Take two.
One of my favorite movies is the movie “Miracle.” If you have not seen Miracle, it is the very true story of the 1980 US Olympic Hockey Team. I say very true story because that story was a significant part of my life. Not that I was on the team or anything, but I was living in Rhode Island, going to a private high school there, and watching my cousin play hockey with and against a number of the players that were members of that team. It was also a very memorable time to be living in this country in general given the gas lines, and the “odd and even plate” days, President Jimmy Carter, the peanuts, Billy Beer, the 1972 Olympic hostage situation and then the boycott just prior to the 1980 winter Olympics. This was a time of great concern and great stress in this country. This was a time of great concern and great stress on this planet. The cold war was very much still in full swing and there was a real hatred for the then Soviet Union.
As much as that was a time one would never forget, this is a time far worse than anything I have lived through. The sentiment I remember from back then was one of us against them. There was the Soviet Union and there was the United States and if you watch at the end of Miracle all the people across the country that showed support for a bunch of college hockey players because they played for the United States, that sentiment was very real, very palpable.
Today, the sentiment is one of keep your head down and say your prayers and maybe you will come out of this current state our country is in ok. We are a country divided and we have been for the last three elections, an entire decade of not being able to get behind one man, one Presidency, one administration. We need this now more than ever as we have record numbers of people out of work, we have foreclosures happening constantly, we seem to have reached a point where even the richest of Americans have cut back on their spending, and we need an answer.
With an approval rating of 59 % for President Obama, I am not sure we have gotten there yet, especially since that is down ten points from his high of 69 %, but last week I at least felt some hope. It may be false hope, but at this point I will take any hope at all. If I were crawling my way through the desert without any water right now I would “drink the sand.” Michael J. Fox used that phrase in the movie by the same title as this piece. The movie is a bit sappy, but one I have always liked, and it gave birth to a show that had a few viewers over its seven year run, “The West Wing.”
Both are appropriate references here because that is the kind of President we need right now; A President that is going to roll up his sleeves and get to work, A President that will work with the people of this country, and other counties to solve problems, A President with the energy to go at this for as long as it takes, and an understanding of what it is like to be suffering through this right now.
I don’t know if President Obama is the type of President I am speaking of, and I don’t think we will know ultimately for another six to eight years, if he gains re-election, but he just seems closer than what we have had in a long time. I am not basing this on what he has done in office to this point because the country is still pretty well “screwed up,” but I am basing this on the fact that this President seems more like an American, even a human, than any we have had in a while, if ever.
This is a President from Illinois, he is a sports fan, he is a White Sox fan, which puts him in the “blue collar” crowd even though he is not overly blue collar at this point. This is a President that appears honest and down to earth and real, and for me that is more than I can say for most, if not all that have been in that office in my lifetime.
As far as I know President Obama has not done anything in the Oval Office to disgrace the country, not that I think President Clinton was a bad President, but his brain was not always in the on position. As far as I know President Obama did not have a family member “fix” any elections, and he was not his family’s second, or third, or fourth choice to run for President. As far as I know President Obama does not have a brother brewing beer in the Rose Garden, and he has never been in a movie, and I also happen to think that President Reagan was a good president and a good man, if only we could say that of a current movie star California Governor, what were the Kennedys thinking allowing that marriage to occur?
I just think that this is a President that is a true American, and one that is far more in touch with what is going on in this country than any President we have had in a while. I only hope that we are not too far gone, and I hope that my gut is right.
Thank you again for getting this far with me.
Saturday, July 18, 2009
Friday, July 17, 2009
And that’s the Way it Was
The calm and metered voice of an entire country, the icon that stands for all that was good, and right, in news journalism, the narrator of American life, and death, in the 60s and 70s, that was Walter Cronkite. Walter Cronkite made everything a bit better, a bit easier. The celebrations that were had as a country during his tenure as CBS Evening News anchor were that much sweeter, and the losses, especially that of President John F. Kennedy, a little bit easier to take. Every night, five days a week, everyone in this country, or very close to it, were in front of their television screens for thirty minutes listening to Walter Cronkite tell us how “it was” on that day.
Thinking of it now I realize that this man could have done a radio news cast and had nearly the same affect on his audience because it was his voice, and the way in which he portioned out the information that he was giving to the country, that kept us all so captivated for so long.
Walter Cronkite was the epitome of a news journalist. He gave Americans the information they needed to know what was going on in the country without coloring the information with his own views. He was very human, and warm, but unbiased at the same time. Walter Cronkite become the measure by which all newscasters that came after would be measured, no one ever did. When Walter Cronkite retired from the evening news the seams of this country ripped apart ever so slightly, and have been ripping ever since.
Walter Cronkite was the calm and gentle voice in my childhood, he was a distinct constant. I have always had nothing but wonderful memories of the piece of my youth he filled. I was sad when he left the anchor desk, and I am profoundly sadder this evening as I learn of his death. I am eternally grateful that I was granted the privilege of having Walter Cronkite in my life in the way that he was. He is the reason the last line of this blog is ever so redundant.
I fear that my words here do not do him justice, but I had to try.
Thank you again for getting this far with me.
Thinking of it now I realize that this man could have done a radio news cast and had nearly the same affect on his audience because it was his voice, and the way in which he portioned out the information that he was giving to the country, that kept us all so captivated for so long.
