If someone were to ask me the question “What are the top 5 qualities you would demand from friends and family?” I know for sure one of them would be a high level of integrity.  According to Wikipedia.com, integrity is a concept that has to do with perceived consistency of actions, values, methods, measures, principles, expectations and outcomes.  I see the word integrity defined as – An individual’s words and actions must match up, be similar.   For example, when I said on a recent trip to Boca Raton, FL to see the Akron Zips soccer team defeat FAU I told them I would bike to Cary, North Carolina if they made it to the final four.  With that said, they qualified for the final four and I would bike from to Cary, NC in support of them winning a National Championship.

Christmas 2009

Same concept applies to this website.  When I made the commitment to start this website, I made a promise to keep a high level of integrity for the website with fresh new information.  I admit, this quality had been lacking for the last 6 months and I ready to re-commit towards providing positive information and insight towards impacting the lives of others through my life experiences.   I am confident you will accept and re-commit yourself towards viewing this site as I am confident in delivering weekly messages that will create a renewed sense of motivation to achieve your goals and dreams and most importantly allow to share with the lives of others.

Shepherds Meet Infant Jesus

When the angels went away from them to heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let us go, then, to Bethlehem to see this thing that has taken place, which the Lord has made known to us.” So they went in haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the Infant lying in the manger. When they saw this, they made known the message that had been told them about this Child. All who heard it were amazed by what had been told them by the shepherds. And Mary kept all these things, reflecting on them in her heart. Then the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen, just as it had been told to them.

Reflection

When Jesus was born; the shepherds were the first to receive the good news. Shepherds were considered lowly, dirty and the social outcasts of the day. The heart of God was with the poor, humble, rejected and the disadvantaged such as these. King David was elevated from the rank of shepherds and Jesus openly identified Himself as one. Through them, the others came to hear of this long-awaited great news of their King finally born to them. These were joyful times for the Jews for it was the fulfilment of long-held prophecies in their scriptures. The child was circumcised and named on the eight day in line with the Jewish laws. The rite of circumcision was part of the covenant that God made with Abraham, Gen 17:10. The name Jesus was given by the angel Gabriel to Mary before He was conceived and it meant in Hebrew, the Lord saves.

Corporate Leadership

People working in the lower echelons of a company may find it difficult to know the direction in which the company is heading. At times, the management may not think it is necessary to inform the workers and staff of what they intend to do. Such non communication creates a divide within the company that is unhealthy in the long term. The ancient prophets foretold the coming of a Messiah. With the birth of Jesus, God fulfilled the promise that He would save mankind. He chose to reveal this plan to the lowly shepherds first rather than the king of the land. Likewise, a good leader discusses his plans with his staff and colleagues to get their buy-in. Then he puts the plans into action and updates them on the progress. In this way, the staff is encouraged with the news and is motivated to work towards it. – XW

Family Leadership

In every name or their derivatives, there is a meaning behind attached to it. Since ancient times, parents of every country, race or culture give names to their children to reflect their desired character qualities or destiny for them. Similarly, Jesus was given the name, the Lord saves, for His given mission even before He was conceived on earth. Parents can find out the meaning of their children’s names as they provide a guide to nurture them to their full potential. Parents can encourage their children to live up to not only their names, their family names as well, a good name is more desirable than great riches; to be esteemed is better than silver or gold. Proverbs 22:1. This awareness of having a good name also give them a moral compass in life in which it also act as inspiration to spur them to greatness in their adult life. – XW

I have realized that with my increased use of web communications and social networks I have become obsessed with myself.

Call it what you want, but that’s really all it is.

Google, Google analytics, WordPress views, Digg, Delicious, Technorati, Flickr views, All types of Comments, Tweets, RT’s and replies. All of them are just ways of trying to feel out what your value is to others. Although technically it’s not meant to be about you, but rather your business, ideas or content. It sounds like the classic case of ’she needs to separate herself from her work’ doesn’t it?  My mood is affected by this, I get happy when there are comments (positive or negative) or more views.

Having your work recognized and appreciated by others is a good thing, however, it shouldn’t be a goal in and of itself. When I was starting university it used to be all about facebook. The real appeal behind it was the ability to get into other people’s business. Which is really not all that interesting to me anymore. This should come as no surprise, why be bothered with other people when I can obsess over myself? Lately I haven’t been giving that much time to facebook, and for good reason; not much is poppin on there.

