As most everyone knows by now (how could you have possibly missed the stories, videos, specials, etc.) the Dallas Cowboys (professional football team for non-sports enthusiasts) have a new stadium. In the season opener they set a new regular season attendance record for the NFL (National Football League - info for same non-sports group) with over 105,000 fans there. Of course, 30,000 of those bought "standing room only" tickets to watch the game on monitors at the stadium (I thought that was why we have televisions at home!)
Tonight, the Cowboys play the Monday Night Game. The Guiness Book of World Records is to be there to certify that the video screen suspended above the stadium is the largest in the world - 60 yards long and cost more than the previous entire Texas Stadium where the Cowboys used to play. Many fans report that they watch the game on the screen (at the stadium) rather than watching the players on the field. Players are often caught on camera looking up at the screen to try and see themselves and the play they just made.
Both of these "records" bring one question to mind - Why? The answer is obvious - someone is trying to see how much they can impress you. That is easy to discern regarding this $1.1 billion dollar stadium. However, I do wonder how often we try to impress others - with what we know or at least think we know; with who we know; with where we have been; or with how much we have or have spent.
The scripture speaks about removing the beam from one's own eye before trying to get the speck out of someone else's eye. While we all may try to impress someone else from time to time, we are more often guilty of criticizing or judging someone else based on their attempt at impression. Self-eye exams are probably a much better idea than trying to fix everyone else's eyes.
Monday, September 28, 2009
Monday, August 10, 2009
There Is Always More to Learn and to Do
Last week I was an attender at a conference that our association helps to locally co-sponsor along with one of our churches. Each year at this conference I experience an influx of new information, challenging thoughts, and a plethora of possible actions. It serves as both a "wake up" and a "challenge" for how much more there is to learn and of the great and noble deeds that need to be done.
In the next few days I will begin to process some of the specific thoughts. For today I will simply mention a few of the resources that I will be exploring over the next several weeks:
Books
Wess Stafford - President of Compassion International
Too Small to Ignore
David Gergen - CNN Political Analyst and Adviser to 4 Presidents
Eyewitness to Power
Timothy Keller - Presbyterian Minister in New York City
The Prodigal God
Gary Hamel - Director Management Innovation Labs
The Future of Management
Website
Jessica Jackley - Founder of Kiva - online peer to peer microlending
http://www.kiva.org
The list is not long - YET! But, like most forms of education, one source or resource leads to another which leads to another. There is always more to learn, and as one learns, there is always more to do. Setting priorities and developing accountability all tie in here but those are topics for another day along with several others. Today - I will review my notes, decipher my poor excuse for handwriting, and prioritize my new resources (and the ones that I will order).
In the next few days I will begin to process some of the specific thoughts. For today I will simply mention a few of the resources that I will be exploring over the next several weeks:
Books
Wess Stafford - President of Compassion International
Too Small to Ignore
David Gergen - CNN Political Analyst and Adviser to 4 Presidents
Eyewitness to Power
Timothy Keller - Presbyterian Minister in New York City
The Prodigal God
Gary Hamel - Director Management Innovation Labs
The Future of Management
Website
Jessica Jackley - Founder of Kiva - online peer to peer microlending
http://www.kiva.org
The list is not long - YET! But, like most forms of education, one source or resource leads to another which leads to another. There is always more to learn, and as one learns, there is always more to do. Setting priorities and developing accountability all tie in here but those are topics for another day along with several others. Today - I will review my notes, decipher my poor excuse for handwriting, and prioritize my new resources (and the ones that I will order).
Wednesday, July 1, 2009
Does Great Talent Equate with Great Person?
Over the last few days every media outlet has saturated us with information, adulations, and memorializations of Michael Jackson. During this extravaganza of video and commentary, there has been a tendency to not only recognize the musical genuis of Jackson, but in so doing, to equate that musical genuis and greatness with personal greatness. Is that reality?
My personal opinion, which probably only has value to me, is that just because one possesses great ability or talent does not mean that individual also is, or was, a great person. The truth is that some people with great ability are actually quite mean, arrogant, selfish, and even cruel.
Don't misunderstand me. I never met Michael Jackson. I only know him as most of us do from his music, from news reports, and from interviews. He was a gifted performer. He could moon walk before we had a name for it. He could sell albums because the music drew us in and was different from most of his contemporary musicians. But he also held his child over the balcony ledge. He was addicted to pain killers. He had major personality and emotional issues.
So - if the microscope is placed against my life or against yours, we probably all reveal some good, strong traits, and some pretty strange behaviorial issues. In other words, as John Ortberg revealed in the title of his book: Everybody's Normal Till You Get to Know Them, we are some of those "everybodies."
My whole rant is this: I want us to start looking for greatness in the lives of those people who make a true difference in the lives of other people - those who make the most money, get the most publicity, and have the highest popularity are not necessarily the greatest people. There are teachers, police officers, firefighters, doctors and nurses, farmers, writers, and even an occasional minister or two who may measure up past those who were blessed with great talent and ability.
