Content will be the heart of the American Gumption project. Video interviews with the people Steve meets along his journey will be front and center.
The interviews will all have a common theme. It’s the theme of America. It’s the theme of people living their lives with Gumption.
The United States was founded on the ideal of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Americans at the time of the nation’s founding didn’t want to be ruled by a King in a far-away land. Those early Americans had gumption. They had courage, took initiative, and used common sense.
The American Gumption project will be looking for today’s ordinary Americans who are courageous, take initiative, and utilize common sense to get things done. We will interview people who have not looked for a helping hand, but have used their own two hands to lift up their lives – and most likely they’ve helped the lives of many others.
The individual people living in the colonies in the mid-1700s had Gumption. They took personal responsibility for their lives – anything less would have meant death. They did not have the benefit of paid days off. They awoke each day and went to work on their farms – their actions provided the food to live. To survive, our nation’s early citizens took responsibility for their neighbors by building towns, communities, and helping other families in need.
Two hundred and forty-four years later, the people of America still want what’s best for themselves and their neighbors. While both food and information are now plentiful and no longer a concern for daily living, individuals are reexamining what it means to take responsibility for thoughts, health, and lives. They are awakening to new ways of thinking. Most importantly, they are taking actions that directly lead them to this new consciousness. This new consciousness is presence and self-awareness.
The individual people living in the colonies were simply pursuing opportunities to help them survive. It was a choice to pursue a better life for themselves and their families. They lived each day in the present moment. They lived each day with the knowledge that by doing today what needed doing, they were building a bridge for a long, productive life.
The American Gumption Project will be finding ordinary Americans who are also pursuing opportunities, making tough choices, and embracing the journey of life here in 2020 America.
Simply put, American Gumption is about people who have taken personal responsibility for their lives.
The American Gumption project will be on the lookout for and interviewing those types of people. People with moxie, grit, determination, and self-reliance.
The American Gumption project wants to meet and interview individuals who are living their lives with Gumption.
The stories will be happy and cheerful. They’ll be stories where the good guy wins in the end. But, they will also include challenges, difficult times, and turning points that allowed a person to grab victory from the jaws of defeat. We’ll ask tough questions to probe how and why a person overcame obstacles. How and why they never gave up. And how and why they ultimately succeeded.
American Gumption interviews will have the intention of leaving you – the viewer – feeling good. We’ll accomplish this by focusing on what went right – we’ll skip stories that dwell on what went wrong. We’ll find the good in people’s lives and help you feel good about being alive today in America.
Sadly, we’ll let the main stream news continue to focus on what’s wrong with America.
We’ll focus on what’s good with America. I believe the answer will always be similar – the answer will be the individual citizens who make up our great country.
For you the viewer, the style and format of the interviews will hopefully become familiar. But do expect evolution over the months and years as both the focus and the Host get sharper and more skilled.
My job as Host of the American Gumption project will be to bring you stories that inform, educate, and entertain.
My job as Host of the American Gumption project will be to make the individuals interviewed look good.
Every person I interview will be a willing and cheerful participant. My aim will be to bring out the best in them, even if they occasionally squirm from a too-close-to-home type question. I promise I won’t ever purposely try to embarrass a guest or set them up for a gotcha moment. I’ll leave that unsavory tactic to today’s cable news thugs.
I am both excited and humbled by the huge responsibility I’m taking on. I’m committing to myself and I’m committing to the people I interview. Most importantly, I’m making a commitment to you the future viewers.
As I step forward with Gumption, I do so with the memories of the people alive when our Nation was founded almost two and a half centuries ago.
Finally, I’m asking for your attention. If you give it to me, then I know I have the responsibility to bring forth quality interviews that will help you learn, grow, and entertain.
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