Friday Reflections

As The Year Ends

Reflection: Through the years we have received greeting cards from friends during Christmas and New Year holidays with the family pictures and the letters describing how the year went and the reflections of their own. We met most of these friends through our work and in most cases we have seen their children grow from the day they were born. A few are still in school, some just went to college and others graduated and found jobs; and the one I had lunch with yesterday was four years old when we first met her. Now she is a fine professional and she has children of her own.

But the common theme for all these youngsters is that they have turned into genuinely good people working on or striving for the better world. A great source of Happiness for parents.

Wishing all readers Fantastic 2017.

Follow your Dreams and Enjoy the Journey.

Tis the Season...

 

POINT TO PONDER

We have flown the air like birds and swum the sea like fishes, but have yet to learn the simple act of walking the earth like brothers.

                                                        - Martin Luther King Jr.

 

STORYLINE

This afternoon we received a Christmas Greeting from friends we have known for three decades. In the note they mentioned that after graduating, their daughter is working for an organization which supports the efforts of homeless individuals and families to transition our of homelessness into permanent housing. Reading more about their noble, kind work brought back the memories of the following story from exactly five years ago. (12/22/2011)

 REFLECTION

Every holiday season I think of an incident I witnessed a few years back during the days leading up to Christmas. I was sitting with my family having dinner at our favorite pizza spot.

    A ding from the door's bell alerted the room that another customer had arrived, actually two. I looked up midway through my third slice and caught sight of a young man, college age, fresh faced, and full of life. He stepped in and turned back to hold the door open and behind him as an older man walked in, hunched over, his clothes more like tattered blankets, stripped, and draped over his bony shoulders. His took the first step in, his once white sneakers covered in black soot, and passed in through the doorway. He looked up at the room, his beard cascading carelessly from his blunted chin as his eyes darted apologetically beneath his heavy brows. The young man ushered him in as customers from other tables started to catch sight of the two men.

    As they stepped up to the counter the murmuring picked up. Eyes looked up at them and then shifted away. A lady in the booth adjacent to ours looked at the two and turned to her family and said, “that's disgusting.” The young man and the homeless man put in their order and made their way through the restaurant trying to find a place to settle down for their meal.

    As they made their way through, couples tensed as they neared their table, families relaxed as they passed by, and finally they found a booth they liked and sat down. They had managed to find the one booth right next to the lady who had made it clear she was disgusted by the homeless man's presence. She gasped audibly when they sat down.

    The young man looked up at her and said, “he's a human being too, he needs to eat just like we do.”

    Promptly, the lady got up with her family to leave, “take the booth, I've lost my appetite.”

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------What's your end of the year reflection?

Merry Christmas to all friends around the world.

Teach Your Children/Parents Well

 

Point to Ponder: This wonderful song from 70s has a deep meaning message to ponder over the holidays and forever. Thanks to Louis Liang and John W. Simmons for mentioning this song while discussing Parent/Children generational issues.

Story Line: Source: https://www.lyricinterpretations.com/crosby-stills-nash-and-young/teach-your-children

The lyrics asks parents and children not to be judgmental of each other's lives. The "road" is life's journey which we must all go through during which we seek the truth of our existence which may never be found. That doesn't matter despite our struggles. What does matter is the joy of living and loving and letting both parent and child be who they are without trying to fix what is not broken. The lyrics are a Buddhist prescription for not being bound in suffering by not accepting the reality of existence and accepting people as they are and not what you would like them to be and having gratitude for the experience of being.

I have always loved this song (even though it's hard to put your own twist on their words) which is where their genius lies. Its about our journey, all of us, the one we each take and the degree to which we can stop putting labels and judging things as right or wrong, good or bad, that is the degree to which we can progress through our life to a point that is resolved simply into love and compassion. the labels change from generation to generation, the struggles and the feelings remain the same. we're all in it together and once we can reduce our judgements and differences to love and compassion we've made a successful trip and that's all any of us can hope for. Our souls expand with joy and light and we leave this passage in better shape than we arrived.

