Contemplate for just a moment.

What do Michael Phelps, Oprah, Moses, John the Baptist, Usain Bolt, Martin Luther, Martin Luther King, Nelson Mandela, Jesus, Elliot Spitzer, Heidi Fleiss, Charlie Sheen, Tiger Woods and the D.C. Madam have in common?

What similar trait or thread connect such a diverse group of people?

At first glance, one would be logically tempted to say absolutely nothing. I beg to differ. The element or key that binds them all is the word "sacrifice."

Whether you punish your body by swimming 100 laps in a pool or running 10 times around a track or shedding your blood on a cross, you are engaging in it. The dictionary defines sacrifice as "accepting the loss or destruction of a person, place or thing for an end, cause, ideal or purpose."

The universe is built on sacrifice and nothing good or evil can be attained without it.

Satan disdained the perfection of heaven with his arrogant declaration, "I'd rather rule in hell, than serve in heaven."

Adam and Eve forsook the pleasures of Eden to till the cursed ground by the sweat of their brows.

There is a sacrifice upon the altar of good but also one upon the sacrifice of evil.

Salvation and the road to heaven passed through the way of sorrows bearing a heavy rugged unforgiving cross. There is a cost and price between knowing what you want to do and doing what you must and should do.

Those who ascend to the peaks of human endeavor or descend to the pits of human depravity must realize, accept or be resigned to this fact.

The stripper, the pimp, the prostitute, the thief, the unfaithful spouse, the corrupt public servant, the crooked CEO, the unreliable cleric, the downlow brother.

They all sacrifice reputation, dignity, self-worth, body, soul, mind, conscience, freedom, lives and eternal futures for their present desires.

In the midst of the civil rights movement Martin Luther King made a very poignant statement.

"The Negro cannot win the respect of the peoples of the world if he is willing to sell the future of his children for his personal and immediate comfort and safety."

There is no take without a give. Life does not flow down your one way street. Every action has a reaction. Victory emerges only after blood, sweat, toil and tears.

Nothing from nothing leaves nothing.

It is unavoidable. There is and always will be a tradeoff.