“I am whatever you say I am; if I wasn't, then why would you say I am.” ~Eminem
“Once you label me, you negate me.” ~Soren Kierkegaard
ADD…dyslexic…obese…lazy…learning disabled…anti-social…rebellious…withdrawn…[add your own]…
I won’t quibble with the organic biological diagnoses that may be made to substantiate physiological conditions that may best be treated with a medical solution. Quite simply, I’m not a medical doctor. If your medical doctor has prescribed medication, then follow your medical doctor’s orders.
But in my work with both youth and adults over the years, I have encountered a recurring symptom in my clients that roots itself in a byproduct of medical and psychological diagnoses—“social labeling.” Some of you will adamantly disagree with my position on this subject, but repeated client breakthroughs have demonstrated to me that once the social labels are disarmed, then interpersonal and professional effectiveness soars.
Social labeling often attaches during the primary education grades, while the “second wave” swells the ranks during late middle school to early high school. Advancing through structured primary and secondary curricula, children are guided by caring educators who’ve prepared lesson plans designed to fulfill objectives and requirements often imposed administratively or legislatively. While many children effortlessly follow this track to gain knowledge and integrate seamlessly into the informal social systems they encounter, other children display unique tendencies that don’t neatly conform to the expectations. Lest I be accused of having listened to Pink Floyd’s “Another Brick in the Wall” one too many times, let’s explore further.
Children are growing physically, intellectually and emotionally. Externalities--including siblings, parental discord and divorce, death of a loved one, chronic illness, etc.—weave themselves into that growth. Each event’s impact is difficult to measure with certainty, and each individual experiencing the event reacts uniquely. Children, while born innocent, will sometimes…
• Get distracted by their own thoughts about an event or the actions of others.
• Speak out in accordance with their perception of an event at the level of their own maturity.
• Act out externally the anxiety they experience internally at unscheduled moments inconducive to structured activities.
• Speak or act in a manner that mirrors the perceived context of a family member, friend, or media personality.
The child is observed by an adult or series of adults, including teachers, aides, and administrators over the course of several years. Behavioral changes in the child trigger the concern of one or more adults, who then engage internal resources [i.e. a guidance counselor, school psychologist] and external resources [child’s parent(s)] to discuss the concern. With the volume of decisions that each of us must make daily, human beings logically seek to categorize concerns to streamline the resolution process. Hence, “concerns” become “issues.”
Parents intuitively and lovingly desire what is best for their children, especially in matters of physical or emotional condition. Upon the advice of childhood education experts, parents often dutifully seek out the services of a physician or counselor to test and diagnose the child’s “issue,” so that the issue may be resolved. Issues are inconvenient and time consuming. A resolved issue allows the child (and the parents) to return to the normal routine of daily life.
Tests are administered. Results are produced. There is a loving expectation on the part of the parents to find a solution to help their child. There is a social expectation on the part of the school officials that the parents will deliver a solution in the persona of a mainstreamed child. But as I’ve discovered through countless sessions over the years, often the child has a different perception.
The child doesn’t (or as an adult recalling the experienced, didn’t) share the perception that there was an “issue.” In fact, often the very behaviors (i.e. clowning in class; sketching anime) that were being called into question are perceived by the child to be skills he/she enjoys. When encouraged to deepen the perceived strength(s), while acknowledging that childhood behavior need conform to a reasonable level of structural balance, the child’s efforts improve beyond the core strength(s). Additionally, when the social label is “disarmed” very bluntly and explicitly, the child adopts more interpersonal social ease. Humor and hyperbole aid the process.
The results are consistently positive as well when I work with adults who were labeled as children. Disarming the social label and viewing those questionable behaviors as inverted “survival skills” or “success strategies” often dislodges additional discoveries and realizations.
• “Risky” behavior becomes confident risk-taking.
• “Inappropriate” speaking out of turn becomes focused thought leadership.
• “Morbid” scribblings become artistic genre.
I’m a parent. You may be a parent or have friends who are parents. We mean well. We’d do anything to help our kids. But before we label and thus disable our youth, let’s press pause and review those behaviors in the context of externalities that may be impacting the child’s emotional frame of reference. Take the additional step to view the “questionable” behaviors as self-imposed survival skills or success strategies.
Then make a balanced and supportive decision how best to proceed…seek reconciliation without the social labels.