My personal opinion, which probably only has value to me, is that just because one possesses great ability or talent does not mean that individual also is, or was, a great person. The truth is that some people with great ability are actually quite mean, arrogant, selfish, and even cruel.
Don't misunderstand me. I never met Michael Jackson. I only know him as most of us do from his music, from news reports, and from interviews. He was a gifted performer. He could moon walk before we had a name for it. He could sell albums because the music drew us in and was different from most of his contemporary musicians. But he also held his child over the balcony ledge. He was addicted to pain killers. He had major personality and emotional issues.
So - if the microscope is placed against my life or against yours, we probably all reveal some good, strong traits, and some pretty strange behaviorial issues. In other words, as John Ortberg revealed in the title of his book: Everybody's Normal Till You Get to Know Them, we are some of those "everybodies."
My whole rant is this: I want us to start looking for greatness in the lives of those people who make a true difference in the lives of other people - those who make the most money, get the most publicity, and have the highest popularity are not necessarily the greatest people. There are teachers, police officers, firefighters, doctors and nurses, farmers, writers, and even an occasional minister or two who may measure up past those who were blessed with great talent and ability.
Tuesday, June 16, 2009
Day Nine and Counting
I am not a coffee drinker. Over the years I have saved a great amount of money by not having to buy a Starbucks' drink one, two, or three times a day. Of course, I have found other ways to spend that money.
While I don't drink coffee (or alcoholic beverages), I am a great consumer of Coca Cola - not the diet stuff - the real, leaded, red can, classic stuff. Three or four a day has often been my pattern. But in an effort at better health and in an effort to become less wide, I am in day nine and counting of time without a Coke Classic.
Why do I tell you that? Well, my co-workers would rather me write than complain. Actually, I have done better than I expected. To this point, I have not had road rage; have not hit anyone; have not yelled at anyone; continue to shower and shave every day; and have gotten out of bed and gone to work each day. Not bad for someone in the major throes of withdrawal.
I have developed a growing concern though. In light of today's economy, I hope that my not drinking all those Cokes is not adversely effecting the bottom line at the corporate office!
While I don't drink coffee (or alcoholic beverages), I am a great consumer of Coca Cola - not the diet stuff - the real, leaded, red can, classic stuff. Three or four a day has often been my pattern. But in an effort at better health and in an effort to become less wide, I am in day nine and counting of time without a Coke Classic.
Why do I tell you that? Well, my co-workers would rather me write than complain. Actually, I have done better than I expected. To this point, I have not had road rage; have not hit anyone; have not yelled at anyone; continue to shower and shave every day; and have gotten out of bed and gone to work each day. Not bad for someone in the major throes of withdrawal.
I have developed a growing concern though. In light of today's economy, I hope that my not drinking all those Cokes is not adversely effecting the bottom line at the corporate office!
Friday, June 5, 2009
Nostalgic Closing
The local news in Denton, Texas, this week included the closing of the two Piggly Wiggly grocery stores in town. While this doesn't compare to the President speaking in Cairo or the Texas Rangers leading their division, it does elicit a certain sense of nostalgia. These are the last two known Piggly Wigglys operating in Texas. I may be one of the people responsible for their closing. In almost two years of living in Denton and fifteen years working in Denton, I have only been in one of the stores and that was only one time. I think I bought some candy - not a big purchase.
But my nostalga is not about the last ones in Texas; rather, it goes all the way back to my childhood in Temple, Texas, where my mother seemed to always shop the small grocers - Dooleys in Troy, Wrights, Spot Cash, and Piggly Wiggly all in Temple. The thing that stands out to me fifty plus years later is that all the employees seem to know your name and knew where everything was on every shelf. As a child, I often ate a package of Mrs. Braid's chocolate cupcakes while we shopped. At the checkout counter, the clerk rang up an empty wrapper. If you went to one of these stores to run an errand for your Mom, you could tell the clerk what you needed and they could tell you what brand your mother usually bought. It was a day of personal service that has slowly slipped away as the smaller gives way to the larger. The need today is to recapture the friendliness and customer service of the smaller and place it in the larger. I just shop better at the grocery store if I am eating chocolate cupcakes.
But my nostalga is not about the last ones in Texas; rather, it goes all the way back to my childhood in Temple, Texas, where my mother seemed to always shop the small grocers - Dooleys in Troy, Wrights, Spot Cash, and Piggly Wiggly all in Temple. The thing that stands out to me fifty plus years later is that all the employees seem to know your name and knew where everything was on every shelf. As a child, I often ate a package of Mrs. Braid's chocolate cupcakes while we shopped. At the checkout counter, the clerk rang up an empty wrapper. If you went to one of these stores to run an errand for your Mom, you could tell the clerk what you needed and they could tell you what brand your mother usually bought. It was a day of personal service that has slowly slipped away as the smaller gives way to the larger. The need today is to recapture the friendliness and customer service of the smaller and place it in the larger. I just shop better at the grocery store if I am eating chocolate cupcakes.
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