About Chris Aable, M.A.
by Paul Johnson

College is important, because it can teach us many things that we would not otherwise learn out in the “real world”. But college is a window into the real world, and it’s important that we learn from others who have seen more things and have gone further. Whereas many people believe they should go to college first and develop a successful career second, Christopher did just the opposite. He developed a philosophy of business at the age of nine which is, simply stated, “find out what you love, learn about it and do it: Awareness plus action equals accomplishment.” At that time, he developed a love for numismatics, the art and science of rare coins. Within ten years, he was president of one of the largest rare coin corporations in the world. By the time he was 27, his company had reached total sales of $10 million and employed thirty people. Much of the money he made he gave to those who were more needy then himself. In the mid 1980s he raised thousands of dollars for famine relief in Ethiopia. With no financial help from anyone, he built a multi-million dollar mail-order business while attending grade school and high school. He moved into his own apartment at 17 and moved to Miami, Florida at the age of 19. He moved back to Shreveport and purchased his first house and two office buildings while in his early twenties. He moved to Los Angeles in 1986. After attending college from 1989-1994, he spent much of 1994 and 1995 living in San Francisco, New York City and traveling to London and Paris. He now resides in L.A.

He won first place at the Ark-La-Tex Chess Championship at the age of 15 and was listed in Who’s Who of North American Poets for a book of poems he had written in his teens, published as LIFE SONGS. He also authored three other books and played piano in a rock & roll band on weekends. Before deciding to go to college, one of his friends challenged him to make a goal of being an actor. Within 4 weeks, Christopher had acquired an agent, joined the screen actors guild (as Chris Aable), appeared on General Hospital, in 14 commercials and worked as a model. In 1989 he won the Boardman Peace Prize for his public speeches against racism and prejudice. In 1993 he became a delegate to the Model United Nations and became president of CSULA’s Amnesty International, where he was re-elected five times.

In 1986, he followed his goal to move from Louisiana and acquire a formal advanced education in California. “I wanted to get the academic training to test my own theory of humankind’s possibility for bettering ourselves and the world around us. Our technology has evolved, but our aggressive instincts have not. Therein lies the challenge, the hope and the necessity for self-evolution. In order to make our lives more safe and effective, we have to reach out to make the world more effective. As Cher says, ‘We’ve got to love one another’, and as Lily Tomlin said, ‘We have to either evolve or die’. In short, we have to learn to live together or humanity as we know it will descend and possibly destruct.  We have to maximize the good and minimize the bad.. We may never reach a perfect world, but it is by aiming for the impossible that we make progress that would otherwise not be possible.”

Although Chris achievements are multiple and varied, I know that Mr. Aable thinks almost everyone is capable of achieving just about anything we set our minds to. He has frequently pointed out that there are a lot of people who have accomplished more extraordinary things than he has and that accomplishment and success are defined by each of our own standards and desires of achievement.

However, Chris Aable has always wanted to make a difference in the world, and to that end he has been working on his academic training to develop a series of workshops that will be beneficial to all. In 1989 he completed the Instructor Development Program at U.C.L.A. He took degrees in Human Services (1991) and Psychology (1993) with an equivalent double minor in Sociology and World Politics. In 1997 he took his first Master’s degree in Psychology with a emphasis in Teaching Psychology at C.S.U.L.A. He has completed all course work towards a second Master’s degree in Sociology, which he will be honored with upon completion of a huge Master’s thesis. From 1995 to 1997 he taught both Psychology and Sociology at CSULA.  He taught parenting skills to Foster Parents for Los Angeles County from 1997 to 1998.  He also taught living skills and self-empowerment skills to homeless people through a special program at U.C.L.A. Medical Center in 1998 and from 1999 to 2001 he taught Human Development to nursing students at Santa Monica College and general psychology to exceptional High School students enrolled at Santa Monica College in the Dual Enrollment Program. In this program, he taught at Venice High School, Westchester High School and Hamilton High School in the Beverly Hills/Culver City area of Los Angeles.

      Chris Aable's philosophy is that we spend much of our adult time working, so we may as well find what we enjoy doing instead of selling our souls to stress and worry by focusing too much on money rewards instead of peace of mind rewards.  To that end, his work is his joy, and he doesn't see work and leisure as two separate things because of this. On the occasions when he's not enjoying working or coming up with creative ideas, he enjoys writing, working out three days per week, roller skating, traveling, playing piano, writing music and songs and going to the theater for plays and movies. He's also brilliant at both slow chess and speed chess, but he does play a lousy game of tennis.