Showing posts with label family. Show all posts
Showing posts with label family. Show all posts
Monday, July 30, 2012
Saturday, February 25, 2012
Wednesday, March 9, 2011
FAMILY FOUNDATIONS BUILD UPON THE BEDROCK OF FAITH
One of the symptoms of an approaching nervous breakdown is the belief that one's work is terribly important. ~Bertrand Russell
To us, family means putting your arms around each other and being there. ~Barbara Bush
It's been an ironic paradox that the more I have been sought by my Friends, my clients, while continuing to maintain my Family balance and Faith as my core Principles, the less time I have devoted to writing. I jokingly remind myself that there will be time enough for writing when clients cease to engage me.
Reflecting back upon my last article nearly five months ago--and smiling at the mutually-profitable connections I have made with new Friends as a result--I find myself today once again applying those same timeless lessons to myself amidst a Family situation many of us have faced.
...Last evening, following a day focused upon a thoroughly-fulfilling Process Improvement engagement for a corporate client, I arrived home with just enough time to eat Supper and chat with my beautiful Bride before we were to depart for Mass. After Mass, I would have attended a Commission meeting before heading back home for the night.
God had a different plan for me and my Family the moment our six-year-old Daughter called us from upstairs following the sudden onset of a stomach bug. Details can be spared, but needless to say we embraced and comforted our tear-stricken Daughter, then set to sharing duties as my Bride attended to the bath and I to the carpet cleaning.
Without hesitation, I sent word soon after that I would not be in attendance at my meeting, and recognizing that the following day would not avail our daughter of school attendance, I cancelled my schedule for the following day to be exactly where I needed to be. My Bride made necessary phone calls to notify school, teacher, etc. of our Daughter's impending absence, and arranged to take the second day off if necessary.
Yes, we three were awakened several times throughout the overnight...changing bedding, washing up, comforting our Patient. Today I have laundered much bedding, bath linen, and clothing--not quite the project and meetings in which I had engaged the prior day. But today I have persevered and smiled as our Daughter, between uncharacteristic naps, has optimistically and whimsically declared war on the germs that have derailed her.
I am exactly where God, my Bride, and our Daughter need me to be today. We only have today, as there are no promises of tomorrow. In my business, I strive to always stay within the client's budget; to exceed expectations; to execute the deliverables ahead of schedule--BUT above all, I make no apologies for having built my Family's foundation upon the bedrock of our Faith. I am accountable to God today and at my final hour as I stand before Him at Judgment to faithfully recount my Stewardship of his Entrustment to me.
...Yes, I conduct my business with that very same level of Integrity. Tomorrow I will be serving my Friends again in one-on-one and group sessions to achieve their outcomes, but ever at my core will be my Principles of which I have been most fully reminded this day. Thank You, Lord, for a Life: Fully Lived!
TODAY'S QUESTION: Do we recognize God's Will for us in Life's "interruptions" and "inconveniences"?
To us, family means putting your arms around each other and being there. ~Barbara Bush
It's been an ironic paradox that the more I have been sought by my Friends, my clients, while continuing to maintain my Family balance and Faith as my core Principles, the less time I have devoted to writing. I jokingly remind myself that there will be time enough for writing when clients cease to engage me.
Reflecting back upon my last article nearly five months ago--and smiling at the mutually-profitable connections I have made with new Friends as a result--I find myself today once again applying those same timeless lessons to myself amidst a Family situation many of us have faced.
...Last evening, following a day focused upon a thoroughly-fulfilling Process Improvement engagement for a corporate client, I arrived home with just enough time to eat Supper and chat with my beautiful Bride before we were to depart for Mass. After Mass, I would have attended a Commission meeting before heading back home for the night.
God had a different plan for me and my Family the moment our six-year-old Daughter called us from upstairs following the sudden onset of a stomach bug. Details can be spared, but needless to say we embraced and comforted our tear-stricken Daughter, then set to sharing duties as my Bride attended to the bath and I to the carpet cleaning.
Without hesitation, I sent word soon after that I would not be in attendance at my meeting, and recognizing that the following day would not avail our daughter of school attendance, I cancelled my schedule for the following day to be exactly where I needed to be. My Bride made necessary phone calls to notify school, teacher, etc. of our Daughter's impending absence, and arranged to take the second day off if necessary.
