Rock the Boat

I’ve often said that it’s hard to rock the boat when you’re rowing it.

This is the basis of my fundamental opposition to voter-driven initiatives. They’re just issues that legislators wouldn’t touch with a ten-foot pole. Why should we – the uneducated, ignorant and mis-informed masses – make such important decisions as multi-billion dollar trolley systems going through downtown?

We, the masses, should go to work, do our jobs, and let our elected representatives make these types of policy decisions. If you don’t like your representative, then vote him/ her out and/ or run for office yourself. Everyone has his or her role. Go row your boat and don’t worry about whether the other guy is doing his job.

As long as you keep rowing, things tend to work themselves out. Not always, but on the average. All we can really ask for is that, on average, things work out. That’s what we do with life.

Take child rearing as an example:

Kids that grow up in a loving home are less likely to engage in disruptive behavior like substance abuse or promiscuity. Kids that grow up with two parents in the home are less likely to commit crimes and less likely to commit serious crime. Now, we all know of the exceptions that prove the rule, but these are the simple statistics.

Have your kids brush their teeth twice a day and they’re less likely to get cavities. Keep your kids in sports, and they are less likely to have self-esteem issues and more likely to be physically healthy.

Again – odds, not certainties. That’s why I like to say that good luck is the intersection of hard work and opportunity. Get yourself prepared – do the best preparation you can – then jump into it. This is what every successful person does. Well, at least those “self-made” successes.

Things usually do work themselves out. I don’t know whether the glass is half-empty or half full, I’m just pissed that someone keeps drinking half my beer! How the devil do they keep doing that!? You’ve got to have priorities.

When I say that, I have to constantly remind myself not to get complacent. Things stop working themselves out when I stop rowing. I work on what I can, and I try to fix what I can, but I have to know when and how to act. I can only surmise that the decision-making process in this regard takes wisdom, experience and sound advice. It also takes a self-assuredness that can only come from hard work.

Talking about something and doing it are two different things. This is why I’m such a big advocate of athletic activity. You can feel pain, strain, doubt and anxiety in your training. Then, you get nervous before the performance. During the performance, you win or loose. Then you start over again. Eventually, you gain some proficiency in your athletic endeavor. You get better. You see results. You gain confidence. Then, your confidence begins to grow exponentially. At that point, you’re self-assured enough to take some chances and experiment a little. Sometimes you fail, but most experiments, on the average, give you good results.

It’s the same thing at work, the same progression. But, in local sports teams, you get to learn some lessons without the major consequences that go along with a merger, a lawsuit, a marketing campaign, or publication.

Wait around ... wait around ... wait around ... and, then move! Same as giving advice. Same as sticking your foot out.

There’s an old Chinese proverb (or something) that goes something like this, “Fortune favors the bold.” It may have been from Sun Tzu, or a paraphrase of something he said (if he really existed). I’m also not sure if I’ve got it quite right, but I like it the way it is.

Notice that fortune does not favor the “brave,” the “foolhardy,” the “brash,” the “outspoken,” or the “fearless.” Here’s a link for “bold” on dictionary.com. http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/bold

Words used to define “bold” include courageous, daring, or beyond the limits of conventional thought. Einstein is used as an example.

There are some negative connotations to it, but I’d rather be bold than many other things. You need to be bold when hard work and preparation crosses paths with opportunity …

Abraham Re-Visited

When the rich man asked Jesus what he needed to do to see the Kingdom of Heaven, Jesus told him to “leave all behind and follow me.” Isn’t this the same thing that Yahweh asked Abraham to do?

Yahweh told Abraham that he would be the “Father of Nations” and have multitudes of children descendants. After many barren decades, Abraham finally had a son, Isaac, through whom God’s promise to Abraham would be fulfilled. Then, suddenly, God told Abraham to give it back – to leave it behind.

St. Paul writes that a man leaves his family behind to marry his wife. Jesus, the church’s bridegroom, leaves his life behind for his love – the church (people) on earth.

There’s a story about two monks (Hindu or Buddhist – I can’t remember) that are walking along a river. A woman is having stuck on a rock (or a log, or something) in the middle of the raging water. She is stuck and cannot get across.

The monks have taken a vow of chastity.

The older monk reaches out and helps the damsel in distress (an occidental term, but we’ll go with it). She thanks him and they all go on their way.

Ashen, the younger monk is troubled by the encounter. He asks the older monk something like, “How could you have done that and put your vow of chastity in danger?”

The older monk replies, “I left the woman at the river. Apparently, you have not.”

The lesson is not about resisting temptation (as I used to think), but it is about living in your moment – not the past, not the future, but where you are. It’s easy to resist temptation when you don’t dwell on it. You already know it’s wrong.

Jesus, in His occidental way, is teaching us about the dangers of attachment and how it detracts from Salvation. That’s why it’s so hard for a rich man to get to Heaven. Alec Baldwin did a very funny SNL skit where the rich people have invested billions to try to fit a camel through the eye of a needle – I think they turned the camel into a liquid to get it through. Going to a Catholic school with many rich kids (not me – yet), the teachers had to be clear that it was just “really hard” not impossible.

So, how do you do it? Faith. Simple, yet profound and difficult to understand. Kind of like E=mc2.

There aren’t that many good answers. But I do know this:

The simplest way to live is in the moment. The most rewarding way to live is in the moment. The least stressful way to live is in the moment. The most enjoyable way to live is in the moment. The way to get the most of your life is to live in the moment, because you may not get another one.

Maybe that’s why we’re supposed to have Abraham’s great faith in ourselves and in our Lord.