You have 3 minutes.

This is what Professor Bill Coplin says to me standing behind his desk, looking over and down to me sitting in the chair in his office during the first few weeks as a Freshman at Syracuse University. I went in as a Philosphy major and dreamed of talking about life in the corner cafe's in Paris. But I heard my mother's voice, "how are you going to get a job as a philosophy major?". La Vie En Rose started to fade in the background as a particular reality set in. I didn't really know the answer to that question. Since I just turned down getting into the 5-year co-op program at Northeastern to become a stock broker, I figured getting a nice, well-rounded education like a good idea. One of the main majors was Public Policy. It was run out of the Masters Program and since Syracuse had the #1 Masters in Public Policy program in the nation, I felt like it might be a good idea to see what this was all about. I didn't realize that they only admitted 40 new students every year into this demanding program and I certainly didn't realize there was going to be some sort of "interview". I was definitely nervous and he was known to yell a lot. Most people were afraid of him. Without missing a beat I started to answer his question.

"I want to create a week, have it highly publicized, where everyday of that week there is something to do in relation to the Self. Monday will be 'Call Your Mother' day where everyone in the nation picks up the phone and calls whomever they feel is their Mother and connects with her. Tuesday will be to deal with your finances. Wednesday will be to clean up the clutter in your house and so on. And I want famous people involved. I want rockstars of all kinds, movie stars of all kinds, politicians, etc. to go back to their hometown for at least a few days for publicity around this week. I want it in the newspapers, in magazines, on TV, on every billboard. I want this week to be all about Starting With Yourself. Because if everyone started with themselves, instead of trying to fix everything else around them, then that's a great way to change the world."

And at that moment I couldn't believe that I just came up with that. As if it was always there within me, this notion, this idea. I had honestly never thought about this question before I was asked it. And I certainly didn't have this idea.

He looked at me and said, "Well, ok then. Thanks for coming in."

AAHHH! I honestly thought I blew it, but on the other hand I was so pleased at what I came up with. Needless to say, I did get accepted and graduate from Syracuse through this major with concentrations on Criminal Justice and the Enivronment. And at graduation time, Bill came up to me at our private reception and told me it wasn't too late to apply to law school. Me and one other fellow were the only 2 out of the 40 who were not heading onto law school.

I tell you all this for many reasons but mainly to know the history behind my tagline, my underlying theme of my own personal journey. And a living testament that it truly is a great Path, to Start with Yourself.