Yes, we three were awakened several times throughout the overnight...changing bedding, washing up, comforting our Patient. Today I have laundered much bedding, bath linen, and clothing--not quite the project and meetings in which I had engaged the prior day. But today I have persevered and smiled as our Daughter, between uncharacteristic naps, has optimistically and whimsically declared war on the germs that have derailed her.
I am exactly where God, my Bride, and our Daughter need me to be today. We only have today, as there are no promises of tomorrow. In my business, I strive to always stay within the client's budget; to exceed expectations; to execute the deliverables ahead of schedule--BUT above all, I make no apologies for having built my Family's foundation upon the bedrock of our Faith. I am accountable to God today and at my final hour as I stand before Him at Judgment to faithfully recount my Stewardship of his Entrustment to me.
...Yes, I conduct my business with that very same level of Integrity. Tomorrow I will be serving my Friends again in one-on-one and group sessions to achieve their outcomes, but ever at my core will be my Principles of which I have been most fully reminded this day. Thank You, Lord, for a Life: Fully Lived!
TODAY'S QUESTION: Do we recognize God's Will for us in Life's "interruptions" and "inconveniences"?
Saturday, October 16, 2010
FAMILY IS THE CORE VALUE
"You don't choose your family. They are God's gift to you, as you are to them." ~Desmond Tutu
"The happiest moments of my life have been the few which I have passed at home in the bosom of my family." ~Thomas Jefferson
Family is the unparalleled arbiter of whether or not your life is in balance. Simply, are you able to drop your child off at school after breakfast, and rejoin your family again at the dinner table? Do you laugh together across generations, dancing in the living room, celebrating each and every day as if it were a named holiday?
Too often today families and family members live the mythology that an unscheduled hour is a wasted hour. Children are enrolled in as many activities as afterschool and weekends will allow. Parents and grandparents coordinate hand-offs and pick-ups with air traffic controller precision, while often not actually having the opportunity to observe the very events in which their young people are participating. Enjoyment and social interaction become secondary to the resume'-stoking quality of the activity.
Our adult family members are no less indoctrinated into this cult of overscheduling. Work is brought home from the office in brimming shoulderbags; work emails are sent and responded to throughout the evenings and weekends. Dinner is a microwave buffet affair, resembling a strolling dinner, where rarely two members of the family will actually sit at a table engaged in quality conversation. Late at night when exhausted children are safely off to bed, mothers and fathers launch themselves into Farmville and all other manner of online fantasy worlds, while beds and genuine marital intimacy both tragically grow cold.
There will be no sized flat screen HD/3D television large enough to recapture our children's youth; there will be no cascade of urgent weekend smartphone messages that will rekindle our spouse's laughter amidst handholding during an evening's neighborhood walk.
Re-engage. Truly listen. Unplug from the 24/7 technology.
Just because someone else may not have the courage to genuinely participate in the fabric of their own family's life does NOT imply that you must sacrifice your family.
TODAY'S QUESTION: Will you become the balanced leader whose success is measured by the enduring warmth shared within your family home...or will you resign yourself to the mythology of the 24/7 unbalanced life only to "die" alone long before your earthly body last gasps?
"The happiest moments of my life have been the few which I have passed at home in the bosom of my family." ~Thomas Jefferson
Family is the unparalleled arbiter of whether or not your life is in balance. Simply, are you able to drop your child off at school after breakfast, and rejoin your family again at the dinner table? Do you laugh together across generations, dancing in the living room, celebrating each and every day as if it were a named holiday?
Too often today families and family members live the mythology that an unscheduled hour is a wasted hour. Children are enrolled in as many activities as afterschool and weekends will allow. Parents and grandparents coordinate hand-offs and pick-ups with air traffic controller precision, while often not actually having the opportunity to observe the very events in which their young people are participating. Enjoyment and social interaction become secondary to the resume'-stoking quality of the activity.
Our adult family members are no less indoctrinated into this cult of overscheduling. Work is brought home from the office in brimming shoulderbags; work emails are sent and responded to throughout the evenings and weekends. Dinner is a microwave buffet affair, resembling a strolling dinner, where rarely two members of the family will actually sit at a table engaged in quality conversation. Late at night when exhausted children are safely off to bed, mothers and fathers launch themselves into Farmville and all other manner of online fantasy worlds, while beds and genuine marital intimacy both tragically grow cold.
