The all-leather, NFL-regulation football, inscribed -- 1963 Chicago Bears

Wednesday, October 26, 2011

FROM THE INSIDE OUT

The medical profession is know for it but I believe every profession should accept it as their guiding principle. Truthfully, I believe it should be the guiding principle of life in general! "It" is: DO NO HARM.

Think about how much better everyone's life would be if each individual (who makes up everyone) did no harm? How much better would your time here on earth be if all people dedicated their lives to not harming themselves, their family, their community and their environment?

Shouldn't you dedicate your life to doing good? "Good" sounds like something you should be doing, but I believe first you do no harm, and if you have time left over, then you can do some good.

Imagine a twenty-four hour period where you do no harm to yourself; you eat all the appropriate food groups, sleep your eight hours, and exercise your mind and body. You treat each member of your family with honor, love and respect. You are a contributing member to your community, and you are gentle with the environment. Sounds like a full day eh? Once you've done all of that, you're now free to spend the rest of your day doing good, if there is any good left to be done.

Lesson: If we each take care of our self there will be nobody left to take care of.

Wednesday, October 19, 2011

LEST WE FORGET

The elephant was mistreated. The elephant was rescued. The elephant was sent back to Botswanna. Years later the man who mistreated the elephant visited Botswanna. The mean man went walking in the jungle. The mistreated elephant came out of the jungle and squished the bad man like a bug.

Another elephant was sick. The good man fed the elephant oranges. The elephant got well and was sent home to South Africa. Years later other nice men wanted to help the elephant who had gotten sick again. The elephant wouldn't come out of the jungle for his medicine. The nice men sent for the good man. He came. The good man went to the edge of the jungle and held up an orange. The sick elephant came out for his medicine. The elephant got better. The end.

The lesson from these two stories is too simple to make any more complicated. If elephants, in these basically true stories, don't forget rights and wrongs done to them years ago, how much more grudge-carrying, debt-owing can we humans be?

I don't believe it's just your extraordinary human memory that remembers the good and the bad done to you. Remembrance goes deeper. Sometimes when there is a lot of energy around a criticism or a praise, it seeps in every molecule of your being. That memory becomes part of who you are and fundamentally changes you. You shed indignities and dignities in the short term, but at some level you, like an elephant, never forget.

This primal and permanent memory requires you be very selective with what you choose to let in. The choice you have of what to remember, and how strongly to remember it, differentiates you from Dumbo. (And also that trunk thing.)


Lesson: Be careful what you choose to remember because you'll never forget it.

Tuesday, October 11, 2011

IS THAT A FAT LADY SINGING?

Since I am officially "the crazy guy down the road with all the dogs," I read with gusto the "Ask the Vet" column in the local newspaper. A couple of weeks ago the column taught me more than I expected to learn.

A 91-year-old man wrote in asking a question about his three-month-old puppy.

A man about 11 to 12 years past his expiration date taking in a puppy with an 11 to 12 year shelf life--I like the way that guy thinks.

Life went on before you arrived, and it will go on after you leave. You're responsible for not screwing it up while you're here. While he is here, the old man is living today as if he is going to be here tomorrow. How else should we live a life? The alternative is to live today as if it's your last day on earth. While you hear that as a positive from many motivational speakers the truth is if you knew this was your last day, you would probably spend the day making funeral arrangement, crying and sitting around waiting to be ambushed by the grim reaper. So, I think it's important we make plans for a tomorrow.

If you can't take it with you whenever you go, that must mean you leave it here. What are you leaving here? What are you leaving to grow, replenish and enrich the lives of those you leave behind?

The events of September 11, 2001 exposed us all to more reality than we asked for--the reality that life and all its ingredients are temporary. As all aspects of our daily lives appear less and less secure, there is a tendency to hunker down, circle the wagons and wait out the storm of life.

Truth is, our life, and our responsibility for enriching it, is no different now than it was on September 10, 2001

Before I read the vet's column, when we would pick up another dog, I would mentally do the math to see whether the dog or I would croak first. Why? Did I really think everything in the world would automatically destruct when I did?

Life is an ongoing process and that process will go on whether we're a part of it or not. People planting trees and gardens at their homes with a "For Sale" sign in the front yard, grandmas in graduate school, and grandpas with young puppies have the right idea.

Lesson: Your life is not over until you say it's over.

Sunday, October 2, 2011

BJ AND ME

BJ, an old buddy, came to my hotel room to join me in sipping at least one adult beverage.

I was glad this room belonged to the hotel and I was just using it for a couple of nights because the room was not user friendly.

[Excuse me when I go on a tangential tear. Doesn't it bug you
when things that really only have one purpose for existence
don't fulfill that purpose? I remember years ago buying a pair
of waxed shoe laces. The wax coating made the laces look great,
the only thing those great looking laces didn't do, because of
that very waxed coating, was stay tied. Laces that don't stay
tied, uncomfortable hotel rooms--interesting times in which we
live.]

Back to my particular guest-adverse hotel room: The only chair in the room wasn't near the only light, and the couch wasn't convenient for watching the TV. But it was the hotel's room, and they did seem to like it this way, so I put up with it.

BJ didn't.

He walked into the room, wet down his ice cubes, sat in the chair and without equivocation or hesitation said, "This is no good." He got up and moved the chair to the other side of the room, unplugged the lamp, set it next to the chair creating a nice, cozy reading area. Next he rearranged the top of the dresser altering the position of the TV to directly face the couch. I now had an acceptable room. My quality of life had, in some small way, improved. (No thanks to me.)

What was the difference between BJ's approach and mine? BJ assessed current reality, saw the options, had a vision of a more desirable future and took action. I, on the other hand, thought the way they set up the room was not fun but what can you do, that's life. After BJ's visit they won't have me to kick around anymore.


Lesson: Don't take things the way they are, take things the way you want them to be.