This song is a call for parents and children to try to understand that each generation goes through it's own kind of "hell" (growing pains/life issues) and that each should respect that and learn from each other. The genius of this song is in the first verse, "and so become yourself, because the past is just a good bye". You can't become your parents because their life was different from yours and once the past is gone it's gone for good. So, be true to yourself and "become yourself". I didn't even notice that verse until this year when I was examining my own past.

This song is a look at intergenerational issues in the whole 60s/70s time period. It says "teach your children well" because its telling parents to teach their children how they deal with life and the lessons they've learned from their own experiences ("their father's hell"). It says that sometimes intergenerational dialogue isn't easy: "Don't you ever ask them why/ if they told you you would cry/ so just look at them and sigh/ and know they love you..."
This is basically an appeal to both sides of the "generation gap" (the parents and children) to remember that even if they don't understand the other group's logic, reasoning, or motivation, just remember that they still love you deep down and try to just get along. and it's a beautiful song.

 Reflection: Yours?

 

 

Kill the Weeds or Grow the Grass?

 

Point to Ponder:

There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens: a time to be born and a time to die, a time to plant and a time to uproot, a time to kill and a time to heal,  a time to tear down and a time to build…  - Ecclesiastes 3, New International Version (NIV)

Storyline: by Jim and Leigh Mulready (repeat from January 2012)

My neighbor surveyed his precious lawn, the lawn he had lavished hard work on since he bought his home.  His labor and attention to detail had provided him with a beautiful, flawless expanse of grass for many years, and it was a great source of pride for him, but now the unthinkable had happened.  His yard had been invaded by ugly weeds.  He despised the newcomers and swore vengeance upon them.  For this task, he did his research and identified the best, most experienced and most knowledgeable garden expert in the entire area.

    The expert performed a full analysis: he noted the soil and the climate, the sun exposure and watering cycle, the type and condition of the grass, the type and condition of the weeds, how deep their roots went, how dense they were in the lawn, etc.  In short, after a full day of observation, measurement, and research, he was able to provide the homeowner with a full Problem Description.  The owner listened intently, looking forward to the imminent destruction of the trespassers.

    “Now, I just need to know what you want me to do,” said the expert.  “Should I kill the weeds, or should I grow the grass?”

    “What?” said my neighbor, puzzled.  “What kind of choice is that?”

    “Well, I can come in here with some chemicals and kill the weeds,” was the reply.  “They’ll be dead in no time.  Of course, that will weaken the grass a bit too.  It will take awhile to recover, and during that time it will be more susceptible to other types of weeds and diseases.  It will take a lot of extra effort to get it back to where it was before the weeds moved in. 

    “Or, I can grow the grass.  I can simulate the lawn to greater health, and over time it will get so strong it will simply crowd the weeds out and they’ll be gone.  That will certainly take longer than the chemicals would to get rid of the weeds, but you’ll have a much healthier lawn when I’m done, and it will certainly be more resistant to other problems.

    “So, what do you want me to do,” he concluded, “kill the weeds, or grow the grass?”

 

Reflection:

Engineers, through training and habit, spend most of their time fixing problems (killing the weeds); indeed for many that’s where the satisfaction of the job is: “I’m a problem solver.”  But how many of them spend time thinking about how to grow the grass (improve the processes and systems)?  If you’re a manager, do you ask your people to spend part of their time growing the grass, or are you happiest when they’re busy killing the weeds because the results are so quick and easy to advertise?  Excellence only comes through patient improvement over the long term.

 

Point to Ponder:

There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens: a time to be born and a time to die, a time to plant and a time to uproot, a time to kill and a time to heal,  a time to tear down and a time to build…  - Ecclesiastes 3, New International Version (NIV)

Storyline: by Jim and Leigh Mulready (repeat from January 2012)

My neighbor surveyed his precious lawn, the lawn he had lavished hard work on since he bought his home.  His labor and attention to detail had provided him with a beautiful, flawless expanse of grass for many years, and it was a great source of pride for him, but now the unthinkable had happened.  His yard had been invaded by ugly weeds.  He despised the newcomers and swore vengeance upon them.  For this task, he did his research and identified the best, most experienced and most knowledgeable garden expert in the entire area.