There will be no sized flat screen HD/3D television large enough to recapture our children's youth; there will be no cascade of urgent weekend smartphone messages that will rekindle our spouse's laughter amidst handholding during an evening's neighborhood walk.
Re-engage. Truly listen. Unplug from the 24/7 technology.
Just because someone else may not have the courage to genuinely participate in the fabric of their own family's life does NOT imply that you must sacrifice your family.
- The co-worker who cannot leave the office before dinnertime is not a leader, but is very simply a person who is afraid to leave the office because his/her world outside the office is devoid of laughter and intimacy.
- The co-worker who cannot restrain themselves from emailing, texting, or calling about "urgent" work projects on weekends is merely a sad, weak caricature who has forgotten the warm touch of a spouse's hand or the laughter of a child.
- Empty marriages and estranged children do not need to be your legacy though they may be the rotten fruit beneath a co-worker's tree.
TODAY'S QUESTION: Will you become the balanced leader whose success is measured by the enduring warmth shared within your family home...or will you resign yourself to the mythology of the 24/7 unbalanced life only to "die" alone long before your earthly body last gasps?
Tuesday, September 21, 2010
LIFE AFTER WORKAHOLISM
“There are two things to aim at in life: first, to get what you want; and, after that, to enjoy it. Only the wisest of mankind achieve the second.” -Logan Pearsall Smith (1865 – 1946) British essayist and critic
“For workaholics, all the eggs of self-esteem are in the basket of work.”
- Judith M. Bardwick (b. 1933) U.S. management consultant
During a recent conversation over coffee, a seasoned private-sector senior executive (I'll refer to her as "Doris") shared with me an all-too-common observation.
DORIS: "Cris, I've been at this game a while, working my way up, putting in the hours, and now I'm nearly at the top..."
CRIS: "...I hear hesitation in your voice."
DORIS: "Now don't get me wrong--I've done all right. Nice house. Two great kids in college, last one she'll be graduating high school next spring..."
CRIS: "...But?"
DORIS: "But I'm still putting in those long hours. I swore after my eldest son, Greg, graduated high school that I'd attend more of my middle child, William's games...but there were always deadlines, projects, fires to put out. Now, even when I make it to Sarah's gymnastics competitions, I'm fielding phone calls, texts, responding to status update emails. And she knows I'm not really paying attention. Oh, I want to."
CRIS: "Doris, you could put the smartphone away while you're at the competition."
DORIS: "No, you don't understand--our Division President, Mary, sends email requests throughout the evening, sometimes until 10, 11 o'clock. And throughout the weekend. I'm expected to respond--and if I don't respond quickly enough, she'll call to ensure I've received her email!"
CRIS: "The technology hasn't made us more efficient as the 'experts' predicted decades ago...
DORIS: "...it's only made us more accessible around the clock."
CRIS: "I don't believe you contacted me to wallow in regret about the unchangeable past."
DORIS: "No, of course not. As I told you in my email, I have to restore some balance to my life before I burn out--and more importantly, before my children marry, have their own children--my grandchildren--and move on without my having strengthened the bonds of our family."
CRIS: "Doris, it's clear to me that you've defined a higher purpose for your future. I know that you've navigated many challenging projects throughout your career. Are you committed to conquering the challenges you will face as you detach from a culture driven by the addiction of workaholism?"
DORIS: "I must. I don't want to lose more than I've already lost..."
CRIS: "Very well then, let us begin."
TODAY'S QUESTION: What do you stand to lose if you do not disentangle yourself from the bonds of your own or another person's workaholism?
“For workaholics, all the eggs of self-esteem are in the basket of work.”
- Judith M. Bardwick (b. 1933) U.S. management consultant
During a recent conversation over coffee, a seasoned private-sector senior executive (I'll refer to her as "Doris") shared with me an all-too-common observation.
DORIS: "Cris, I've been at this game a while, working my way up, putting in the hours, and now I'm nearly at the top..."
CRIS: "...I hear hesitation in your voice."
DORIS: "Now don't get me wrong--I've done all right. Nice house. Two great kids in college, last one she'll be graduating high school next spring..."
CRIS: "...But?"
