The unexamined life is not worth living.  A thought stated by Socrates during his trial for corrupting the youth, in which he received a death sentence.  For years I have taken this statement to heart, not just as a personal reflection, but also as a professional one.  For some strange reason I perform this yearly ritualistic task on Thanksgiving Day.  I guess the rationale behind that is Thanksgiving is a day to give thanks to God for the blessings one has received.  Although it is nice to reflect on the good things, I find I gain more knowledge from understanding the reasoning behind why I failed at a certain task.  No matter if you win or if you lose, you must grow from each experience.

Besides growing from your experiences, there are important questions one must ask oneself in order to gain an understanding of one’s value.  That value is not measured by the size of your bank account, but the size of your heart.  It’s not what you earned, but what you gave away. What have I done for the world and would what I do be missed if it was no longer offered?  How many others offer the same service as you, or is my service unique?  Lastly, you must ask yourself, why you do what you do.  Is it to receive the praise of men? Then what you’ve earned here in the world is your only reward. Or, is it for the Glory of God, which means that your reward will come at a later time.

In reflecting on what we (John and Bruce) were able to accomplish with our non-profit, the Institute for Complexity Management (ICM), I was very pleased with the answers to the probing questions asked above.  The Institute for Complexity Management is a 501 (c) (3) charity.  ICM sponsors two programs under their banner.  Those programs are The National School Safety Collaboratory (NSSC) (http://nationalschoolsafetycollaboratory.org/) and the John Galt Program for Investigative Studies (JGPIS) (https://jgpis.org/).

The mission of the National School Safety Collaboratory is “to provide a safe and conducive learning environment for our children.”  Our service is to provided risk management software and information to prevent copycat crimes at schools and/or universities.  We provide quality whitepapers as well as surveys so that we can understand the trends that are happening in our country.  We try to provide all these services free of charge.  The only way we can accomplish what we are trying to do is by the generosity of those who find value in the service we provide.

The mission at the John Galt Program for Investigative Studies is to help small business protect themselves against encroachment into their intellectual property.  We provide pro-bono work to help small business create investigative reports concerning how the entity infringed on that company’s intellectual property.  Again, we survive on the donations of others that allow us to perform this service.

Although businessmen would consider our ability to raise revenue a failure, I believe it was a success.  We have raised $6,895 as of the writing of this story.  But, last year we only raised $220.  So it was a 97% increase in our revenue.  That money was not used to pay any salaries, but to help protect our children at school and to help others fight the good fight.  We did spend $1,000 on a consultant who performed far more than the money we could pay her.  And we spent $1,000 on travel.  The travel was to help prepare one of the companies we are helping at the John Galt Program for Investigative Studies to fight the government that stole that company’s intellectual property.  We are very pleased with how that case is progressing in the courts.

Besides the case mentioned above, we wrote constructive notices for two other companies, The Wesleyan Company and FoodQuestTQ.  We had to send out all correspondences in those two cases via certified mail.  Additionally, we posted and boosted numerous articles (both on school safety and on government encroachment) on social media that cost us $1,415.65.  So as of the writing of this article we have a total $813.59 left in our bank account.

The things we have accomplished, I believe, could not have been done by anyone else.  Who else do you know would perform 5000 hours of quality legal work and receive $0 compensation?  And, if we didn’t help others to fight against an over reaching government, then who would?  We sponsored two surveys in the National School Safety Collaboratory and one in JGPIS.  All research is performed by a staff of two, with outside help at times.  All social media and web portals are also managed by the same staff of two.  Although it would be nice to eventually pay our staff, no staff member has been paid since the inception of ICM 10 years ago.  All work is done out of the generosity of their hearts.  Their reward will definitely be in heaven.

So after reviewing the facts of what we have done at ICM, I must say it has not been for the money.  That I hope is apparent.  But, what we have done is enriched the souls of others.  It allowed others to see that they are not alone in their fight against an over reaching government.  In the military, we would say we got your six. And, if we saved one child’s life by the information we have shared at NSSC, it has been worth the many hours spent finding and sharing information.  With all that was stated, I consider the last year a total and complete success.

Yes, others may look at our bank account and say we have failed.  It is unfortunate for them not to be able to see the deposits we have made into the hearts and minds of those who have benefitted from our services.  As for John and I, we consider ourselves the richest men in the world.  For when we saw a brother or sister in need, we helped.  What is more valuable than that?