Palm Sunday is excellent. We the people celebrate the arrival of Jesus into Jerusalem. We wave palms and sing and celebrate. Jesus had a different view. He was fulfilling prophecy. The very first thing he did when he arrived was to go to the temple and throw the falseness out. He turned over the tables. He diminished the building in his teaching and explained how it would be destroyed.
The leaders of that “church” led the charge to crucify him. The people with their fickle and weak understanding followed suit and Christ was tormented and crucified. It is important to remember the story. It is important to removed our part in the story. It is important to remember the lessons of the Holy Week. Most of all it is critical to remember that in spite of us God rose up and showed us that the grave is nothing to Him. His love for us was that great. We sing Hosanna and wave our palms and we are blessed in spite of what we are about to do. The price and consequence is paid in full. Palm Sunday is excellent!! Indeed. Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. It is right to give Him thanks and praise.
0 Comments
Unmet expectations cause injury. Period. Met expectations have a short lifespan in memory. All too often they are taken for granted. The focus always turns to the mistakes and misses. This is human reality and requires constant intention to remediate. The consequences of assuming are bad. Expectations that have not been communicated, clarified, AND agreed upon will not be met. This is a foundation for progress. Have I trained myself to be dissatisfied with what I have? Finding the balance between ambition(growth) and static decline is hard. If you aren’t growing you are dying but happiness is understanding that a journey is required every flipping day. Taking things for granted is the way to lose.
A brilliant light has left this world. The world remains blessed because of his execution and legacy.
“Having just the vision's no solution, everything depends on execution.” - Stephen Sondheim “Bit by bit, putting it together... Piece by piece, only way to make a work of art. Every moment makes a contribution, Every little detail plays a part. Having just the vision's no solution, Everything depends on execution, Putting it together, that's what counts.” - Stephen Sondheim “It's not so much do what you like as it is that you like what you do.” - Stephen Sondheim “Anything you do, let it come from you. Then it will be new. Give us more to see...” - Stephen Sondheim “I chose and my world was shaken, so what? The choice may have been mistaken, the choosing was not.” - Stephen Sondheim All from Sunday in the Park with George Sunday dinner was never about pressure. It was about priority. We go to grandma’s house because family and time is precious. Of course the food is important. Yes it is nice to watch football and maybe even have a fire. Ultimately it is about making people the priority in your life and showing respect for that blessing. Every week isn’t required. Grandma understands. It is the ritual of prioritizing and choosing to spend the rare and precious time of a blessed day with people that matter that matters most of all.
Each of us chooses our example and making the effort in spite of the constant challenges and obstacles is what this whole life thing is all about. Be. Love. Serve. Repeat. A man is forced by mandate to get an injection for which there is NO medical need. Non compliance will cost him his job. This is not a valid choice for most. Sacrificing livelihood which provides for family and life is blackmail. It is immoral and wrong. It is deplorable and despicable.
If you support this and are willing to force compliance in spite of logic and the science you should be ashamed and you can barely cause yourself a free American. There is risk. There are consequences. You are indirectly responsible for this crap if it goes badly. When the choice was removed using the force of government contracts you were made culpable. I know of a case where the medical potential for harm is actually significantly greater than the benefit. Medical exemption denied. The mandate doesn’t care. The job is required for the future. The only choice is compliance. This is not honorable leadership, policy or example by the president of the United States. Shame on the defenders of this authoritarian insanity. Thus endeth the rant. I’m furious. Out of the blue. We all want to hear. I don’t need to know where you have been or what you have done or said. Be here now. Let’s walk on together.
The fellowship of the believers is sweet. The devotion of the disciples is deserved. Sustained by forgiveness, it persists. Inspired watching Jet Li in Fearless Reality checks.
There are plenty of people that i consider to be friends who are not. There are plenty of people that I consider to be enemies who are not. Family is not a blood thing but blood helps. Most people don’t really care at all. Period. Most are self focused and self involved above all else. Social media is a semi public, artificially created, construct of community. It is not community and it is a fleeting reflection of what authentic living together encompasses. #WakeUpAmerica Social media is a pandemic public health crisis which is actually undermining society. No different than drugs, alcohol, big tobacco, gambling… it is an addiction that requires treatment and detox. The patriot act and the virtually unilateral authorization to use force waging war after 9/11 were both tragic attacks on liberty and freedom. On this 20th anniversary of the inciting event I ask my fellow Americans to remember these failures and the role they played in our 20 year journey into soft totalitarianism collectivism. We allowed this March. Biden’s ineptitude and exploitation of his expansive power is a logical consequence that many of us saw coming and have fought publicly. Failing due to the fearful and often ill informed populace.
