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We've got a month until election day here in the United States, and it's a time where people have the chance to stand up and be counted. There's always a big hullabaloo around election time, for some reason, and this year's got its share of name-calling, half-truths, full-truths, quarter-truths, sound bites, hot dog bites, and baby kissing.

But it reminds us that there is a time in our lives where we must stand up for what we believe -- whatever the heck that may be. There is a time where we must choose to show people what we stand for, who we are, what we do, an dwhat we believe.

Many people never really get to this point. Sometimes, they don't know themselves well enough to stand for something. Other times, they don't think they have anything to offer.

But that's what really matters here. It's important for us to learn who we are, what makes us tick, and rise up to stand for something.

When we go through life in a wishy-washy way, we never seem to accomplish much, never seem to make a whole lot of a difference, and never seem to rise to our true potential. Standing up for something, even if it's the first time we've stood up for anything, helps us define who we are, develop courage, hone our life's purpose, and put us on track to greater possibilities in the future.

You may have realized that I'm not talking really about politics alone here. Frankly, I don't care who you support, or what they stand for. I vote how I like, and I expect you'll do the same. But in our lives, we must stand up for something, we must choose what we believe, we must defend the things we hold to be true. We must, in other words, choose which side we stand on, and come down squarely on that side.

Altogether too often in this day and age, people won't take sides, even when it's the right thing to do. They go through life trying to be liked by everyone -- and in the process, they aren't really liked by anyone.

Here are two rules to live by: Stand up for what you believe, and believe in yourself.

Copyright, 2010, by Daryl R. Gibson. All rights reserved. Permission is hereby granted for the non-commercial redistribution of this document as long as it remains intact with this copyright and all other lines. This license does not extend to the use of this material in a compilation, whether for profit or non-profit use. Join us at http://www.Weekdaywisdom.com.