Month: April 2007

Categories
life

Real Personal Improvement

Laura and I were talking while we were driving today and it got me thinking about a truth that I had recognized a couple of years ago. As I reflected on my own personal growth in a variety of areas, and in consequence of a recent change that I had made at the time, I realized that real personal improvement – the kind that lasts – is not a result of sheer willpower. Real, lasting improvement is a matter of some inner change that is not entirely within our control. We certainly have some influence because we are not going to make a change to improve ourselves if we do not have any desire to improve, but desire alone is not enough. My recognition of this was solidified two years ago when I actually recognized my brain making that quantum shift as it occurred.

I was driving between Columbia Missouri and St. Louis nearly 2 years ago and the thought passed through my brain, “Why are you driving so fast, you have nothing to prove to anyone. In fact, you are strong enough to drive the speed limit even if other people are passing you.” I slowed down and have driven the speed limit ever since – even on the roads where the speed limit seems slower than it should be. (The exception was when I was going to the hospital for the birth of my fourth child – Laura told me to speed. The hospital is a 20 minute drive from our house. Isaac was born less than an hour after we arrived at the hospital.)

This change was not the result of a goal, or persistence on my part. I have a basic desire to obey the law. I was conscious that I had held the speed limit in low esteem (except school zones). But I was not actively working to quit speeding. I admit that normally I find that this change of self occurs in relation to something that I am actively working to change, but the change is something that I cannot control.

I have heard it said that if you can keep a habit for a given period of time or a given number of repetitions then it will be established. I think that repetition makes things easier, but real change (the religious term would be conversion) is where your very nature is changed such that the old habit no longer applies. It is the reverse of therapy by which you become changed through the changing of your habits. This is where your habits change because you have changed. That type of change is not strictly a matter of willpower and repetition.

Categories
culture politics

Uncivil War

Today is the anniversary of the official surrender at Appomatox that ended the Civil War in 1865. That random tidbit struck home to me as I was reading The Passing of the Armies by Joshua Chamberlain (who officially received the arms and flags of the Confederate army in surrender). I had not realized until I was getting to that climax of the book that I was reading of the events on the day 142 years after this all happened. When I realized that, it really made me think about the results of that war and the example of humanity displayed during that surrender.

Now, a century and a half later, we are engaged in a war that is, in many ways less civil than that one. I am not talking about Iraq or Afghanistan – I am talking about America. Our political and social ideologies are every bit as divided as they were in the 1860’s. We have seen the same rancor and the same intensity of rhetoric for the last 13 years (or more) and it signals a deep rift in our nation. Like the war that brought about a rebirth in our nation, most of the citizens are able to live rather amicably with their neighbors, but our public discourse on ideas rages hotter and hotter when we feel free to express ourselves.

I ask myself, where is our Gettysburg, where the tide turns and we stop winding up our division and start winding down our conflict? Is it past? Or is it (more likely) yet to come? When we finally come to a resolution will we act with the dignity and honor displayed by the Union and Confederate soldiers? They honored each other with displays of respect and valued the courage displayed by their former enemies and forged again the bonds of national brotherhood even when they did not see eye to eye on some of the (semi)concluded issues.

Like the Civil War, I am confident that a resolution will come to the issues we face today which cause so much division among us. Will we be able to effect a better reconciliation than they did? We had to fight a second campaign after 100 years to bring further resolution to the questions of how all people should be treated and we still feel the effects of that divisive war.

Where is our President Lincoln or our General Lee who could fight so passionately and so honorably for the ideas they believed in and yet they held no malice for their opponent, only for the ideas they opposed?

What lies ahead for us? Is it possible that we can be passionate without being scurrilous?

Categories
life meta

Seeking Feedback

As I have been reorganizing my site and evaluating my purposes I have come to realize that one of the goals I have for this endeavor is to get feedback – to bounce my ideas off other people to see what they think and get some perspective on the topics I am thinking about.  For my part, I could do better at writing consistently.