We all pay the price. Those lost heroically on 9/11 deserve better. “You have fought bravely and kept your honor.”
Aragorn to Boromir at his death. “I would have followed you my brother, my captain, my king.” Boromir to Aragorn. Both statements are what I yearn to hear, perhaps above all else. They represent true goals for fellowship. If you have been vaccinated and the vaccines work… and they do…. YOU have zero reason to require another person to be vaccinated. You are free to wear your mask and remain socially distant.
All medical procedures are personal and private. Vaccine “papers” requirements are unconstitutional and should be made illegal. Do not ask another person if they have been vaccinated. That is an invasion of privacy. If you ask me an inappropriate and personal question, I’ll respond with something from an evolving list of questions for character contact context tracking. Contact Character Tracing 101 —> E.g. Have you been around any unsavory people for more than 15 minutes? Are you wearing underwear? Is it clean? Recent Sexual history? Do you tithe and attend a church and do you have proof? what is your BMI? How much do you weigh? did you shower today? Are you taking medication for anxiety, depression? Last time you washed your hands? How much money do you make? Are you under investigation for… ? Please provide proof for verification. This approach to living will get ugly quick. I’d love to hear suggestions for optional questions. The force is strong with this one. He should go back to population and act like everyone else to set a good example. That is one way.
In the movie of course, the special then step up and lead in a new way, setting themselves apart. The real way is to learn where you can best serve and then do so safely after education yourself. Raising all with you while you continue to seek to improve yourself. The answer is never to lower the bar and race to the bottom to simply include. The distribution curve has a top and a bottom. Neither can be ignored. Educate yourself. Live your life. Be. Love. Serve. Repeat. Freely giving and loving but standing proud. Let your light shine bright for all to see. Sing loud for all to hear. Stand and be counted. You are specific, beloved, first born child of Christ. Act like it. it would be awesome if Jesus gave the disciples light sabers. Wait? Maybe he did. See: #TheHolySpirit The choice to look down on others is a public health crisis. It is far more deadly than most would even consider as it robs us of the ability to respect and serve. As we destroy social links, relationships fail, dependency soars, and the elect elite emerge as morality police enforcing their world view on those without power.
Opportunity and elevation arise from a helping hand and sometimes a shove at just the right time. In individual achievement and liberty the spark of inspiration is fanned into a flame. Virtue and respect flow from results not signals. It is a choice and a profound signal to include but the virtue lies in the acceptance and love not the signaling and public affirmation. The public choice to demean and demagogue, with its associated escalating division, destroys by planting and then nourishing insidious pride above all. When a parent, mentor, teacher or elder sacrifices the wellbeing of their child, family, and student for their own well-being a tragic betrayal occurs. It is a blasphemy to the natural and ordained order. The wound created is deep and persistent.
When society exercises this same power collectively terrible things transpire. Terrible terrible things. #musing on the importance of family and responsibility and sacrifice for the future. Leaders lead by example at home first and foremost. It is difficult if not impossible to find oxygen to breathe elegance, beauty, integrity, excellence and love in a room filled with the fires of hatred, discord, disgust, and demagoguery. As artists, we have a role to play. We must use emotions to influence but not inflame. Fire burns and consumes. It destroys its creator and becomes a living but dead thing. We must extinguish the flames, and then we can begin the process to build. We can make our world great. Will we?
Virtue flows from a focus on higher things. We must stand and be counted but we must stand on a foundation that is solid rather than molten. We as a society have elevated virtue signaling above virtue, and as a result, everything is burning. That is a real challenge that burns in my mind over and over. #Inspiredbyfriend Absence of a virtue signal does NOT equal the absence of virtue.