Knowing what facebook is all about people add fuel to the fire by airing their ‘dirty laundry’ on there. It promotes a culture of sharing, which isn’t necessarily bad. Users focus on sharing the crazy stuff that they had no business doing, let alone telling people about. So trying to get into the whole fb thing really can lead downhill. For example, I have seen people transition through all the phases of taking off their hijab. First its smaller, then wrapped back, then a hat, then its gone. Me and my cousin used to discuss it, so and so ‘7atta sewarha 3aryana fe facebook’ put up naked pictures of herself on facebook. That’s not the gritty part, its the fact that their so-called friends encourage them. They comment on how nice they look, how they look amazing without their hijab. This is Muslims telling other Muslims. So to me, the concept of others opinion of you negatively affecting your actions is represented on facebook at its worst.

I often thought of how it isn’t right to talk about people in a bad way behind their back. Its straight out wrong. So what’s the right thing to do then? I took the advice of a friend that used to message people, privately and try to remind them to do the right thing. Don’t know that it has ever made an obvious difference, but I guess we plant the seeds and Allah (swt) has the control on what comes after that.

I need to train myself to make the most of social networking without them driving me crazy. Obsessing hampers my creativity, thinking and worst of all it poses a threat to the integrity of my work. At the Al-Kauthar class last weekend about the Fiqh of Salaah the instructor told the volunteers that they shouldn’t think anything of what they were doing. Because, things we do in front of other people can rarely be sincerely for Allah (swt), and there is always a chance that we were hoping to get credit from people.

That rings so true especially with blogging about Islamic topics. We want to benefit others with reflections we have on life that maybe eye-opening for them too, but our intentions cam come under attack when we allow the popularity/ego/arrogance factor to affect us. In all honesty, I am still working on that. I read every article I come across about making the best of social networking. The catch 22 is that when you put so much focus on how you actually use the social networks, you are really just obsessing again.

Not only is it bad for my character but its also a horrible waste of time. I recently downloaded this program called ‘Freedom’ for mac that cuts off your internet connection for a specified amount of time. I haven’t used it yet, but that’s only because I need to ‘Google’ code and other information when I am designing. I did notice that closing TweetDeck and my email in Firefox, (and other email in Safari) has really helped my productivity. So when I go to the hot-corner that shows all windows I am not distracted by e-mail or random browsing.

Its actually bad for us to have so much information on what others think of us, or to give it so much weight. I’ve considered just closing my twitter, fb, blogs and Flickr but I don’t think I can. A lot of work went into them for one, the other thing is that they are excellent tools when used correctly.

It makes me think of how blessed we are not to know what exactly is in our book of deeds or what fate Allah (swt) has written for us. We would obsess over it and be constantly trying to avoid the parts we didn’t like so much. We would mourn the tough times before they came, and probably never get to enjoy the good ones…

What do you think

Some times I take a step back and look at where God has me…that’s when I’m blown away.  That’s when I realize God has brought exceedingly & abundantly above anything I can imagine or ask for into focus.  I get the privilege to work along side guys like Brewster, Chico, Jay, and Los. What I love about them is their heart for God and His plan.  It’s never scripted. It’s never contrived.  Always creative.  Always Authentic.  Always with excellence and integrity.

I appreciate a God of Second Chances.  If He wasn’t, I would not be here typing this blog right now.  If he didn’t extend beyond just a second chance I would have never ended up where He has me today.  When I watch videos like this, I take a step back and say THANK YOU LORD for bringing me into this adventure!

Check out the context of the story on my man Brewster’s post here.  Lookout for Los’ release next year, God’s hand is all over it.

Breathe In & Smile Out,

Chris

“The time to begin writing an article is when you have finished it to your satisfaction.  By that time you begin to clearly and logically perceive what it is you really want to say.” ~Mark Twain

It is a bit intimidating to try to write a piece on the importance of good writing.  I feel self-conscious about my writing as I write about good writing.  After all, a post on good writing should be written especially well. Then again, maybe a poorly written post will do even more to illustrate the importance of good writing. I will have to leave that up to you, the reader.