DORIS: "But I'm still putting in those long hours. I swore after my eldest son, Greg, graduated high school that I'd attend more of my middle child, William's games...but there were always deadlines, projects, fires to put out. Now, even when I make it to Sarah's gymnastics competitions, I'm fielding phone calls, texts, responding to status update emails. And she knows I'm not really paying attention. Oh, I want to."
CRIS: "Doris, you could put the smartphone away while you're at the competition."
DORIS: "No, you don't understand--our Division President, Mary, sends email requests throughout the evening, sometimes until 10, 11 o'clock. And throughout the weekend. I'm expected to respond--and if I don't respond quickly enough, she'll call to ensure I've received her email!"
CRIS: "The technology hasn't made us more efficient as the 'experts' predicted decades ago...
DORIS: "...it's only made us more accessible around the clock."
CRIS: "I don't believe you contacted me to wallow in regret about the unchangeable past."
DORIS: "No, of course not. As I told you in my email, I have to restore some balance to my life before I burn out--and more importantly, before my children marry, have their own children--my grandchildren--and move on without my having strengthened the bonds of our family."
CRIS: "Doris, it's clear to me that you've defined a higher purpose for your future. I know that you've navigated many challenging projects throughout your career. Are you committed to conquering the challenges you will face as you detach from a culture driven by the addiction of workaholism?"
DORIS: "I must. I don't want to lose more than I've already lost..."
CRIS: "Very well then, let us begin."
TODAY'S QUESTION: What do you stand to lose if you do not disentangle yourself from the bonds of your own or another person's workaholism?
Saturday, November 14, 2009
GENUINELY PRO-LIFE HEALTH CARE LEGISLATION
"Happy those concerned for the lowly and poor; when misfortune strikes, the Lord delivers them...
The Lord sustains them on their sickbed, allays the malady when they are ill." [Psalm 41:2,4]
"Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You give a tenth of your spices--mint, dill and cummin. But you have neglected the more important matters of the law--justice, mercy and faithfulness. You should have practiced the latter, without neglecting the former." [Matthew 23:23]
If we are to engage in honest, Christ-focused debate amidst crafting truly comprehensive health care legislation and retake the lead in ensuring that a bill emerges that will reduce costs to businesses, protect human life at ALL stages, and encourage further medical technology innovation, we must restrain our urge to communicate solely via cable news soundbites and caustic blog postings.
Jesus valued LIFE...ALL life. We tend to focus so much upon the blight caused by abortion that we neglect to speak to the truths of those already born and suffering (children, seniors, etc.). Jesus cared for and encouraged others to care for the poor, the children, the sick, the widows.
He did not employ a partisan litmus test before administering healing. Jesus did not come only to heal one party, one gender, or one economic class to the exclusion of others, and the Lord's message as told to us through Scripture is no less poignant and clear today than it was thousands of years ago: "Do unto others as you would have done unto you." Be not a modern day Pharisee, but be a Light upon the Hill.
Instead of fighting AGAINST health care legislation, why don't we Conservatives retake the high ground in the debate and restore our principles to the legilation in a manner that will allow us to go back to our Districts and be able to share with our constituents our pro-active efforts on their behalf. Cancer doesn't evade conservatives' children, nor does dementia evade their elderly parents. Being uninsured after a job loss is not limited only to members of the liberal caste. Wouldn't we benefit more if we could stand before our constituents back home, men and women, young and old, Republican and Democrat, business owner and retiree, and tell them of our SUCCESS in fighting for ALL OF THEM.
Personally, I wish Ronald Reagan and Lee Atwater could have been with us longer...Why don't we retake the initiative on this legislation, build consensus around God-fearing, pro-life, fiscally responsible free market principles, and be heralded in history as the party that governed our citizenry with compassion and delivered REAL HEALTH CARE REFORM. Or, as I heard a pastor say once, "Be Jesus to others in all of your affairs, as you may be the ONLY Jesus that someone encounters today."
TODAY'S QUESTION: How can YOU embrace the Lord's Word in the health care debate so that YOUR principles are encompassed in the final legislation in a manner that benefits ALL of God's children?