Walter Cronkite was the epitome of a news journalist. He gave Americans the information they needed to know what was going on in the country without coloring the information with his own views. He was very human, and warm, but unbiased at the same time. Walter Cronkite become the measure by which all newscasters that came after would be measured, no one ever did. When Walter Cronkite retired from the evening news the seams of this country ripped apart ever so slightly, and have been ripping ever since.
Walter Cronkite was the calm and gentle voice in my childhood, he was a distinct constant. I have always had nothing but wonderful memories of the piece of my youth he filled. I was sad when he left the anchor desk, and I am profoundly sadder this evening as I learn of his death. I am eternally grateful that I was granted the privilege of having Walter Cronkite in my life in the way that he was. He is the reason the last line of this blog is ever so redundant.
I fear that my words here do not do him justice, but I had to try.
Thank you again for getting this far with me.
Thursday, July 16, 2009
A Rose by Any Other Name...
Perception is reality. I have heard this phrase endless times teaching, coaching and in business over the years. I also know without a doubt that our world operates this way. I just have significant issue with that fact.
People have told me this over and over in an effort to alter my behavior such that I might make my situation better, or easier, somehow. People have also told me this over the years in an effort to help me find a way to stay in a situation longer. My response has always been the same, reality is reality and I am never going to alter what I do based on what people think if what I am doing is benefiting others. I have never been “popular,” and never really been with the “in” crowd. I say that having been an athlete in high school and college and having had decent grades and a somewhat “normal” social life, so I was not necessarily an outcast, I just never did what was “acceptable” simply for the sake of being accepted.
Are there ways in which to do things at times that would better serve my cause? I am sure there are. Does it make sense to consider them if it means not accomplishing what needs to be accomplished in the amount of time it should take? To me the answer is no. Does it make sense to consider them if it means not helping someone in need? That one is easy, definitely not.
When it comes down to helping someone I am never going to opt not to out of concern for what people may think. I have never considered such things, nor financial concerns, or “return on investment,” as it were, I only ever consider whether or not I can help the person, or people, in question. Does this make me naïve? Does this make me a fool? Has it meant a different life for me than that which I could have had if I had chosen an easier path? Probably D, all of the above, which “matters not,” as a friend would say.
I wish I could tell you that I am totally “at piece” with all of this, but I am certainly not. Life can be a definite struggle at times, and it is not always fun knowing there are bunches of people out there that question your motives, your actions, your intent, but that is where I am the most at ease with the choices I have made along the way. I have made choices all of my life that have been motivated by good, and kindness, not ego and greed, and especially helping others. Even if I sometimes forget that with the way life can be, I simply need to think for a minute and remember those decisions and what the true motivation was.
Our society is such that it has become difficult to do anything without the whole world looking for the ulterior motive, the hidden agenda, and that is sad. When offering someone a ride in the rain, or a seat on a bus, opening a door, or smiling at someone and being pleasant has become outside the norm, then we have a problem. Where is the incentive for people to do good if the outcome is going to be “how come?” Where is the incentive to take risks on other’s behalf? Where is the incentive to do the “right thing?” Or I guess the question should be why is there disincentive, and how do we work to remove it?
My least favorite word is rumor. Why? Because rumors are just that, rumors, and very rarely, if ever, based in fact. One of the pieces that I read yesterday on Walter Cronkite spoke of the fact that he always waited to make sure he had the facts before breaking a story, even going so far as to wait for absolute confirmation of President Kennedy’s death. Where in today’s cable news race, first is what is important, right comes later. The only problem with today’s approach is that once something is out there, right or not, it is out there, and if “not” is juicier than the truth, that is what people will latch on to no matter what actual fact is eventually revealed.
The only person that ever knows the truth, the reality, about a person’s life is that person, and from there everything else is speculation. I wish people could accept this and just “live and let live.”
Thank you again for getting this far with me.
People have told me this over and over in an effort to alter my behavior such that I might make my situation better, or easier, somehow. People have also told me this over the years in an effort to help me find a way to stay in a situation longer. My response has always been the same, reality is reality and I am never going to alter what I do based on what people think if what I am doing is benefiting others. I have never been “popular,” and never really been with the “in” crowd. I say that having been an athlete in high school and college and having had decent grades and a somewhat “normal” social life, so I was not necessarily an outcast, I just never did what was “acceptable” simply for the sake of being accepted.
Are there ways in which to do things at times that would better serve my cause? I am sure there are. Does it make sense to consider them if it means not accomplishing what needs to be accomplished in the amount of time it should take? To me the answer is no. Does it make sense to consider them if it means not helping someone in need? That one is easy, definitely not.
When it comes down to helping someone I am never going to opt not to out of concern for what people may think. I have never considered such things, nor financial concerns, or “return on investment,” as it were, I only ever consider whether or not I can help the person, or people, in question. Does this make me naïve? Does this make me a fool? Has it meant a different life for me than that which I could have had if I had chosen an easier path? Probably D, all of the above, which “matters not,” as a friend would say.
I wish I could tell you that I am totally “at piece” with all of this, but I am certainly not. Life can be a definite struggle at times, and it is not always fun knowing there are bunches of people out there that question your motives, your actions, your intent, but that is where I am the most at ease with the choices I have made along the way. I have made choices all of my life that have been motivated by good, and kindness, not ego and greed, and especially helping others. Even if I sometimes forget that with the way life can be, I simply need to think for a minute and remember those decisions and what the true motivation was.