    The expert performed a full analysis: he noted the soil and the climate, the sun exposure and watering cycle, the type and condition of the grass, the type and condition of the weeds, how deep their roots went, how dense they were in the lawn, etc.  In short, after a full day of observation, measurement, and research, he was able to provide the homeowner with a full Problem Description.  The owner listened intently, looking forward to the imminent destruction of the trespassers.

    “Now, I just need to know what you want me to do,” said the expert.  “Should I kill the weeds, or should I grow the grass?”

    “What?” said my neighbor, puzzled.  “What kind of choice is that?”

    “Well, I can come in here with some chemicals and kill the weeds,” was the reply.  “They’ll be dead in no time.  Of course, that will weaken the grass a bit too.  It will take awhile to recover, and during that time it will be more susceptible to other types of weeds and diseases.  It will take a lot of extra effort to get it back to where it was before the weeds moved in. 

    “Or, I can grow the grass.  I can simulate the lawn to greater health, and over time it will get so strong it will simply crowd the weeds out and they’ll be gone.  That will certainly take longer than the chemicals would to get rid of the weeds, but you’ll have a much healthier lawn when I’m done, and it will certainly be more resistant to other problems.

    “So, what do you want me to do,” he concluded, “kill the weeds, or grow the grass?”

 

Reflection:

Engineers, through training and habit, spend most of their time fixing problems (killing the weeds); indeed for many that’s where the satisfaction of the job is: “I’m a problem solver.”  But how many of them spend time thinking about how to grow the grass (improve the processes and systems)?  If you’re a manager, do you ask your people to spend part of their time growing the grass, or are you happiest when they’re busy killing the weeds because the results are so quick and easy to advertise?  Excellence only comes through patient improvement over the long term.

DAY OF ABSENCE

Point to Ponder: We all affect one another, regardless of paycheck or role, and we depend on one another to function as a whole. -- Rajiv Shah

Signs like above all over the Silicon Valley reminded me of the reflection from the past.

STORYLINE by Rajiv Shah originally published on November 24, 2011.

I have been absent from writing Friday Reflections and am welcoming this opportunity to return by writing about a play I was recently in, DAY OF ABSENCE. The play was a unique, fictional account of what would happen if a group of workers (primarily nannies, farmers, and laborers) disappeared from a fictional town in the United States. 

I believed this was a fictional account, and indeed when the play was performed (in 1965) it was, until I came across an article in USA Today detailing the mass exodus of immigrants from Alabama towns after courts passed harsh anti-immigrations laws allowing law enforcement to detain any immigrants suspected of being illegal in this country. Further, it requires schools to verify immigration status of their students. What has transpired is that a large portion of Alabama's labor force has simply vanished from the town all together. Farms have been left unharvested, grocery stores have found their business drop 60%, and schools found 2,300 students missing from their classrooms. Whole neighbourhoods have become ghost towns virtually overnight with furniture and belongings left in the now abandoned houses.  

The effects have been substantial and Alabama is trying to find solutions to their now suddenly vacant labor force. 

REFLECTION

We all affect one another, regardless of paycheck or role, and we depend on one another to function as a whole. Sometimes within our own companies it is difficult to fully grasp the impact an employee makes to the whole, positively or adversely. Alabama respresents a extraordinary circumstance but exemplifies that we often need each other more than we care to acknowledge. We see the position one fills more than we see the person and the actions we take always affect one another, even if they are not immediately visible, especially when we only see that person's position and not their humanity. 

and profound wisdom of a reader:  

Interesting discussion about how the US people or state governments feel about or respond to immigrants (legal or otherwise). The Alabama story reminds me of the book Atlas Shrugged (Ayn Rand) though the twist is that this time it's the average workers who stopped working, no the leaders.

On another point in line with the reflection above, I once heard a tale of a school teacher (university professor?) who included a problem on his test, at the end of the semester, to write down the name of the janitor who cleans the classroom...
Good reminder to respect and get to know the people around us, regardless of apparent status or position.

Posted by: microCEO | November 27, 2011 at 11:41 PM