I am the sum total of the genetic endowment with which I came into the world, and all the experiences which have made up my life. Some of them have been good, some bad, but all of them have been mine. What I currently am is what I deserve to be. My life, my reputation, my influence is the mirror of choices I have made. If I am not everything I can be, it is because I haven’t chosen to be more.
I am determined not to live in the past, which I cannot change, or to waste time waiting for the future, which I cannot guarantee, but to live in the emerging reality of the NOW, which is all I have. I cannot do everything, but I can do some things. I certainly cannot guarantee that I will win, but I can promise that I will not allow losing to become a habit and that if I fail, it will not be a failure of nerve.
So I will stand tall, feel deeply, think large, and strive mightily, remembering that what I accomplish probably won’t change the course of human history, but what I attempt will create the course of my personal history.
Toward making this declaration a reality, I hereby commit myself.

John Compere