Disney Leadership Keynote Speaker
Five daily blogs about life's 5 big choices on five interconnected sites.
By now, most of us have heard the inspirational saying:
Dance as if no one was watching,
Sing as if no one was listening……
Would you also write if no one were reading? Would you cook if no one were eating? Would you still do the right thing if no one were paying attention?
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I just saw a video experiment. A young man dressed like a street person, then acted like he was terribly sick. He fell to the crowded sidewalk, begging for help. Nobody assisted him. He then showered and shaved and changed into a suit. Same scenario, only this time multiple people stopped to help.
There was a lady who used to sit in front of the city market house. She wore lipstick on her forehead and she talked to herself. People made a big arc around her to avoid getting too close when they passed by. The Avoiders were usually people who weren’t from the city, as pretty much all of the regulars there knew her. Instead of making the arc of avoidance, they merely ignored her. I smiled and said Hello and commented on the weather, and she looked like she was going to cry because someone actually spoke to her like she was a human being.
My dear friend was the subject of cruel gossip in her small town. She was The Hoarder. She “looked like a Goddamned bag lady”. After her rather sad and tragic death, one good neighbor commented that she was glad The Bag Lady was dead. She actually smiled and clapped her hands.
It’s typical to hear comments about kids who wear their pants hanging down over the butts with their boxer shorts exposed. I mean, sure it looks incredibly stupid. But is it really all that different from the “hippie freaks” of our day? “Pull your pants up!” sounds pretty much like, “Cut your hair, you hippie freak!”
I heard some of the older folks make rude comments about “the guy with the green hair” at a social event I attended. Who could this loser possibly be? Well, he was a family friend, a graduate student who scored at the top of his class.
There’s a fear factor about anyone who looks or behaves differently.
AND…… there seems to be this horrible idea that some lives are worth more than others because they are more important; more respectable.
Years ago, I listened as the keynote speaker told a group of first year medical students this: “If you can distinguish between a diplomat and a homeless person, if you see more value in the life of a famous/wealthy/successful person than you see in the life of an indigent person who is found in an alleyway, then please feel free to leave. This is not the profession for you.”
Sure, most of us want to present ourselves in a certain way. But perhaps we need to remember that one of the most important men who ever walked the face of this earth did so bearded and barefoot, hair hanging to his shoulders. With his dark Middle Eastern looks, had he lived in this modern world he very well may have been stopped for questioning in any airport in America.
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Why wait for someone else to tell you that you work hard and deserve to be appreciated? Sure, it’s nice to hear it from others, but it’s also perfectly fine to give yourself a little pat on the back. If we don’t appreciate ourselves, why would we expect someone else to appreciate us? And really, whose opinion really matters more than our own?
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PS. Multiple attempts to correct technical issue with photo (which was shared by Lorie in it’s correct position) proved unsuccessful. So success today is called leaving it like it is.
I’m very open about the fact that I have an anxiety disorder. I manage it very well for the most part. What I’ve noticed is that most people, even those who don’t have an actual disorder, tend to worry about things over which they have no control. I suppose it’s human nature. Just this week, I listened to three friends who talked about a huge worry they had. While all three situations were very serious, all of them turned out just fine. It’s difficult NOT to worry, sometimes. But perhaps we should all keep in mind this favorite quote in those times of worry:
My life has been full of misfortunes, most of which have never happened. – Michel de Montaigne
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My Aunt is 92. Her knees bother her, but she is able to live independently. She is aware, though, that her once sharp memory has a few holes in it. It made me sad to see her fret about something over which she has no control.
I told her that the longer we live, the more stuff we have in our brains. If we wouldn’t clean out and toss a few things, it would be terribly cluttered in there and we would have trouble finding what we needed for the day. The rule for an organized closet is to toss things we haven’t worn in a year or two, and if we bring an item in we should take an item out. Maybe the reason she remembers appointments and is still able to drive is because she tossed out the names of people she doesn’t see on a regular basis. Maybe her brain is as neat and organized as her kitchen. Maybe she’s just tossing and deleting old files. Just last week I lost a bill in a stack of junk mail. We need to toss that stuff! She seemed to like that idea.
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