I believe that the masking mania sweeping 2020 is directly connected to the public visual nature of the mask itself. When we as a society decide to assign negative intent to NOT doing something we are assigning a set of moral decisions to that individual which may or may not be true. Individuals make the decisions on what is a valued virtue. The proven results of a practical behavior show its value. Outliers are allowed even if discouraged. In a communist collectivist world view the decisions are made by the assigned authority. This is the root of our current dilemma. The case for or against masking lies at the personal level not at the group level. Mass compliance requires agreement in a free society. The mask of rugged individualism is as porous and likely corrupt as the mask of communism. The difference is an individual bears the consequence of poor decisions in both. We are all now struggling with flying the flag of virtue in public. The rule of law applies and defining what is appropriate and comfortable or even moral and healthy for one and for all is a wasteland of battle flags and casualties. I repeat. The absence of a virtue signal does not equal the absence of virtue. Rep. Jerry Nadler is a deplorable example of leadership. He represents NY10... Hard to believe but in NY anything can happen apparently. His political Theatrics are in full swing. There is NO professionalism and civility in the words or tone of his opening statement. #MakesMeSick
AG Barr is an honorable man who shouldn’t be in the room with that disgraceful excuse for a leader. AG Barr, I will stand with you anytime. Carry on. I want to grant sincerity to technology and healthcare leaders. I don’t anymore. My cynicism born of the 2020trials and 20+ years in tech and leadership has infected me. I’m not sure there is a cure. I’m not sure there will ever be a cure. Without a modicum of respect, the distrust germinates and spreads like a virus into every experience.
I trust God. Period. His power is absolute. His love is unbounded. He listens and hears me in my whining. Quoting and thinking of great friends and great sacrifice. I give thanks on this Memorial Day and I choose to live into a hopeful and faith filled future.
“I for one will not live in fear of meeting or hugging or dining together or laying on hands to pray... I will honor those who died for my freedom by being free to weigh risk and act accordingly.” MommaY “I am the Good Shepherd. I know my own sheep and my own sheep know me. In the same way, the Father knows me and I know the Father. I put the sheep before myself, sacrificing myself if necessary. You need to know that I have other sheep in addition to those in this pen. I need to gather and bring them, too. They’ll also recognize my voice. Then it will be one flock, one Shepherd. This is why the Father loves me: because I freely lay down my life. And so I am free to take it up again. No one takes it from me. I lay it down of my own free will. I have the right to lay it down; I also have the right to take it up again. I received this authority personally from my Father.” John 10:14-18 MSG How to be a trusted advisor. Know how to do things. Teach well. Communicate broadly. Commit to results. #SkinInGame integrity coupled with knowledge and experience changes the game. From companies to churches to families and friends.
Talk is cheap. Results at scale over duration showcase true professionals and expose the pretenders. The real test of credibility arises when an expert and/or communicator must align and collaborate with others who DISAGREE. Managing dissenting views is a CRITICAL skill in short supply during this crisis, and virtually all crises. If experts can't quickly and efficiently handle questions from non-experts in a public forum, are they really experts?
The answer is yes, but it does mean that their communications credibility is called into question. The echo chamber amplification phenomenon of the internet does exist in academia and peer review models across all verticals. GREAT and CREDIBLE leaders seek out dissenting views, listen to minority reports, and then decide accordingly. Sometimes the majority wins, and sometimes the dissenters hold the day. Sometimes we are right, sometimes we are wrong. The more we are right... the more credibility we have. Period. “Each of us has the right and the responsibility to assess the roads which lie ahead, and those over which we have traveled, and if the future road looms ominous or unpromising, and the roads back uninviting, then we need to gather our resolve and, carrying only the necessary baggage, step off that road into another direction. If the new choice is also unpalatable, without embarrassment, we must be ready to change that as well.” ― Maya Angelou, Wouldn't Take Nothing for My Journey Now I keep a list of things that you said you would do and didn’t do... When it gets to a certain length, I just write it off... and move on.
Credibility, and a man’s word... matter... Relationships are more important until the risk and cost reaches some theoretical “cliff” Two types of people... talkers and doers... ? Actual progress is about discipline over duration... say what you will do... do what you said you would do... #NotThatHard — Hump day is just beginning. |
VATENORIntersection of principles and practices... Categories
All
Archives
October 2022
|
Proudly powered by Weebly