Our society is such that it has become difficult to do anything without the whole world looking for the ulterior motive, the hidden agenda, and that is sad. When offering someone a ride in the rain, or a seat on a bus, opening a door, or smiling at someone and being pleasant has become outside the norm, then we have a problem. Where is the incentive for people to do good if the outcome is going to be “how come?” Where is the incentive to take risks on other’s behalf? Where is the incentive to do the “right thing?” Or I guess the question should be why is there disincentive, and how do we work to remove it?
My least favorite word is rumor. Why? Because rumors are just that, rumors, and very rarely, if ever, based in fact. One of the pieces that I read yesterday on Walter Cronkite spoke of the fact that he always waited to make sure he had the facts before breaking a story, even going so far as to wait for absolute confirmation of President Kennedy’s death. Where in today’s cable news race, first is what is important, right comes later. The only problem with today’s approach is that once something is out there, right or not, it is out there, and if “not” is juicier than the truth, that is what people will latch on to no matter what actual fact is eventually revealed.
The only person that ever knows the truth, the reality, about a person’s life is that person, and from there everything else is speculation. I wish people could accept this and just “live and let live.”
Thank you again for getting this far with me.
Wednesday, July 15, 2009
Little House on the Prairie
Three years ago, almost to the day, I packed everything that could fit in my car and headed from the East Coast to the West Coast. In hind sight this may not have been the best decision I have ever made, but the trip itself was great. This was also not exactly a straight line.
I bobbed and weaved across the country, visiting friends in a number spots, and seeing sight that I wanted to see. Once I got passed Minneapolis there was a lot I had not seen.
Along the way, of course when you travel three thousand miles a lot is along the way, there was a friend of my dad’s from the army that I was to visit. I have always been shy, introverted, insecure, pick your word for not being the most adventurous when it came to meeting folks when anyone, especially my family, would say “hey so and so lives out there you should look him up.” I just have never really felt that a total stranger from someone else’s past would be entertained by meeting me??
Anyway, I had said that I would make this stop, and it seemed to mean a lot to my dad and I also figured what is a few hours out of nine days on the road.
My father’s friend lived on a very large farm in South Dakota, so I was actually going right by there, sort of, on my way across the state, and since there is absolutely nothing to see or do from when you cross the river to when you reach the Badlands, I decided it was something I should do. However, it happened to be 115 ° all the way across the state, and was not cooling off much in the evenings. I also discovered that South Dakota was uphill while driving East to West, ever so slightly, but uphill all the way, into a head wind. When you added all of this up, it meant that gas was essentially being siphoned out of the car all the way across the state. When I hit South Dakota I had been averaging right around twenty two miles per hour pretty consistently. When I left South Dakota that average had dropped to eighteen miles per hour, it was like someone was steeling the gas out of the car as I drove.
So it is the end of July. I am in the middle of South Dakota, and it is 115 ° in the shade. The state is practically on fire and any time you get out of the car it is like stepping into a pizza oven. I get off the highway at the proper exit. I follow the directions that I had printed out ahead of time, drive so many miles on this long straight dirt road in the middle of nowhere, and then turn left onto the next long straight dirt road in the middle of nowhere. It was like playing checkers in a car. These roads were dirt, but there was absolutely no dust kicked up by the car because between the insane heat, and the constant wind across the plains, these roads had essentially turned into blacktop.
Finally I found my destination. There was a little, white house next to a tree, a tree, and then behind the house were a number of different buildings, very plane and nondescript. As it turns out each one had different equipment, a couple of old cars, and so on as you moved your way back. I pulled up along the side of the house, stopped the car, and as I got out this little man came out of the back of the house with jeans on and some kind of work shirt. He walked up and introduced himself extending his hand to me. I swear this man was made of leather. He had that look that all the cowboys in the old westerns try to achieve only this was not on film, not achieved with make-up, his faced just looked as though it had been stretched and dried with branded lines and cracks.
We said hello and the door opened again and a smaller, female figure came out to join us. This was his wife of a lifetime, and she was just a smaller version of him, essentially. The most obvious feature they both had was these big, broad smiles, again showing their age and years of being in the same place working all day long every day, but with a genuineness to them that I honestly had never encountered. These were good, honest, happy, pleasant people, with no justifiable reason.
Please understand, I am not saying that these folks were wrong to be happy, I am simply saying that given today’s world and the way people are, anyone else in their situation would not be able to handle their life, let alone be happy about it. This is reality TV show waiting to happen. Can you last a year on a farm in South Dakota, never mind, make that a day. One of the first things they told me was that they had been out since before dawn, yes I said before dawn, we just lost most of our contestants right there, watering the cattle, watering the cattle. When you are seven years into a drought and you are trying to hang onto as many head of cattle as you can you load up tanks of water in the morning and you drive out to the watering holes where the ground water is supposed to naturally fill, and you water the cattle so they don’t die. Maybe we should have started the bailout process with farmers and then banks.
So, after I was greater, I was shown around and then we went into the house and sat at the kitchen table and visited. They showed me pictures of the family, his kids, and grandkids, and they told me about every one of them, where they were and what they were doing now. They also spoke of their life there and how they were working to preserve what they had known all their lives, they did not put it this way, I am, but that is what they were doing. Again, to me that is what they were doing, to them they were just living their lives and enjoying.
