On Monday, in another forum, I presented this video as something that was motivational. Basically, it's a video of a football coach showing one of his players that he could push himself more than he might have ever imagined with the right, well, motivation.

The posting of the video link got all positive reviews initially. Then, out of nowhere, a couple of people had problems with the video, saying it showed coaches and athletics in its worst light because, as they saw it, it showed how coaches don't really care about those who they mentor, and how unimaginable it was that anyone could do that to a kid.

As someone who played a lot of sports, and as someone who found the video nothing but inspiring, I was taken aback by the criticism. To me, they had missed the point of the video, which was that all of us can probably do more than we believe we can. It was the video that led me, in a way, to write my last newsletter (even though it was originally sparked by a conversation with a friend of mine). I really do believe that most of us find reasons "not" to do something rather than to get it done, and sometimes we need the help of someone else to push us to those things we say we want in our lives.

And, of course, this is on the heels of what seems to be growing criticism from many areas on the success of The Secret DVD, and now the book. Some are saying that it's irresponsible to tell people that positive thinking can get them anything, and that, if bad things happen, it's their fault, even if they have no idea how it was manifested.

It's easy to look at a good thing and beat it down. From what I've seen, most of the people who are complaining don't have anything good to say about anything else either, so I take most of it as I take movie reviewers; with a grain of salt. And that's what I needed to do when reading the negative posts that came from the video I posted above. Luckily, before I got there a couple other people had something to say themselves. Not everyone wants to hear or see someone putting down something that they saw as inspiring.

And that's the reality of it all, then. It's hard to find your positivity, then have someone else try to take it away from you. Naysayers say they're trying to protect you from pain and harm; maybe they are. But having a little encouragement works a lot better for someone like me in trying to reach my goals and dreams; I'm betting there are more people like me than the opposite in this regard.