Writing consistently is not just a matter of how frequently I post, but also a matter of posting my real thoughts on things that interest me. Sometimes I have failed by not posting. Other times I have failed by posting hollow and trivial things. I think I have started to do better lately on both counts. I am hopeful that I will continue to do better as a result of this mental spring-cleaning I have been doing.

Outside of myself, the bouncing ideas off of people does not work without responses. I am not looking to become the next Daily Kos with scores of comments on every post or anything like that but I would like to have feedback like I had two years ago when I was blogging in my PhD program. I figure that if I had even five readers who would leave comments or trackbacks on a semi-regular basis then I would probably have some feedback on the majority of my ideas and would be able to glean the insights that come from a conversation. So consider this to be an invitation to comment, even small comments to help my thinking grow outside my own brain. You may also consider it an invitation to share my posts with anyone else who might be interested in what I am talking about.

Categories
culture

Buying Local

There is nothing completely new in the premise of Scott’s Buying Local Saves? I’m fairly sure that I have heard stories almost exactly like this one:

. . . Kelly Cobb’s effort to make a suit of clothes using only resources available within a 100-mile radius of Philadelphia. ‘The suit took a team of 20 artisans [eighteen] months to produce — 500 man-hours of work in total.’

That should serve as conclusive evidence that you can prove almost anything with the right setup. Scott does a good job of illuminating some of the reasons that cause these kinds of results and calls into question the theory behind local-only shopping. The thing that held my interest is that I have preferences towards that kind of behavior, for some similar reasons to what he discusses.

There is a major difference though – I do not favor local products and services strictly for some moral good, and I don’t favor them in all cases. I think I would call my purchasing habits a pragmatic approach to buying local. I favor getting my hair cut at the local barbershop because I see no reason to pay my money to Great Clips or any other chain. I am especially pleased by the fact that the local barbershop is no more expensive, and I like the haircuts better than the chain stores. I also shop at the local grocery store rather than Walmart. I know some people who think Walmart is evil, but my reasons are much more mundane. I like the fact that the local grocer is not open on Sundays – I like to support businesses that don’t live in the 24/7 world of business. I also like the fact that the local grocery store is only one third the distance from my house as the nearest chain grocery store.

What it really comes down to is the fact that I have tried to divorce myself from the idea that saving a penny is always worth the cost. I save more in time, energy, and fuel by shopping local than I spend extra because their merchandise is 3 cents more expensive per item than Walmart. My favorite result of this new mindset is the freedom to look at things from more than just a checkbook perspective. It’s quite liberating.

Categories
meta

Cleaning House

I love finding new resources from the people I read. Today that led me to Twenty Usability Tips for Your Blog. The result is that I am rethinking what I am doing here. My focus has been fairly vague and I have felt it in my writing. Also, between this post and the Lessons for Would-Be Bloggers I have a couple of changes I would like to make to the presentation of my site.

I am rethinking my categories and hoping that I can clean things up so that there is less clutter and more clarity. Wish me luck.

Categories
life

Easter Season

I have been surprised to see a number of blog posts related to Easter. I had expected this holiday to go largely unmentioned. As I contemplated the approach of Easter I thought of some interesting comparisons between our treatment of Easter and our treatment of Christmas in society. Especially interesting to me were the comparisons of what is being celebrated with each of these holidays. I had hoped to post this before Easter was past, but that obviously didn’t happen.

Nothing I say should be construed to imply that I have anything against Christmas. I love Christmas and the Christmas season – especially as it adjoins Thanksgiving and stretches to New Years. The Christmas season provides about two months of excitement during a time which can be miserable in other ways (stormy, dark, cold).

The thought that really struck me was that Christmas should be more grandly celebrated than Easter. As I thought about it it makes no sense that the Christian world would find more to celebrate in the birth of Christ than in His resurrection. Without Easter the birth of our Savior would be no better than the birth of Ghandi – it brought a noticeable measure of good to the world, but its impact would still be limited. The miracle of Christmas actually took place months earlier because it was the conception that was miraculous. As far as we are told, the actual birth was not significantly different than any other live birth.

The miracle of the life of Christ was that He promised that death was not the end for mankind. That promise came to fruition with His resurrection, which is what Easter is supposed to commemorate. Even for those who do not believe in the gospel of Christ or that there is life after death, the idea behind this celebration must be compelling.