I have been teaching graduate and undergraduate students for over twenty years now. I have read and graded thousands of papers and essays during that time. I can count on two hands the number that were exceptionally well written.  In each case, I sought out the students to compliment their writing, and to encourage them to keep honing their writing skills.

I doubt my words of encouragement had much effect.  This, I know from personal experience.

Years ago, in my third year of graduate school, I got a paper back from a professor with the words “You write well” written in the margin.  I was crushed.  I had worked so hard on that paper: reviewing the existing literature, developing the research design, and trying to make a substantive contribution to my field.  I yearned to hear something tangible about the quality of the research, the cleverness of the method, or the importance of the findings.  Instead, I got “you write well.” I honestly thought that the professor had said that because he couldn’t think of anything positive to say about the content of the paper.

Years later, something happened that made me realize how wrong I was.  I had taken a teaching job at Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas, even though I had yet to defend my doctoral thesis; it’s called “ABD,” or “all but

Merton Miller

dissertation.”  I had traveled to Chicago to meet with Merton Miller, my thesis chairman, about polishing up my dissertation and scheduling the defense.  As I waited outside his office door, I couldn’t help but notice how distracted Professor Miller seemed. He had always stood at a tall wooden lectern to write, but this day he paced to and from that lectern, rubbing his head, adjusting his shirt sleeves, writing, erasing, then erasing some more.

He was at the lectern when I entered his office for our meeting. I congratulated him again for winning the first Nobel Prize in financial economics and asked him about the upcoming trip to Stockholm.  He was taking his wife and daughters on the trip, who were very excited. He, on the other hand, was not ready for the trip.  He was worried, he said, because he was not going to have sufficient time to revise his acceptance speech.   He had only edited it seven times thus far, and his magic number was eight.  Not six, not seven, but eight rewrites were what he needed to be satisfied with his writing.

Professor Miller was known as one of the most gifted writers in all of economics.  His writing was disarmingly simple and clear. It flowed like a piece of music. It seemed effortless.  Everyone, myself included, assumed that he was just a naturally talented writer, lucky to have been blessed with that skill. Everyone was wrong.  I learned that day that Professor Miller worked hard at writing well.  He was well into his 60’s, had written hundreds of articles and had won the Nobel Prize, but he was still working at writing well.

Then I remembered the comment that a teacher had written in the margin of my paper years earlier. The teacher was Merton Miller.  And now I knew how much it really meant, coming from him.   So now when I see the rare student who writes really well, I make it a point to tell them.  Not that it means as much coming from me as it did coming from Professor Miller.  But it still means something, because good writing is very important, and it’s worth working for.

By Sherry Jarrell

When a person has integrity nothing else matters!! When a person doesn’t have any integrity,nothing els matters!!

When a person has integrity nothing else matters!! When a person doesn’t have any integrity,nothing els matters!!

“Truth has no special time of its own. Its hour is now – always.” Albert Schweitzer

What is the biggest threat to America’s future? Some argue health care reform, some global warming or perhaps the war in Afghanistan, all serious problems. The real enemy is a far stronger and more illusive adversary then any of the aforementioned, moral vacuity.

Today, it’s difficult to imagine a Country without greed and corruption. Even Tiger Woods, a once pillar of integrity, now reveals his many surrenders to selfish desire. Oddly, Americans look to one another for moral stability, a constantly shifting platform to say the least. Over time, the proverbial house of cards grows taller with little or no attention to its most precarious foundation.

Without question, the United States has endured a myriad of challenges throughout its last decade. Some examples: 9/11, the war in Iraq and Afghanistan, a skyrocketing deficit, hurricane Katrina, the wildfires of southern California, the horrific Ft. Hood massacre and many others. As we rest on the brink of sweeping health care and climate reform, one can only wonder, might this be the card that brings down the house?

Thomas Jefferson remarked, “Self-interest, or rather self-love, or egoism, has been more plausibly substituted as the basis of morality.” Jefferson’s insight predicts eventual conflict when applied to a society filled with limitless self-interest. As a child I often wrestled with acting in accordance to that which I knew was morally correct. Now an adult, I must consider the possibility of a society that struggles not with the execution of moral behavior yet, identifying what is in fact, moral. The gradual replacement of morality with egoism has overgrown the path to righteousness and thus placed a “dangerous pass” sign at its beginning.