We had a little bite of something, I honestly don’t remember what, and we drank homemade iced tea, and visited for about an hour in the kitchen, their little kitchen, very dark with all the shades drawn to keep the heat out, and the sound of the old window unit in the one bedroom off to the side running away. On the entire property, in the absolute middle of South Dakota, with one shade tree and acres and acres of parched land, they had one window AC unit in one room of their house.
After a very pleasant visit, and knowing I had another four or five hours to drive that day, we walked outside to say goodbye. That is when the most extraordinary thing happened. As we stepped back outside, into that sun and heat, at about four o’ clock in the afternoon, the hottest part of the day, this man of unknown age, who had worked every day of his entire life, been in the army, come back and picked up right where he left off with no break, ever, said to me “at least there is a nice breeze today.” This was like walking straight into a blast furnace, but to these people it was a nice breeze.
I wish I could have learned a long time ago to view life in this way.
Thank you again for getting this far with me.
I bobbed and weaved across the country, visiting friends in a number spots, and seeing sight that I wanted to see. Once I got passed Minneapolis there was a lot I had not seen.
Along the way, of course when you travel three thousand miles a lot is along the way, there was a friend of my dad’s from the army that I was to visit. I have always been shy, introverted, insecure, pick your word for not being the most adventurous when it came to meeting folks when anyone, especially my family, would say “hey so and so lives out there you should look him up.” I just have never really felt that a total stranger from someone else’s past would be entertained by meeting me??
Anyway, I had said that I would make this stop, and it seemed to mean a lot to my dad and I also figured what is a few hours out of nine days on the road.
My father’s friend lived on a very large farm in South Dakota, so I was actually going right by there, sort of, on my way across the state, and since there is absolutely nothing to see or do from when you cross the river to when you reach the Badlands, I decided it was something I should do. However, it happened to be 115 ° all the way across the state, and was not cooling off much in the evenings. I also discovered that South Dakota was uphill while driving East to West, ever so slightly, but uphill all the way, into a head wind. When you added all of this up, it meant that gas was essentially being siphoned out of the car all the way across the state. When I hit South Dakota I had been averaging right around twenty two miles per hour pretty consistently. When I left South Dakota that average had dropped to eighteen miles per hour, it was like someone was steeling the gas out of the car as I drove.
So it is the end of July. I am in the middle of South Dakota, and it is 115 ° in the shade. The state is practically on fire and any time you get out of the car it is like stepping into a pizza oven. I get off the highway at the proper exit. I follow the directions that I had printed out ahead of time, drive so many miles on this long straight dirt road in the middle of nowhere, and then turn left onto the next long straight dirt road in the middle of nowhere. It was like playing checkers in a car. These roads were dirt, but there was absolutely no dust kicked up by the car because between the insane heat, and the constant wind across the plains, these roads had essentially turned into blacktop.
Finally I found my destination. There was a little, white house next to a tree, a tree, and then behind the house were a number of different buildings, very plane and nondescript. As it turns out each one had different equipment, a couple of old cars, and so on as you moved your way back. I pulled up along the side of the house, stopped the car, and as I got out this little man came out of the back of the house with jeans on and some kind of work shirt. He walked up and introduced himself extending his hand to me. I swear this man was made of leather. He had that look that all the cowboys in the old westerns try to achieve only this was not on film, not achieved with make-up, his faced just looked as though it had been stretched and dried with branded lines and cracks.
We said hello and the door opened again and a smaller, female figure came out to join us. This was his wife of a lifetime, and she was just a smaller version of him, essentially. The most obvious feature they both had was these big, broad smiles, again showing their age and years of being in the same place working all day long every day, but with a genuineness to them that I honestly had never encountered. These were good, honest, happy, pleasant people, with no justifiable reason.
Please understand, I am not saying that these folks were wrong to be happy, I am simply saying that given today’s world and the way people are, anyone else in their situation would not be able to handle their life, let alone be happy about it. This is reality TV show waiting to happen. Can you last a year on a farm in South Dakota, never mind, make that a day. One of the first things they told me was that they had been out since before dawn, yes I said before dawn, we just lost most of our contestants right there, watering the cattle, watering the cattle. When you are seven years into a drought and you are trying to hang onto as many head of cattle as you can you load up tanks of water in the morning and you drive out to the watering holes where the ground water is supposed to naturally fill, and you water the cattle so they don’t die. Maybe we should have started the bailout process with farmers and then banks.
So, after I was greater, I was shown around and then we went into the house and sat at the kitchen table and visited. They showed me pictures of the family, his kids, and grandkids, and they told me about every one of them, where they were and what they were doing now. They also spoke of their life there and how they were working to preserve what they had known all their lives, they did not put it this way, I am, but that is what they were doing. Again, to me that is what they were doing, to them they were just living their lives and enjoying.
We had a little bite of something, I honestly don’t remember what, and we drank homemade iced tea, and visited for about an hour in the kitchen, their little kitchen, very dark with all the shades drawn to keep the heat out, and the sound of the old window unit in the one bedroom off to the side running away. On the entire property, in the absolute middle of South Dakota, with one shade tree and acres and acres of parched land, they had one window AC unit in one room of their house.
After a very pleasant visit, and knowing I had another four or five hours to drive that day, we walked outside to say goodbye. That is when the most extraordinary thing happened. As we stepped back outside, into that sun and heat, at about four o’ clock in the afternoon, the hottest part of the day, this man of unknown age, who had worked every day of his entire life, been in the army, come back and picked up right where he left off with no break, ever, said to me “at least there is a nice breeze today.” This was like walking straight into a blast furnace, but to these people it was a nice breeze.
