Tag: friends

Categories
life

Loosen Up

Over the course of this conference, while I was staying away from home I took note of the fact that I seem to get more carefree when I’m away from home. I act more like a teenager, without a burden of care and responsibility. It seems that I am not alone in this – or else everyone else is generally more carefree than I am by nature (that is a possibility). For example, an interchange with one of my co-workers last night. In response to something I said (which I can’t remember):

Michelle: Don’t get cute.

Me: I’m already cute.

Michelle: Don’t get smart.

Me: I already am.

Michelle (simultaneous with my statement): Stop.

Michelle: Don’t be a turd. . . Go.

Me: . . .

Me (after 15 seconds): See, I told you I was smart.

So now I am left to wonder, is this change of apparent personality good, bad or neutral?

Categories
culture

Heroes and Idols

Laura and I were having a fascinating conversation with good friends which rolled around to the topic of teaching children about their future roles as adults. We got to talking about the types of role models that children have and the messages that they are being fed from our society about those adult roles. Out of that conversation came the following gem – speaking about a person being sensitive to the needs of those around them and responding to the needs of others rather than being focused on their own needs and their own image:

“That’s the difference between being a hero and being an idol.” Denise Black

The meaning being that an idol is someone who we might look up to who is more concerned with their image than their substance while a hero is more concerned with being worthy of emulation than they are with their level of popularity. In case anyone is wondering, there are those among the ranks of our social idols (musicians, athletes, actors) who qualify as heroes under this definition. The key is to help our children understand the difference between the idols and the real heroes.

Categories
life

Me and People

I was having a discussion with Laura last night about me and how I react to people. It is more pronounced in groups, but the fact is that I keep myself distant from people. Laura told me that it comes across as arrogant. For my part I was complaining that people never take me seriously. They always seem to think that I am naive or inexperienced and that really grates on me because I think that I have something to offer (most of the time) in most situations.

I got thinking about that whole thing and the thought struck me that the two things might be related. I realized that, for whatever reason, I expect that people will not place any value on what I say. I expect them to disregard what I have to say and so I don’t speak up loudly – why waste my breath. Because I have preempted people the whole thing becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy.

Having figured that out, now I need to figure out how to correct it.