As America struggles to find its moral compass, allow me to offer some wisdom from those who personally understand the importance of truth and morality:

“If you have integrity, nothing else matters. If you don’t have integrity, nothing else matters.” Alan K. Simpson

Simpson reveals: integrity is the only cause when rendering a decision. Conversely, a conclusion reached without integrity matters not. I imagine this is the section for which the amoral take issue. For those who challenge, “life is not that simple, it’s not a black or white issue”, I vehemently disagree. Those who argue, ‘integrity cannot always be applied to a complicated world’, either fail to understand the principle, or realize the principle derails a self-serving agenda.

While members of Congress meet to debate and most likely pass questionable health care reform, I cannot help but recognize an ever-moving and conveniently reshaped moral code. When cautioning against such practices, realize the only real change will likely come from complete and utter failure. Make no mistake, I wish failure upon no one yet realize the dire need for morality in everyone. America: everyone (and I mean everyone) wanders from the path, which will never change. Regardless, don’t ever forget your way back; our Nation is counting on you.

“Force always attracts men of low morality.” Albert Einstein

“Art, like morality, consist of drawing the lines somewhere.” G.K. Chesterton

I understand bloggers are now considered serious journalists, also helped by the fact that there are fewer and fewer serious publications remaining, but some of the stuff that comes out of these blogs is just plain ridiculous.

I had high regard for Ars Technica, but of late they have crossed the line completely. I am going to continue reading their content but will always take it with a pinch of salt.

Tsk tsk.

Supersite

via Not Just ‘Not News,’ Just Plain Wrong.

By Michael Mark, CEO/Creative Director @NYCA

I am taking off my shoes and walking over to the fire.

I want you to hold my feet to the flames.

I am to be held accountable.

If this is kinky to you, let me tell you it is business to us.

We do what we say, we say what we do. This way no one gets burned.

Yes, we’re an advertising agency. We think there are others like us out there.

But when the Gallup Poll does an integrity survey and our industry ends up below politicians – well, it’s time to stand up. Barefoot.

We’re in Encinitas. California. We are experienced creative entrepreneurs from the biggest and best agencies in the country.

We grow our clients’ businesses with a process that is harmonious with our clients.

Grow is everything.

We use integrity and virtue, along with creativity, insight, innovation and analytics.

We use moral skill.

It’s what makes our work stand out. It’s what makes our work actually work in the marketplace.

But what’s deeply important to us is how we do it.

We make promises. We keep them.

One promise we made to a client was that we would go bankrupt before giving up on solving his company’s problem.

The CEO of the prospect-turned-client asked me to sign that.

We delivered.

Next time he accepted a handshake.

Democrat Congressman Parker Griffith, (AL) an outspoken opponent of the nationalized health care overhaul has announced he is switching his political affiliation and reregistering as a Republican, dealing another blow to Democrats ahead of the midterm elections.

U.S. Rep. Griffith, a retired physician, said,” I believe our nation is at a crossroads and I can no longer align myself with a party that continues to pursue legislation that is bad for our country, hurts our economy, and drives us further and further into debt.”

He was one of 39 House Democrats to vote against the House version of the fed-med bill that narrowly passed. “I want to make it perfectly clear that this bill is bad for our doctors,” he said. “It’s bad for our patients. It’s bad for the young men and women who are considering going into the health care field.”

Griffith had one of the most conservative voting records of any House Democrat. He was one of seven Democrats to oppose Obama’s so-called “stimulus” early this year and voted against the global warming bill pushed strongly by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, (D-CA).

Democrats will hold 257 House seats to the GOP’s 178 after Griffith’s switch. And with several veteran House Democrats announcing their retirements next year, Republican hopes of picking up a significant number of seats in the November elections escalate.

Arizona had such a principled man as Parker Griffith in Congress. Bob Stump was an Arizona Congressman first elected to represent CD 3 as a Democrat in 1976.Shortly after voting for Ronald Reagan’s tax cuts in 1981, he boldly announced he was switching his party affiliation, shaking up the political scene more than a bit. When Congress reconvened in January 1982, popular Congressman Stump was counted among the Republicans in the U.S. House. He retired in 2002 and died the following year. Stump’s seat is currently held by conservative Congressman Trent Franks.