I wish I could have learned a long time ago to view life in this way.
Thank you again for getting this far with me.
Tuesday, July 14, 2009
In The Air Tonight
As I left my apartment tonight and stepped out into the hall, I was hit with such a strong, sweet, intoxicating smell, and in a flash I was back to the summer of 1982, spending every minute I had with the first woman I ever loved. I was back in my dorm room in the fall of 1982, and could smell the student union and then the hallway along the row of mailboxes, and then the letter, or card, or not inside seemingly soaked in her perfume. I instantly felt that same feeling, warmth, happiness, anticipation of what she had to say. I could see her eyes the first time I ever met her.
It is amazing to me, and wonderful, just how much a certain smell, or sound, or song, which is technically a sound, or a look out over the horizon can remind us of so much and bring to us such strong memories, some good, some bad, and some simply amazing.
To this day, if I hear American Pie by Don McLean, Imagine by John Lennon, Maggie May by Rod Stewart, I am instantly seven years old, in Saunderstown, Rhode Island, one town up route 1A from Narragansett, in this somewhat rundown old wood structure that was officially called the Saunderstown Yacht Club. The Yacht Club was much more like an oversized clubhouse for a bunch of seven, eight, and nine year olds than it was a Yacht Club. For one thing there were no yachts, just sail boats and mostly small and old sail boats at that. This was a place where kids ran around in swim trunks all day and rinsed off boats and sails, stored gear, prepared gear, rigged out the “yachts,” Sunfish, Sail Fish, Moby’s, and if you were lucky that day the Lasers.
For me this was a place to be me, small, wiry, scrappy little kid that would do anything that needed to be done, anything that kept me there, where I enjoyed being more than anywhere else, where I got to be on the water, having fun, and in charge of where I went, what I did, and with whom I enjoyed that time. The friends I had were good kids that liked all the same things as me, salt water, fresh air, and wind.
When I get to go back to Chicago, which I am doing again soon, or New York, or Boston, two weeks after Chicago, that is all about the sounds, so many sounds, but to me they are all just one big sound of the excitement of these amazing cities. It is also about the sight of the glow over the city as you begin to get near, or maybe not even so near, for Boston the glow is no less than twenty five miles away, for New York it is a long way off, and for Chicago, since I have only ever flown into the City at night, it is the sight of the entire city lit up as you fly just north of the city in from off lake Michigan, and if you are really lucky there will be a night game at Wrigley which you can see clearly from the air if you know where to look.
For some reason anytime I hear the sound of city buses I think of Chicago. Whenever I hear sirens I almost always think of New York, I dare you to try and walk two blocks in New York City without hearing a siren of some kind. When I smell Kettle Corn it is Chicago again, Kettle Corn on almost every corner downtown. When I go downstairs to a friend’s restaurant and hear him speaking Italian to his mother on the phone with the smell of the “gravy,” pasta sauce, in the background I am always reminded of the Hannover Street in the North End in Boston where almost all you hear is Italian, and there is amazing food everywhere.
The power of specific sounds and smells, songs and foods, the way the light hits, the way the sunrise or sunset burns, always transforms me to places, people, times, moments in a way that is magical. Maybe time travel is possible, if we allow it to be.
Thank you again for getting this far with me.
It is amazing to me, and wonderful, just how much a certain smell, or sound, or song, which is technically a sound, or a look out over the horizon can remind us of so much and bring to us such strong memories, some good, some bad, and some simply amazing.
To this day, if I hear American Pie by Don McLean, Imagine by John Lennon, Maggie May by Rod Stewart, I am instantly seven years old, in Saunderstown, Rhode Island, one town up route 1A from Narragansett, in this somewhat rundown old wood structure that was officially called the Saunderstown Yacht Club. The Yacht Club was much more like an oversized clubhouse for a bunch of seven, eight, and nine year olds than it was a Yacht Club. For one thing there were no yachts, just sail boats and mostly small and old sail boats at that. This was a place where kids ran around in swim trunks all day and rinsed off boats and sails, stored gear, prepared gear, rigged out the “yachts,” Sunfish, Sail Fish, Moby’s, and if you were lucky that day the Lasers.
For me this was a place to be me, small, wiry, scrappy little kid that would do anything that needed to be done, anything that kept me there, where I enjoyed being more than anywhere else, where I got to be on the water, having fun, and in charge of where I went, what I did, and with whom I enjoyed that time. The friends I had were good kids that liked all the same things as me, salt water, fresh air, and wind.
When I get to go back to Chicago, which I am doing again soon, or New York, or Boston, two weeks after Chicago, that is all about the sounds, so many sounds, but to me they are all just one big sound of the excitement of these amazing cities. It is also about the sight of the glow over the city as you begin to get near, or maybe not even so near, for Boston the glow is no less than twenty five miles away, for New York it is a long way off, and for Chicago, since I have only ever flown into the City at night, it is the sight of the entire city lit up as you fly just north of the city in from off lake Michigan, and if you are really lucky there will be a night game at Wrigley which you can see clearly from the air if you know where to look.
