Building the Foundations of Your Life

Sure New York City looks good on a post card and whatnot, but the truth of the matter is that New York City, like many other large urban centers in America is riddled with poverty. Many people who suffer from poverty and impoverished conditions are alcohol and drug addicted. There are also a great number of so-called poor people that dropped out of high school and have criminal records.
So how can this trend of poverty be reversed or even eliminated? We must start with what I call "basic foundation life building". Now I know that this is much easier said than done. But in order for adults not to end up on welfare and/or living on the streets later in life they need to be educated. Yes, I'm talking about staying in school until you graduate because school will help provide the basic foundation of life building. This is where everything starts and the seeds of personal development are sown.
I know also that college isn't an option for everyone, but if at all possible everyone should attain some form of higher education. This will help provide the tools to obtain a decent paying job and/or to help build a business. Assuming you don't have the talent to play professional sports or to entertain and sing for your supper, this is the tried and true path to success. Besides, many CEOs of major corporations make a heck of a lot more money than anyone else, professional athletes included.
Faith - The first building block of your life would have to be faith, even before family, because if you are a believer, in my opinion, God should always come first before everything else.
Family - After faith would have to come family. Hopefully your family will be rooted in faith and all else will be centered around that. Faith will help the family survive and overcome the many obstacles and challenges ahead.
Work and Business - Since work and business are one and the same, we'll include them together. Education will lead to decent work and hopefully you will be creative enough and have the wherewithal to start and grow your own business so that you can make a decent living in order to be able to take care of your family.
Health - You should seek to stay healthy by avoiding drugs and alcohol altogether, and by exercising and eating right, etc.
Stay out of trouble - Trouble is a very expensive thing to get into. It is easy to get in and hard to get out of. Therefore, you should seek to avoid it at all costs. There are over two million men in American prisons. You cannot prosper if you get a long prison sentence through violence or any other criminal act. If you do the math, it is certainly not worth it to spend a lot of years in jail for a crime that pays only a modest amount of money.
Assuming you don't murder anyone, it should be easy to see that you are better off just working for what you want. That way you will be free to enjoy all the years of your life and not just a few of them.
There are many, many more points to be covered in building the foundations of your life that cannot be covered in this one article.
Always remember to stay focused on your objectives and everything should turn out all right if not exactly according to your plans. To quote the late singer James Brown, "Stay on the Good Foot".