“By now, many leaders have realized that when it comes to business, nice guys often finish first. Old-fashioned images of corporate callousness and greed have been replaced by a gentler, more human conception of great leadership. But how does one define “kindness” in the context of business? And what is the best way to “use”this deceptively complex notion as a guiding principle to lead an organization successfully into the future? Far from presenting a naive idea of kindness, this eye-opening book identifies the surprising attributes successful “kind” leaders share. This realistic book shows leaders how they can use sincerity, honesty, and respect for the good of their organization……  For more follow this link

Reid Bill Says Future Congresses Cannot Repeal Parts of Reid Bill.  The Weekly Standard. 

Senator Jim DeMint (R-S.C.) pointed out some rather astounding language in the Senate health care bill during floor remarks tonight. First, he noted that there are a number of changes to Senate rules in the bill–and it’s supposed to take a 2/3 vote to change the rules. And then he pointed out that the Reid bill declares on page 1020 that the Independent Medicare Advisory Board cannot be repealed by future Congresses:

More here.  Harry Reid certainly wants to make an indelible mark in history.  He does not want to allow for any attempt at changing the Democrat passed bill that he was critical in fashioning and ramming onto America. 

H.R. 3590 PDF.

LIMITATION ON CHANGES TO THE BOARD RECOMMENDATIONS IN OTHER LEGISLATION.—It shall not be in order in the Senate or the House of Representatives to consider any bill, resolution, amendment, or conference report (other than pursuant to this section) that would repeal or otherwise change the recommendations of the Board if that change would fail to satisfy the requirements of subparagraphs (A)(i) and (C) of subsection (c)(2).

See:

• http://www.weeklystandard.com/weblogs/TWSFP/2009/12/reid_bill_declares_future_cong_1.asp
• http://www.weeklystandard.com/weblogs/TWSFP/Reid%20bill%20language.pdf

A passer by invokes a lesson for us all.

.

Recently while busy in the garden our two dogs started barking. This in itself is not unusual because they sit at the front gate waiting for passers by to stop and talk to them. It can be a horse, or cyclist that sometimes causes them to bark, and our children have grown to show the same awareness as the dogs in who is passing.  I didn’t see the cause this time but our young daughter did.

“Don’t worry, Daddy, it’s only an old man!“

Stephanie is only 8 years old, but without meaning any harm had given sufficient information to explain the risk to us and paint a quick picture in a few words as to why the dogs were barking.

Of late for some reason I have been more aware of people who are ageing. This generation do not normally stand around telling stories, this is left to the young who always seem to have something to shout about.

However all older people will have many interesting tales, often almost unbelievable, yet true. They have lived through war, happy, sad, interesting, and hard times. Each has learnt about life through experience that we can not buy.

Recently my ex Mother-in-law passed away. I thought I knew her very well, but it wasn’t until family stories started coming out that we all found out there had been much more in the life of this modest lady.

How it should be.

Christmas is coming and probably there will be family gatherings. This year I am going to try and turn the attention to the older generation, and see if they will open up and give us an insight into their childhood days and memories so that we can give them the respect they deserve, ask them to read stories to the children, ask them to tell their own tales.

Oh and the old man? Yes I did see him again, in church at a Remembrance service, and he had some medals under his coat, so did have a story to tell!

By Bob Derham

God dammit if my satellite radio player isn’t working tonight !!! It must be the weather… It is snowing in Montreal tonight. So I’ve loaded up a Chad Fox podcast and that is playing as I type tonight.

I have a lot on my mind tonight. People and places, times and tribulations. It has been very quiet with hubby gone, I have time to myself to think and be alone. I don’t get to be alone very much being married. So time to myself is a prized possession.

Last night was a little funny because I had to go to bed alone. I hate sleeping alone, but alas, family is family and hubby is doing his part to celebrate the holidays with his family.

Today is Tuesday and it was also my home group tonight. I was unnerved all day, time was just going by too slowly. So around 4′ o clock I got in the shower and got ready to go. I had to go by Provigo to pick up my cake for tonight.