The Lord sustains them on their sickbed, allays the malady when they are ill." [Psalm 41:2,4]
"Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You give a tenth of your spices--mint, dill and cummin. But you have neglected the more important matters of the law--justice, mercy and faithfulness. You should have practiced the latter, without neglecting the former." [Matthew 23:23]
If we are to engage in honest, Christ-focused debate amidst crafting truly comprehensive health care legislation and retake the lead in ensuring that a bill emerges that will reduce costs to businesses, protect human life at ALL stages, and encourage further medical technology innovation, we must restrain our urge to communicate solely via cable news soundbites and caustic blog postings.
Jesus valued LIFE...ALL life. We tend to focus so much upon the blight caused by abortion that we neglect to speak to the truths of those already born and suffering (children, seniors, etc.). Jesus cared for and encouraged others to care for the poor, the children, the sick, the widows.
He did not employ a partisan litmus test before administering healing. Jesus did not come only to heal one party, one gender, or one economic class to the exclusion of others, and the Lord's message as told to us through Scripture is no less poignant and clear today than it was thousands of years ago: "Do unto others as you would have done unto you." Be not a modern day Pharisee, but be a Light upon the Hill.
Instead of fighting AGAINST health care legislation, why don't we Conservatives retake the high ground in the debate and restore our principles to the legilation in a manner that will allow us to go back to our Districts and be able to share with our constituents our pro-active efforts on their behalf. Cancer doesn't evade conservatives' children, nor does dementia evade their elderly parents. Being uninsured after a job loss is not limited only to members of the liberal caste. Wouldn't we benefit more if we could stand before our constituents back home, men and women, young and old, Republican and Democrat, business owner and retiree, and tell them of our SUCCESS in fighting for ALL OF THEM.
Personally, I wish Ronald Reagan and Lee Atwater could have been with us longer...Why don't we retake the initiative on this legislation, build consensus around God-fearing, pro-life, fiscally responsible free market principles, and be heralded in history as the party that governed our citizenry with compassion and delivered REAL HEALTH CARE REFORM. Or, as I heard a pastor say once, "Be Jesus to others in all of your affairs, as you may be the ONLY Jesus that someone encounters today."
TODAY'S QUESTION: How can YOU embrace the Lord's Word in the health care debate so that YOUR principles are encompassed in the final legislation in a manner that benefits ALL of God's children?
Thursday, November 5, 2009
YOUR AUDIENCE: THE INDEPENDENT ELECTORATE
When the media spin is peeled away from the November 3, 2009 election results, one sees the unvarnished result in the seeming hodge-podge of results across the spectrum: the Independent Electorate spoke for themselves at the ballot box.
One can reconcile the seemingly diverse results of well-won gubernatorial victories by Bob McDonnell (VA) and Chris Christie (NJ), Michael Bloomberg's 3rd-term mayoral victory in the Big Apple, and Bill Owen's century-aged Democratic victory in the NY-23 congressional district within the context of voters choosing the candidates that they themselves perceived to be the best qualified to address their respective local, state and national issues.
Particularly in the Virginia and New Jersey contests, both victors sincerely and consistently engaged the citizens of their states in real dialogue so that they, as candidates, could develop broad-based plans to address their citizens' concerns. The 2010 gubernatorial contests in Texas (Governor Rick Perry) and Michigan (current Attorney General Mike Cox) reflect similar genuine family-focused, pro-free market solutions to the real challenges facing men and women, business leaders, and municipalities. Particularly in Michigan, candidate Mike Cox continues his genuine, heart-felt mission of representing ALL citizens with his well-researched, comprehensive practical plan to rejuvinate Michigan on several critical fronts (see: http://www.mikecox2010.com/putting-michigan-back-to-work/).
The victors in local, state, and national elections in 2010 (much like 2008 & 2009) will be drawn from the men and women who propose comprehensive, practical solutions. The real challenges facing our nation's citizens know no partisan bounds. Unemployment, high taxes, lost health insurance, foreclosure, and crime cut deeply through Republican, Democrat, and Independent families, farms, and business alike. While bitter, partisan punditry may make for entertaining cable news shows, only REAL solutions that address REAL FAMILY & BUSINESS concerns will lead that ever-important Independent Electorate to pull your lever in 2010.
TODAY'S QUESTION: What are YOU doing to engage YOUR electorate personally to sincerely identify the pressing challenges and craft meaningful solutions that will ensure the resurgence family and business financial security?