For some reason anytime I hear the sound of city buses I think of Chicago. Whenever I hear sirens I almost always think of New York, I dare you to try and walk two blocks in New York City without hearing a siren of some kind. When I smell Kettle Corn it is Chicago again, Kettle Corn on almost every corner downtown. When I go downstairs to a friend’s restaurant and hear him speaking Italian to his mother on the phone with the smell of the “gravy,” pasta sauce, in the background I am always reminded of the Hannover Street in the North End in Boston where almost all you hear is Italian, and there is amazing food everywhere.
The power of specific sounds and smells, songs and foods, the way the light hits, the way the sunrise or sunset burns, always transforms me to places, people, times, moments in a way that is magical. Maybe time travel is possible, if we allow it to be.
Thank you again for getting this far with me.
Monday, July 13, 2009
Truth, Justice and the American Way
I don’t know how to tell you this, but truth and justice are unfortunately not the American Way anymore!! I wish I had better news, but they haven’t been for quite some time now, in case you hadn’t noticed. Truth, “perception is reality.” Perception is not reality, reality is, but perception is juicier. Justice, have you seen the news lately. American way…please read on.
I see it every day in all sorts of ways. People are out for themselves, that is what the last two generations have been taught more than anything, “look out for number one,” but it has become more than just looking out for number one. I would agree that taking care of one’s self first makes sense relative to being able to care for others, but that is not the way people live their lives. They have taken “look out for number one,” and made it all about them, and having everything they want, and serving their own “agendas,” whatever that might be.
This year for me has been a year of dealing with all sorts of people from many different backgrounds, areas, and ways of life, and I know that there are still good people out there, but unfortunately there are so many people, young, and now older, that are absolutely going to make every decision based on what is best for them. “The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few or the one.” I realize that saying comes from Star Trek, or at least that is why most people know it, but I don’t think that matters, what matters is that people should listen to phrases such as this and realize just how true and vital these kinds of ideas, ways of thinkin, are.
“The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few or the one.” Would you not feel better if that was the way your company ran their business, or if that was the way your school, your kids school, the state universities in this country were run? Would you not feel better if our country, the United Nations, and the governments of the so called “super powers” were run?
“We the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution of the United States of America.” What is amazing in these words is that the phrase “the good of the many outweigh the good of the few or the one,” is echoed throughout that passage.
As I read those words from beginning to end, I run across words and phrases such as “perfect union,” “justice,” “tranquility,” ”common defense,” “general welfare,” “blessings of liberty,” “to…our posterity.” Union, common, general, posterity, these words were not chosen by accident, of that I am certain. These words were “chosen,” “inked,” deliberated over by men whose sole purpose it was to create a United States, a free world, but one that we could find a way to share together.
And yet, on a daily basis, sometimes on an hourly basis, we are faced with the prospect of dealing with individuals, groups, organizations, corporations, governments, that do not operate under any scenario or premise that would have them focused on the “good of the many,” but rather on the ”good of the few or the one.” Worse yet we have one generation reinforcing for the next, incorrectly, and inappropriately, that this is the right, best, the proper thing to do, action to take, decision to make.
Why?
Some of the best and most successful companies in this country, and around the world, operate on a very simple principal, “the customer comes second.” If you have not read the book by that title please do so if you get the chance. It is a great read with some great concepts, not just applicable to business. I will give you one guess what the entire approach is based on, put others first and it will all come back to you and then some. From a business sense it is talking about putting employees first, supporting them, encouraging them, making them happy, do that and your customers by default will be very well taken care of and will keep coming back. Put others first and it will all come back to you and then some. “Pay it forward.” See that movie if you haven’t, but all of this is saying the same thing, “look out for number one,” by putting others first!!
Thank you again for getting this far with me.
I see it every day in all sorts of ways. People are out for themselves, that is what the last two generations have been taught more than anything, “look out for number one,” but it has become more than just looking out for number one. I would agree that taking care of one’s self first makes sense relative to being able to care for others, but that is not the way people live their lives. They have taken “look out for number one,” and made it all about them, and having everything they want, and serving their own “agendas,” whatever that might be.
This year for me has been a year of dealing with all sorts of people from many different backgrounds, areas, and ways of life, and I know that there are still good people out there, but unfortunately there are so many people, young, and now older, that are absolutely going to make every decision based on what is best for them. “The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few or the one.” I realize that saying comes from Star Trek, or at least that is why most people know it, but I don’t think that matters, what matters is that people should listen to phrases such as this and realize just how true and vital these kinds of ideas, ways of thinkin, are.
“The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few or the one.” Would you not feel better if that was the way your company ran their business, or if that was the way your school, your kids school, the state universities in this country were run? Would you not feel better if our country, the United Nations, and the governments of the so called “super powers” were run?
“We the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution of the United States of America.” What is amazing in these words is that the phrase “the good of the many outweigh the good of the few or the one,” is echoed throughout that passage.
As I read those words from beginning to end, I run across words and phrases such as “perfect union,” “justice,” “tranquility,” ”common defense,” “general welfare,” “blessings of liberty,” “to…our posterity.” Union, common, general, posterity, these words were not chosen by accident, of that I am certain. These words were “chosen,” “inked,” deliberated over by men whose sole purpose it was to create a United States, a free world, but one that we could find a way to share together.
And yet, on a daily basis, sometimes on an hourly basis, we are faced with the prospect of dealing with individuals, groups, organizations, corporations, governments, that do not operate under any scenario or premise that would have them focused on the “good of the many,” but rather on the ”good of the few or the one.” Worse yet we have one generation reinforcing for the next, incorrectly, and inappropriately, that this is the right, best, the proper thing to do, action to take, decision to make.