Yes, I made it 8 years … Who knew I’d live to see today…

When this journey began fifteen years ago I had 18 months to live. The doctors told me to kiss my ass goodbye and call it a day. When the drink did not kill me, because I tried… To kill myself with the drink … God had other plans. And there were key people in my life then that stepped in to help save my life.

Danny
Roy
Todd
Farkle
Billy
Bill M.

I went into rehab and started my dance with sobriety on August the 23rd 1994. I would stay sober 4 years, if I knew then, what I know today, I would never have made that fateful geographic that took me out the door for 18 months of living hell. But you know, hindsight is 20/20. I have had a lot of time to think about the past and see the path that was laid before me. And really, to be honest, I haven’t spent a great deal of time thinking about the past, it is just something that I really don’t dwell on.

But tonight I hit two meetings at my home group and I had time to sit and ponder the past 8 years of “this” sobriety, and in a greater circle the last fifteen years. I should be dead… I should have died years ago … Which brings me to the eternal question that I ask every Christmas of God, “what am I still doing here?”

When I look back retrospectively over the past, I came to believe before I came to because someone up there liked me enough to set this path out that I walked, I wish I had had all this wisdom in my head then, but I didn’t. I had to walk it out “One day at a time.” When you are staring death in the face – and counting the days until you are supposed to die, you either learn how to live or you wait to die and learn nothing in between. There were too many people in my life then, that wanted and willed me to live. I think that those first years living with AIDS was consumed by working at the STUD. I was too busy to think about dying. And I think that that saved my life.

I walked the road. I had to stumble and fall, and learn to pick myself up again after my terrible crash and burn. God knew what he was doing. When I returned to home base after my slip the path was there, and I walked it.

Looking back I know that God was moving heaven and earth for me, and it seemed that I was paying attention to the signs and omens. I knew the way back to the rooms, but I was ashamed to come back because I was going to get sober AGAIN in the same city that I got sober in to begin with. And sober circles are very small … people know … and they knew I was on the rebound…

I prayed prayers – I needed certain things … And each prayer was answered.

1. I needed a place to live – and it came …
2. I needed a job, that came with the apartment
3. I needed to stop drinking – the hangover of death came
4. I needed to meet another alcoholic – Troy came into my life
5. I needed to get to a meeting – I did that for Troy’s 1st anniversary

I remember all the people who were instrumental in my getting sober this second time. Fonda, Ed, Charlie, Shane, Billy, Christian, and a litany of others that I can see in my minds eye but I can’t recall all the names. I got sober over the holidays and that was tough. But my friends stuck with me one day at a time, one hour at a time, one night at a time… and I stuck and stayed…

The first time I got sober in 1994, the ambulance came and they got me breathing again, and Danny took me home and lived in my apartment for a week, he would not leave me alone. I went back to work and went through rehab and found a group to get sober in. They were not as kind to me as the second group of people. Because back then, to get sober, one had to face the gauntlet of people betting against you that you would drink once again ….

I remember picking up my first medallion – Fuck You you bastards, I stayed sober, against all your bets and pressure to go back out and drink.

I worked in a bar, but I did not drink, because Roy was my sponsor and he worked in the bar too, his partner was the owner and my boss. If it wasn’t for what Todd did for me in those first years of living with AIDS I surely would have died. There aren’t enough thank you’s in the world to repay what he and all of them did for me when I needed it the most. I am totally grateful for all the gifts that came into my life … I miss my friends. But I guess I am a testament to the power of prayer and the work of a tight group of family that saved my sorry ass. So many of my friends went to grisly miserable deaths, and I was there through all of that, and I lived. Why ???

I pulled a second geographic in sobriety, but the second time I did it the right way. I got hooked into the rooms and found a place to live and people to help me stay sober and it seemed to work. I got hooked into Tuesday Beginner’s 8 years ago and the rest is history. So much has come into my life over the past 8 years that I am amazed by all the gifts. I have seen trials and tribulations and it hasn’t been easy, but Rick summed it up for the meeting tonight – “I came and I stuck, and I toughed it out one day at a time, and I made it to 8 years …”

And I lived to see another Christmas …

We don’t talk about that aspect of my life, and really it isn’t something that I fret over or think about any more, I think I may take it for granted sometimes, that maybe I forget that I am living on borrowed time. I don’t dwell on day counts or the fact that I live with a terminal disease. When I play that card at my meeting it shocks people. I am still alive, and surely there must be a God because let’s face it, if there wasn’t a God and I did not come to believe then I surely would have died long ago.

