During World War I and II, many American men who were drafted to fight in the war found excuses to not fight. Excuses ranged from, "I'm an only child," "I have flat feet" and some even shot themselves with a gun, only to sustain a wound, of course.

They say the optimist sees the opportunity in every problem and the pessimist sees the problem in every opportunity. So is suffering more subjective and than it is actually present? We complain about the Arabs owning all of our businesses. But honestly, if the Arabs didn't own them, would we own them or would we have a bunch of vacant business spaces? Do you really and truly want to own these businesses and property? We find things to complain about but when we are given the opportunity, do we really seize them or do we prefer to sit on the sidelines and complain? Do we go around wounding ourselves on purpose so we have an excuse for not succeeding?

We all know that it takes reading, studying and researching to achieve any goal. Yet, some of us prefer to sit and wait for someone to bring success to our doorstep. Success for us is different. Some of us would simply like to get out of debt. Some would just like their child to do better in school and society. Others simply want to make more money. Well, what work are you doing to arrive at your goal? Are you letting others around you dictate when and how you receive your success? None of your dreams will take you serious unless you do the same for them.

We are confused that our children are running out of control and their motivation is pretty much non-existent. Have we taken a look at ourselves in the mirror to see if what we ask of them as parents and leaders, we require for ourselves?

Until we are able to unsubscribe from comfort and convenience, remove the price tag from values and morals, embrace education and intelligence, and ignore fear and embarrassment, we will continue to be a body of people that are downtrodden, complain and expect our individual success to be handed to us. No change will take place until we realize that action towards change is required on our part. If we do not recognize this, our self-inflicted wounds will become self-inflicted disabilities!

St. Thomas native Devin "Dutchie" Robinson is a six-time author and columnist. He can be reached at www.devinrobinson.com.