Why?
Some of the best and most successful companies in this country, and around the world, operate on a very simple principal, “the customer comes second.” If you have not read the book by that title please do so if you get the chance. It is a great read with some great concepts, not just applicable to business. I will give you one guess what the entire approach is based on, put others first and it will all come back to you and then some. From a business sense it is talking about putting employees first, supporting them, encouraging them, making them happy, do that and your customers by default will be very well taken care of and will keep coming back. Put others first and it will all come back to you and then some. “Pay it forward.” See that movie if you haven’t, but all of this is saying the same thing, “look out for number one,” by putting others first!!
Thank you again for getting this far with me.
Sunday, July 12, 2009
Three Musketeers
I have been following the Tour de France this year far more than ever before. In actual fact, I have never “followed” the Tour before this year. I have always had an interest in the outcome to some extent or another, but now I am finding myself thinking of it when I wake up in the morning, looking forward to turning on the computer and reading the “Stage Tracker.”
Since yesterday I have found myself thinking about three men, three athletes, that have meant sheer dominance in a way that we have never seen before in sport. I am sure there are others, but not sure that there have been others that have dominated to this extent.
Michael Jordan dominated professional basketball to such an extent that he brought his entire team with him. In a team sport, where one man is not supposed to be able to affect the outcome at the championship level, Michael Jordan did just that. He dominated the sport as an individual first, but eventually brought the Chicago Bulls to a point where they were untouchable winning six championships in eight years, the two years they didn’t win Jordan was playing baseball.
Tiger Woods brings Jordanesque qualities to the game of golf. He brings a focus, determination, and desire to win that has not been seen since Jack Nicholas played the game, while bringing the strength and training of a world class athlete. Tiger is aiming at his fourth British Open Title this week. Having been denied twice so far this year in Majors, including the battle with the elements at the U.S. Open where he still closed a thirteen shot lead to three on the final day, Tiger seems more determined than ever.
Lance Armstrong is doing what these other two gentlemen have done in their sports. Cycling is a sport that is a team sport and an individual sport at the same time. There are times when six or eight guys riding together to achieve something on a given day, or to protect a teammate over 21 days, are as much a team as in any other sport. There are also times, especially during the tour, when a rider is very much out there on his own.
When Michael came back professional basketball felt a resurgence. When Tiger came back this year, after a year away, the same happened with golf. Now Lance is back in the tour after four years of retirement. Cycling is being watched all over the world for these 21 days with never before seen interest. As with any sport where there is a dominant player or team I am sure some of that interest is to see Lance fail, but has hasn’t, he isn’t, he won’t. Lance is proving what Michael proved in the last three championship seasons, and what Tiger proves every time he goes back and re-tools his swing, mental dominance of a sport is worth more than all other attributes an athlete has.
Lance Armstrong has come back before and from much more than a simple layoff. Lance came back from cancer to win seven straight tours. To win one is amazing, to simply finish is amazing. In 21 days those guys will ride almost the width of the United States, averaging about 25 miles an hour on most rides. That does not seem like much, but when you think about the fact that roughly one third of those rides are practically straight up some of the steepest roads in all the world, there are some cars in France that wouldn’t make it through those climbs. These guys have to deal with heat in the three digits at times while maintaining that pace for 120, 130, 140 miles. They have to deal with descending at speeds of 40, 50, 60 miles an hour on skinny little tires in the pouring rain. They have to deal with the risk of losing concentration for one second of the five, or six hours out there in the saddle and they could not only lose their chance to finish the tour, but take dozens of riders with them, and risk serious injury.
Lance Armstrong has dealt with all of this and won, not once, but seven times, and now he is back and in third place after the first week of racing, just eight seconds behind the leader. Those that know the tour and know the riders know that he is really in second, two seconds behind his teammate because the man “in yellow,” leading the race, does not really have a chance to win the tour at this point in his career, that is cycling.
This tour, however, we have seen something from Lance we have not seen much of in past tours. Again, reminding me of Michael during championships 4, 5, and especially 6, and Tiger in his thirties. Lance has done nothing so far but play the “team” game over there. He has retrieved water from the team car, traditionally something reserved for the low man on the cycling team totem pole, the “domestic.” Lance “held” onto a competition rider in the mountains to allow his team a chance to keep contact and regroup. Lance has even continued to support his much younger teammate, Alberto Contador, the 2007 tour winner, even though Contador broke ranks two days ago and deserted team plans earning him the lead over Lance.
Is this a new Lance Armstrong? No. This is an older, slightly more mature Armstrong who knows more about how to win these things than any of his teammates, the most dominant team in the tour, or any of their competitors. Lance knows that when it comes down to it this race will be decided on the last day in the Alps next weekend, during a stage that finishes on a long steep ascent, and he knows that he just needs to be close by the time that day comes and the tour is his once again.
Do you really think that someone that thinks like Michael, like Tiger, someone like Lance Armstrong is going to forget what Contador did and not repay him when the time comes in the Alps??!! That is going to be a fun stage to watch, follow. This is a man that in his sixth win, if my memory serves, was dueling his arch nemesis up just such a climb. What happened on that day? Lance followed, hung on his wheel, made him work to try and shake him, then pulled along side, paused, got up out of the saddle pulled ten feet ahead, glanced over his shoulder with a wry grin and then put the hammer down and took the tour.