One can reconcile the seemingly diverse results of well-won gubernatorial victories by Bob McDonnell (VA) and Chris Christie (NJ), Michael Bloomberg's 3rd-term mayoral victory in the Big Apple, and Bill Owen's century-aged Democratic victory in the NY-23 congressional district within the context of voters choosing the candidates that they themselves perceived to be the best qualified to address their respective local, state and national issues.
Particularly in the Virginia and New Jersey contests, both victors sincerely and consistently engaged the citizens of their states in real dialogue so that they, as candidates, could develop broad-based plans to address their citizens' concerns. The 2010 gubernatorial contests in Texas (Governor Rick Perry) and Michigan (current Attorney General Mike Cox) reflect similar genuine family-focused, pro-free market solutions to the real challenges facing men and women, business leaders, and municipalities. Particularly in Michigan, candidate Mike Cox continues his genuine, heart-felt mission of representing ALL citizens with his well-researched, comprehensive practical plan to rejuvinate Michigan on several critical fronts (see: http://www.mikecox2010.com/putting-michigan-back-to-work/).
The victors in local, state, and national elections in 2010 (much like 2008 & 2009) will be drawn from the men and women who propose comprehensive, practical solutions. The real challenges facing our nation's citizens know no partisan bounds. Unemployment, high taxes, lost health insurance, foreclosure, and crime cut deeply through Republican, Democrat, and Independent families, farms, and business alike. While bitter, partisan punditry may make for entertaining cable news shows, only REAL solutions that address REAL FAMILY & BUSINESS concerns will lead that ever-important Independent Electorate to pull your lever in 2010.
TODAY'S QUESTION: What are YOU doing to engage YOUR electorate personally to sincerely identify the pressing challenges and craft meaningful solutions that will ensure the resurgence family and business financial security?
Friday, February 27, 2009
LIFE: Fully Lived
"LIFE: Fully Lived"
...that's how I want it to read when my name is being checked in St. Peter's book. I certainly will not know the day nor the hour, but I am confident that when my time comes, there will be an opportunity to review the impact that my life (in deeds and in words) had upon my family, my friends, and my community at large.
Wouldn't it have been a shame to show up to meet our Creator face-to-face on that glorious day, only to then have to admit to Him that I only used 25, 50, or 75% of my life's purpose? Hence, I'm aspiring to have that entry read as above: Fully Lived.
I believe that many of the other entries on my page in the book will be of lesser importance. I don't anticipate that our Creator is going to praise a workaholic attitude toward work...a perfectly tidy home...an enviably manicured lawn...a large retirement account...
No, I have a much simpler outlook on how that glorious dialogue will pan out. I believe that our Creator will look at my wife, my daughter, my parents, my neighbors, my community, my city as the living embodiments of areas in my life that I left an indelible impact. People -- not property, titles, bank accounts, plaques. In the hearts of those individuals with whom I came into contact, did I leave them better than I found them or did I serve my own ego by taking something away from those relationships without nurturing and growing those relationships?
Today's Question:
When YOU arrive at the threshold of death and see YOUR name in the book, what entry will YOU find beside the category of LIFE?
...that's how I want it to read when my name is being checked in St. Peter's book. I certainly will not know the day nor the hour, but I am confident that when my time comes, there will be an opportunity to review the impact that my life (in deeds and in words) had upon my family, my friends, and my community at large.
Wouldn't it have been a shame to show up to meet our Creator face-to-face on that glorious day, only to then have to admit to Him that I only used 25, 50, or 75% of my life's purpose? Hence, I'm aspiring to have that entry read as above: Fully Lived.
I believe that many of the other entries on my page in the book will be of lesser importance. I don't anticipate that our Creator is going to praise a workaholic attitude toward work...a perfectly tidy home...an enviably manicured lawn...a large retirement account...
No, I have a much simpler outlook on how that glorious dialogue will pan out. I believe that our Creator will look at my wife, my daughter, my parents, my neighbors, my community, my city as the living embodiments of areas in my life that I left an indelible impact. People -- not property, titles, bank accounts, plaques. In the hearts of those individuals with whom I came into contact, did I leave them better than I found them or did I serve my own ego by taking something away from those relationships without nurturing and growing those relationships?
Today's Question:
When YOU arrive at the threshold of death and see YOUR name in the book, what entry will YOU find beside the category of LIFE?
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