| Just as I was taking my first sip of a fresh coconut on | | | | yours?" and if your reply is negative, they walk off |
| the world famous Copacabana Beach in Rio de | | | | with the items. |
| Janeiro, a rail thin, haunted looking youth of about 10, | | | | It's not a pretty life, but it's one worth witnessing if you |
| lurched in front of me and crudely demanded money, a | | | | have a serious interest in success. |
| handout. | | | | These desperados will do whatever it takes to fill their |
| This wasn't your typical American plea for assistance, | | | | stomachs, to scrape by for another day, despite the |
| "Spare change, Mister?" | | | | squalor in which they live. |
| It was a guttural, spiritual attack, meant to pummel the | | | | Literally, they have the HUNGER to make it happen. |
| listener into compliance, to wobble after feeling a | | | | This is the most essential ingredient in succeeding at |
| concussion grenade. | | | | anything. You have to be hungry and stay hungry. |
| There are a reported 600 slums in Rio, governed by | | | | The next thing you need is OPPORTUNITY. The |
| drug lords, who are so vicious that Rio has become | | | | Brazilians I mentioned don't have much. |
| one of the world's most murder prone cities. These | | | | You need SKILLS, which are derived largely through |
| marauders come from those slums. | | | | formal education and on the job training. |
| Even on the scenic Ipanema Beach, made famous by | | | | Finally, you need to SWEAT, to work hard to get |
| the Antonio Carlos Jobim song, there is a perennial | | | | results. |
| sense of danger. As you sit on the sand you see an | | | | If you have all four characteristics going for you, |
| endless stream of vendors, many of whom double as | | | | HOSS, you'll be unstoppable, especially if you live in a |
| thieves. | | | | highly developed economy as you'll find in the U.S. and |
| If they spot unattended shoes or clothes, they circle | | | | in most of Europe. |
| around them, quietly asking anyone nearby, "Is this | | | | |