprise yourself.

So what can one do to minimize the no’s? Well, there are a few options. First, do nothing and aspire to mediocrity and your sure to get there with a reduced no quotient. Second, plug your ears. If you can’t hear it was it ever said?

In my eyes there is only one solution to deal with no. Work as hard as you are capable and then a little harder, give your best effort and the most important part…have fun. If you can accomplish all 3 of these then the no doesn’t define the result, you do.

As Steve Jobs would say, “stay hungry, stay foolish”. To that I would add, “try hard, have fun”. I wish it for all of us.

Whatever the case, there is a paradigm shift that needs to happen in order for us to maintain not just our quality of life, but life at all.

Lets be good to her, she’s all we got.