Three dominant athletes in three sports where it is not possible to be as dominant as they are, three sports where it takes someone greatly superior athletically to dominate, and where these three athletes have used a superior mental approach to keep that dominance. Three guys where the biggest rule when competing against them is simple -- don’t make them mad.
This is appreciation for accomplishment above that which is possible, not unlike the piece “Searching for Bobby Fischer” earlier in the week. These are just examples of that very same “gift” in three truly remarkable athletes, one of a kind in their sports.
Thank you again for getting this far with me.
Since yesterday I have found myself thinking about three men, three athletes, that have meant sheer dominance in a way that we have never seen before in sport. I am sure there are others, but not sure that there have been others that have dominated to this extent.
Michael Jordan dominated professional basketball to such an extent that he brought his entire team with him. In a team sport, where one man is not supposed to be able to affect the outcome at the championship level, Michael Jordan did just that. He dominated the sport as an individual first, but eventually brought the Chicago Bulls to a point where they were untouchable winning six championships in eight years, the two years they didn’t win Jordan was playing baseball.
Tiger Woods brings Jordanesque qualities to the game of golf. He brings a focus, determination, and desire to win that has not been seen since Jack Nicholas played the game, while bringing the strength and training of a world class athlete. Tiger is aiming at his fourth British Open Title this week. Having been denied twice so far this year in Majors, including the battle with the elements at the U.S. Open where he still closed a thirteen shot lead to three on the final day, Tiger seems more determined than ever.
Lance Armstrong is doing what these other two gentlemen have done in their sports. Cycling is a sport that is a team sport and an individual sport at the same time. There are times when six or eight guys riding together to achieve something on a given day, or to protect a teammate over 21 days, are as much a team as in any other sport. There are also times, especially during the tour, when a rider is very much out there on his own.
When Michael came back professional basketball felt a resurgence. When Tiger came back this year, after a year away, the same happened with golf. Now Lance is back in the tour after four years of retirement. Cycling is being watched all over the world for these 21 days with never before seen interest. As with any sport where there is a dominant player or team I am sure some of that interest is to see Lance fail, but has hasn’t, he isn’t, he won’t. Lance is proving what Michael proved in the last three championship seasons, and what Tiger proves every time he goes back and re-tools his swing, mental dominance of a sport is worth more than all other attributes an athlete has.
Lance Armstrong has come back before and from much more than a simple layoff. Lance came back from cancer to win seven straight tours. To win one is amazing, to simply finish is amazing. In 21 days those guys will ride almost the width of the United States, averaging about 25 miles an hour on most rides. That does not seem like much, but when you think about the fact that roughly one third of those rides are practically straight up some of the steepest roads in all the world, there are some cars in France that wouldn’t make it through those climbs. These guys have to deal with heat in the three digits at times while maintaining that pace for 120, 130, 140 miles. They have to deal with descending at speeds of 40, 50, 60 miles an hour on skinny little tires in the pouring rain. They have to deal with the risk of losing concentration for one second of the five, or six hours out there in the saddle and they could not only lose their chance to finish the tour, but take dozens of riders with them, and risk serious injury.
Lance Armstrong has dealt with all of this and won, not once, but seven times, and now he is back and in third place after the first week of racing, just eight seconds behind the leader. Those that know the tour and know the riders know that he is really in second, two seconds behind his teammate because the man “in yellow,” leading the race, does not really have a chance to win the tour at this point in his career, that is cycling.
This tour, however, we have seen something from Lance we have not seen much of in past tours. Again, reminding me of Michael during championships 4, 5, and especially 6, and Tiger in his thirties. Lance has done nothing so far but play the “team” game over there. He has retrieved water from the team car, traditionally something reserved for the low man on the cycling team totem pole, the “domestic.” Lance “held” onto a competition rider in the mountains to allow his team a chance to keep contact and regroup. Lance has even continued to support his much younger teammate, Alberto Contador, the 2007 tour winner, even though Contador broke ranks two days ago and deserted team plans earning him the lead over Lance.
Is this a new Lance Armstrong? No. This is an older, slightly more mature Armstrong who knows more about how to win these things than any of his teammates, the most dominant team in the tour, or any of their competitors. Lance knows that when it comes down to it this race will be decided on the last day in the Alps next weekend, during a stage that finishes on a long steep ascent, and he knows that he just needs to be close by the time that day comes and the tour is his once again.
Do you really think that someone that thinks like Michael, like Tiger, someone like Lance Armstrong is going to forget what Contador did and not repay him when the time comes in the Alps??!! That is going to be a fun stage to watch, follow. This is a man that in his sixth win, if my memory serves, was dueling his arch nemesis up just such a climb. What happened on that day? Lance followed, hung on his wheel, made him work to try and shake him, then pulled along side, paused, got up out of the saddle pulled ten feet ahead, glanced over his shoulder with a wry grin and then put the hammer down and took the tour.
Three dominant athletes in three sports where it is not possible to be as dominant as they are, three sports where it takes someone greatly superior athletically to dominate, and where these three athletes have used a superior mental approach to keep that dominance. Three guys where the biggest rule when competing against them is simple -- don’t make them mad.
This is appreciation for accomplishment above that which is possible, not unlike the piece “Searching for Bobby Fischer” earlier in the week. These are just examples of that very same “gift” in three truly remarkable athletes, one of a kind in their sports.
Thank you again for getting this far with me.
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