Manns Medium

  When a Dream becomes so much more than just Reality   Adam Dixon had a dream, he dreamed of one day creating a space for at risk youth and adults that would go beyond the typical programs and offer something that no other has ever. He did not expect that this dream would materialize into far much more than that. He created The Adam Dixon Perseverance Foundation in 2014 after 3 year professional football career playing arena football and brief stints in the Canadian Football League. He recognized the immense and immediate need for this kind of organization providing not only sensible solutions but educational scholarships, mentorship, and leadership development. He was acutely aware that there were many others at-risk youth and adults programs out there but there were still a very large part of what was needed to guarantee the success of the students missing. He made it his heavenly mission to not only discover what they were but solve those issues.   It is n...

One of the factors that many of us seem to forget is the one factor that is often times over looked and is the most inconsistent part of not only the way we see things but the way we reaction to things. This factor is the “human factor” and when I say human, I mean human. We as individuals reaction based upon the knowledge that we have about any subject and since the bulk of that knowledge comes from our experience or what we have been taught at one point in our lives it is also gained from what we have been exposed to either directly or indirectly. Direct exposure tends to lend itself to something that we know and sometimes will not only base our existence around but flatly refuse to change or modify that stance for any reason. Indirect exposure is malleable and can be shaped by thoughts or opinion of others so it could be fluid and quickly changed or modified. Our divine over this George Floyd murder and many of the other atrocities when it comes to the authorities’ heavy...

Attention All Americans, let’s stop with playing the “blame game” and talk about “personal responsibility”. For decades now, many of us have been blaming others for our misfortunes and our lives not being what we think it should be and to be honest, in the begging, we had a very good case but that all changed, yet we refuse to change with it. We blamed others so often that it became easier to blame others than to take a good hard look at ourselves and accept the part of the blame that fell squarely upon our shoulders. We dismissed our personal responsibilities faster than we leveled the blame at others. It’s time for all of us to grow up, to mature and to clear the way for each and every one of us to become that perfect person God knows us to be. It’s time we stop looking to others to justify how we feel, why we feel that way and what we believe in, it’s time we all stop making excuses for our shortcomings and start to own them before they own us. In the beginning our ex...

The media is all ablaze with the Adrian Peterson story and the lessons are many but seldom does the media ever really get things right for fear of not getting high enough ratings that they often times sensationalize stories.  What should be happening right now is when something as critical as this takes place, lessons should be drawn, compared, contrasted and dissected in order to give those struggling parents another avenue than just corporal punishment.  I stand as guilty as many who never spared the rod for fear of spoiling the child but as Chris Carter so eloquently put it, “there are thousands of things that I have learned since then that my mom was wrong. You can't beat a kid to make him do what you want to do." What I discovered was never discipline a child when you are angry, it tends to grow and you make your own child of victim instead of teaching them a valuable lesson that will help them make better decisions later on in life.  I had to learn that the har...

The most surprising thing that appeared in Good Morning America Christina Ng’s article titled Former Rising Football Star Exonerated in Rape Case was not “a rising football star in southern California whose career was brought to a sudden halt by a kidnap-rape conviction that landed him in prison was exonerated today after his accuser contacted him on Facebook recanted her story. It was information hidden in the eighth paragraph saying " the problem was that Gibson did not want to tell prosecutors the truth because she feared she would lose the $1.5 million she and her family won in a civil suit against Long Beach schools after the incident.”   So his “high-school acquaintance—Wanetta Gibson—accused Brian Banks of rape and kidnapping following a consensual sexual encounter."    Another life halted in its tracks because of what I think was completely one-sided investigations.   It was probably more about two sides attempting to just get this case over instead of t...

For 15 years, Penn State University officials knew about the robbing of innocence children of their self-esteem and self-worth but did nothing except hide behind the wall of ignorance.   Each did just enough to help them sleep at night but none did all that they could to help them rest peacefully.   It has always been said that what you do in the dark will eventually find its way into the light.   Welcome to the light Coach Paterno, Coach Sandusky and Happy Valley. Many commentators, pundits and reporters are shocked by this news and some still are only speaking of Joe Paterno’s legacy and his “good” name.   For these people, let me put your mind at ease, Joe Paterno will still get into the Hall of Fame and his wins will still be printed in the records books.   His legacy will not suffer but I cannot say that about his soul.   Like that of the Catholic Church, when these allegations were first brought to light back in 1998, there was a moral obligation...

Not much has been said or heard about this story and it’s a real shame.   Michael Inbar a Today.com contributor penned an article titled Boy who survived Hudson crash: NFL star like ‘brother’ , in that article he reminded us of “La’Shaun Armstrong lost his family in an unspeakable tragedy, but now finds himself wrapped in the love and care of some big, burly football stars.   Baltimore Ravens linebacker Ray Lewis, a 10-time Associated Press All-Pro, and retired NFL cornerback Reggie Howard are spearheading a fundraising effort to provide La’Shaun with counseling, activities and a college scholarship. But perhaps more important, Lewis and others have opened their hearts along with their wallets. “He’s like a big brother to me, like an older brother to me,” a smiling La’Shaun said of the 35-year-old Lewis in a TODAY report Wednesday. “He says that I’m like family to him.” It says more about this nation that there are many who steps to the plate when the game is on the line. ...