Greetings!
How’s your summer going? I certainly hope it is productive, and not simply busy. Here at R-BAR the staff and volunteers have been both busy AND productive, working on things that will improve the Association and provide benefit to you, our members. From big to small, everything we do is important, and everything you do is important. Everything.
Let me go off on a little tangent here, and I’ll try to explain what I mean. On this side trip we will encounter Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs, touch briefly on Chaos Theory, and visit with Dirk Gentry’s Holistic Detective Agency. Yes, I know it sounds weird, but that’s what you get when your President has a BS in Psychology with a minor in Philosophy, and is a bit of a Sci-Fi geek. This will all add up to a HUGE ask for an incredible new event this Fall! So away we go!
In 1943, Abraham Maslow released his “Hierarchy of Needs” to the Psychological community, outlining fundamental needs and levels that all humans experience or strive for. The initial two levels, physiological needs and safety, correlate directly to real estate. Fundamentally, shelter is essential to all humans, and the need to feel safe in our shelter follows from that pursuit of shelter. Frankly, the other levels that Maslow delineates (belonging, esteem, and self-actualization) can all be tied to the place where a person lives. We all need a place to call our own that is safe, makes us feel good, and part of a community. Somewhere we can call HOME.
Meanwhile, some crazy mathematicians came up with Chaos Theory, which in an extremely oversimplified definition, means that big dynamic events all come from very small initial actions. The common example used is the Butterfly Effect, where if a butterfly flaps its wings in the rainforest in Brazil, it ultimately leads to a tornado elsewhere in the world. (At the time of this writing, we just had several days of reported tornadoes in our area. Perhaps we should go find that butterfly responsible...). So, a small initial action of helping someone rebuild credit, start saving up for housing, or working with an elected official to make laws that protect private property can lead to the life changing step of a person achieving their dream of home ownership! Or creating a generational legacy based off of establishing their homestead, in a community in which they can live, work and play and so can their children, grandchildren, and countless generations to come. All because you helped them qualify for a mortgage to buy their first home.
Now here’s where things get a bit stranger. Douglas Adams, author of “The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy”, in 1987 published a book called “Dirk Gentry’s Holistic Detective Agency” where Dirk was concerned with the fundamental interconnectedness of all things, regardless of how seemingly unrelated they may be. Basically, everything we do can in some way be connected to every other thing we do. 6 degrees of Kevin Bacon if you will, but on a grander scale. Look at some of the clients you have taken care of in your business, how did they get connected to you in the first place? Or was there some unique experience or connection you found with someone that deepened your working relationship? How many cousins, neighbors, friends, grandchildren and so forth have you helped because of a client you served well years ago that came to you through potentially bizarre circumstances. What you do matters, and is connected to events we cannot anticipate in the far flung future.
“Let's think the unthinkable, let's do the undoable.
Let us prepare to grapple with the ineffable itself, and see if we may not eff it after all.”
― Douglas Adams, Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency
So let me try to tie this all together in a HUGE ask for all of you, and everyone you know:
On October 12, 2019 R-BAR is partnering with Habitat for Humanity, Restoring Hope, and NHS to hold our first (hopefully annual) 5k Run For Shelter! And we need you! Everything you can do is vital to this effort: we need runners, walkers, volunteers, sponsors, organizers. We need people to spread the word to their networks, and beyond. Anything you can do to help, big or small, can have long lasting ramifications. If you are an agent, come join me as a runner/walker, and ask your clients as well. If you are a broker or have a Team, put together a 5k team to fundraise and compete against other brokers/Teams. Affiliates, you can do the same! And EVERYONE can be a sponsor, there are many different tiers of sponsorship available. Proceeds from the 5k will be split among the partnering organizations to continue to help people today, and future generations, fulfill their dreams of homeownership!
Make an effort today to help people progress through their Hierarchy of Needs. Become the butterfly that creates the amazing storm of success for future generations. And connect all the dots you can so that your impact is simply staggering. You are amazing, and EVERYTHING you do matters!
See you at the 5k!
Mark Mohn