One of the hallmarks of the Christmas season is the giving of gifts to family, friends, and neighbors. The Christmas season is so busy that we find it hard to give gifts to many who are outside our family during that season so we have decided that we will celebrate Easter by giving gifts to friends and neighbors at Easter rather than during the Christmas rush. This is not to say that we will not include presents in our celebrations of Christmas, but that we have a second season of giving which we will use.

I am excited about our plans to make more of Easter. I hope that this course will make it easier to emphasize the true meaning behind this holiday for our children.

Categories
politics

Endorsement Update

It’s time for my monthly update on candidate endorsements. From my last list I still have Barak Obama and Mitt Romney to cover. I said that I thought that most of the candidates were in at that point – I was surprised to find that there are 8 more candidates to add to the list now. Being that far behind I give up on getting them in the right order. I’ll cover them alphabetically (when I get to this list):

  • Donald Allen
  • Bob Jackson
  • Mike Jingozian
  • John McCain
  • James Mccall
  • Ron Paul
  • Tom Tancredo
  • Tommy Thompson

In addition to the endorsements (if they ever end) I will be giving an update on the candidates I have endorsed and my take on the overall landscape of this election.

Categories
life

Myers-Briggs

I am not once to follow these things too often, but when D’Arcy listed his personality type I wanted to go see how I would fare. I already knew my personality type, but it’s always interesting to see if there are any changes..


You Are An INTP

The Thinker

You are analytical and logical – and on a quest to learn everything you can.

Smart and complex, you always love a new intellectual challenge.

Your biggest pet peeve is people who slow you down with trivial chit chat.

A quiet maverick, you tend to ignore rules and authority whenever you feel like it.

You would make an excellent mathematician, programmer, or professor.

What’s Your Personality Type?

I knew I was INT and I am virtually evenly split between P(perceiving) and J(judging) (barely leaning P)

For those who are not familiar with Myers-Briggs personality types the breakdown is simple:

  • Introvert(I) or Extrovert(E)
  • Intuitive(N) or Sensing(S)
  • Thinking(T) or Feeling(F)
  • Perceiving(P) or Judging(J)

Nothing is better or worse than its counterpart. No combination is more desirable overall than another. They are all just different traits with different strengths and weaknesses which you can learn to expect or compensate for.

Categories
life

Honorary Eagles

I was at a Boy Scout Eagle court of honor tonight for one of my younger cousins. This is in the same scout troop where I did my scouting as a youth. At the end of the ceremony all the Eagle Scouts in the audience were invited to come to the front. As I stood with the rest of the Eagle Scouts I noticed one thing that was surprising to me – still in the audience were three of the men who had been the most active with the scouts over the last two decades. These three men had been responsible for dozens of boys from this troop earning their Eagle Scout award and yet they had never achieved that honor themselves.

As I thought about the great influence they had on the lives of so many young men over the years I thought that they deserved to be honored. I know that the rank of Eagle is one that must be achieved as a youth and thus they could not receive it now, but I thought that they deserved a notice in this small corner of the web – if nowhere else.

In my book Rick Frandsen, Bob Wood, and Karl Mortenson are honorary Eagle Scouts. I hope that I can do as much good for others as an adult as they have done for me and others in our youth.

Categories
life

Looking at Priorities

I was very impressed when I read The Most Important Thing™ by D’Arcy Norman. I was impressed with his candor and with his top priority – being a good father (it matches my own). I was also impressed at how well he expressed a thought that I have had before but never attempted to put into words. That thought is not the question, but the process of evaluating the components of your life and your life as a whole to ensure that they way you are living does conform to the things that you believe.

I think that anytime a person lives in harmony with their core beliefs and what they think is most important they are virtually assured of happiness. Not that they will not face challenges, but that they will feel real joy, the kind that can come even while things are challenging or disappointing. I know that I have never been unhappy as a result of something I have done when that something is consistent with my priorities. Disappointment and dissatisfaction only come when I am acting in a way that contradicts my real priorities.