The Syrian Immigrant that EVERYONE wants...

Circa 1952, there was a Syrian immigrant that left his land because of his fear that he would not be able to fulfill his God given potential in his home land.    

He moved in Wisconsin and fell in love with a young Catholic girl, and they planned to be married.  That was until the girl's father, a very conservative and strict man, stepped in and strongly objected to the marriage -- on the grounds that the man in question was a Muslim.  The problem was, the girl was pregnant.

The girl ran away to California, to the Bay Area to be exact, where she found a doctor who would both give birth, and help with arranging an adoption.

A baby boy of Syrian descent was born February, 1955, 11 years to the month of my own birth, 600+ miles away in Los Angeles.

There was nothing particularly special about the middle class couple that adopted this Syrian child, other than they decided to love him completely, as their own child. 

They provided the child with a heavy dose of love and confidence, along with a safe roof over his head, support and education.  

Another interesting thing about this couple -- they did not fit the 'highly educated' profile, as the adoption requirements originally demanded.  

The first couple selected for adoption actually rejected the new born baby boy. They chose a little girl child from the hospital instead.  

The second couple was ultimately approved for this adoption, and while the world would see this couple as fitting a 'mainstream' profile, it is important to note that the wife here was also the descendant of Arminian immigrants. Her own parents had escaped persecution in a land far away from her safe new home.  In other words, she could relate.  She had compassion. She knew what discrimination looked like.   

And while this couple did not fit the 'professional, highly educated' profile first demanded from adoption records, in hindsight, thank God the adopting father was a working-man-mechanic.  It was because the dad was a mechanic, that his son met another young man from the area with a passion for all things 'mechanical.'

The world knows the rest of the story here.  This young man went on, after dropping out of college, consistently noted for how 'different' his behavior was, to do great and transformational things.

He re-imagined computers and computing.

He re-imagined portable music equipment.

He re-imagined the music industry business model.

He re-imagined the mobile phone, turning it for the first time from a portable 'phone,' into a portable 'computer.'

He re-imagined human connectivity, with unique mobile devises that allowed you and me to consume endless amounts of content.

He re-imagined animation technology, applying it to award winning movies.

He re-imagined the very purpose of a time piece,  a watch on your wrist. It is said that for the first time in forever, global Swiss watch sales 'dipped' in 2014.  I believe that to be true.

He-reimagined how we work, live, connect, learn and experience the world.

He changed how we do business.  How I work -- even at this very moment. Even with what I used to 'create' and write this piece.

His name -- is Steve Jobs.  And how sad it would have been had Donald Trump or some other narrow minded, fear-based 'leader' demanded that he and everyone like him 'stay out of this country.'  We would be flat broke of new ideas. That's what.  

I will write more about this in another post, but the reality is that immigrants (including poor and struggling European 'immigrants' too), minorities and the poor have made this country.  America was not so made by the rich and the wealthy, as the poor and struggling who made people rich and wealthy.  

This country was literally built by dreamers, who mostly came here from somewhere else, to find 'a better life here in America.'   To quote my late friend, Dr. Dorothy I Height, "they are dreamers with shovels in their hands."

The reality is, the only true native Americans were Native American Indians.

The world is struggling with the question of what to do with Syrian refugees, but the more concerning news is that many people in the world are no longer even struggling with the question.  The answer is just "no, we don't want 'those people' here."  

Many countries are closing their doors to these same Syrian refugees altogether. 

I understand the fear, because I understand fear. I wrote a bestselling book on the topic, "Love Leadership: The New Way to Lead in a Fear-Based World."  

My premise for the book was simple.  

"There are two things in this world.  There is love and there is fear, and most of our so-called leaders today are leading by fear."  

These so-called leaders know what they are doing.  They want to frighten you, so you stop dreaming and believing in the magic and possibilities of all people. So that you start closing the doors of your otherwise own (open) mind.  

They want you to shut down and push away, so that in the futre you only invite in their backwards rhetoric.  

Fear-based leaders win, by convincing you that you are somehow losing.  

These so-called leaders will remind you of everything that scares the pants off of you, and tell you that 'terrorists will kill you and your family,' when in reality, you have a 90% higher chance of being hit by a car or killed by someone you know, than by a terrorist.

Do we need reasonable protections and a wholesale upgrade on our immigration policies and border protections, yes we do.  You bet. But we must also remember that we actually are not a country, but an idea.  And this great American 'idea' requires belief, and believers.

Thank God for Steve Jobs, child of a Syrian immigrant.

Let us not be defined by our fears.  

We are better than this ladies and gentlemen.  

Let's go...

John Hope Bryant is the Founder, Chairman and CEO of Operation HOPE and Bryant Group Ventures, a Thinker-In-Residence 800-CEO-READ, and an Inc. Magazine/800-CEO-READ bestselling business author of LOVE LEADERSHIP: The New Way to Lead in a Fear-Based World (Jossey-Bass). 

His newest bestselling book is How The Poor Can Save Capitalism: Rebuilding the Path to the Middle Class (Berrett Koehler Publishing), which was voted aTop Book for 2014.

Bryant is a Member of the U.S. President's Advisory Council on Financial Capability for Young Americans, co-founder of the Gallup-HOPE Index with the Gallup Organization, and co-chair for Project 5117, which is a plan for the rebirth of underserved America.

Bryant is the only bestselling author on economics in the world who is also of African-American descent.  

Operation HOPE, founded by Bryant, is directly responsible for the U.S. government establishing financial literacy as U.S. federal government policy in 2008.

Follow John Hope Bryant on LinkedIn Influencers here