I guess that’s all for now. I need to go throw something together for dinner it is nearing 10:30 p.m. and I haven’t eaten all day …

Thanks for all your good wishes. This post will cross over on Facebook so I have to mention those folks here now. Thank you for my sobriety …

Christmas is in three days … woo hoo …

More to come, stay tuned…

     It was 416 years before Christ was born. The philosopher Diogenes was becoming somewhat of a nuisance to the people of Athens and consequently many were wishing that he would leave the city. We are told that he walked around the city carrying a lantern while it was still daylight. That in itself was a bit strange, but that was not what annoyed the folks most. The people simple grew weary of his thrusting a lantern in their faces and saying, “I am looking for an honest man.” If someone were to do this in our city, some would want him arrested and others would say this individual needs some serious psychiatric attention.

     When John the Baptist came on the scene, the religious leaders and others thought he belonged in an asylum. Later in the Gospels, we find religious men saying that Jesus was mad, or possessed by a demon.  They went as far as to say that His works were the works of Beelzebub, the ruler of demons. The real underlying issue in these examples is that truth is not always welcomed. Honestly, there are those times when we “cannot handle the truth”. On the flipside, of these examples, we see the critics of Jesus and John the Baptist, as a nuisance, speaking lies.

     I recently found a helpful quote from the late Harry Ironside, on how to handle criticism. I hope that it will be as helpful to you.  Ironside said, “If what they say about you is true, mend your ways. If it isn’t true, forget it, and go on and serve the Lord.” I found this to be a great resource in dealing with slander and constructive criticism.

    This is a good topic to deal with since we are standing on the threshold of a new year. Many of you are thinking about what others have suggested, things that might make your life better, your body healthier, or your career path brighter.  Some of you are thinking about some areas where God wants to see some change, or even a few things that you want to see changed.  Don’t set out to change for the sake of change, because you can waste valuable time and resources trying to be someone or doing something that simply isn’t right for you. Now, if God is pointing to something, just know that He will help you do what seems impossible, for nothing is impossible with God!   Happy New Year

I was awakened this morning at 3:30 a.m. by a faulty fire alarm at my home.  The noise was deafening, and, disorienting.  Entering the passcode did nothing.  I ended up having to remove the smoke/fire detector from the ceiling.  That did nothing to stop the noise so I ended up cutting a wire – all this while 125 decibels were ringing in my ears.

When I tried to go back to sleep for an hour until my regular alarm would go off, it was no use.  I laid in bed, my mind spinning from the noise, the surprise, and the relief that it was not due to a fire.  My thoughts kept going back to the Health Care issue and how the Democrats achieved a 60 vote total to pass the measure to the floor for a vote.  I kept thinking about a President who was again forcing a measure through to passage without allowing time for consideration, understanding, or debate.  That is the same President who promised on numerous occasions that every bill would be published on the internet for review and comment for five days before he would sign it. That is the same President who now rationalizes his (almost) every action today with the ‘end justifies the means’ excuse.

I kept thinking about Senator Ben Nelson who sold his soul for a few hundred million dollars.  I thought about the other 59 Senators who voted for a bill because of pressure or greed or power.  I don’t think one of them voted for it because they thought it would result in less expensive, more available, better managed health care services, as they had promised.  I thought of the Senate, a deliberative body, not deliberating the issue, but only the prizes each “yes vote” would bring and the punishment that would come with each “no vote.”  I was frustrated and am still.  I was disappointed and am still.  I was disgusted, and am still, at the lack of integrity and the lack of courage shown by most, if not all, of those who voted for this measure.

How could a Senator promise to make health care more affordable and then vote to make it more expensive?  How could a Senator claim to help reduce our deficit and then vote to spend more on pork to pass a bill that will increase the deficit?  When I think of rationalizing actions that a person knows to be wrong, I always think of Mr. Clinton saying he “…did not have sex with that woman…”   It must be easier to lie to yourself when you lie to the public on a regular basis.

I wonder if it might have helped to read each member of Congress a favorite poem.  Maybe one of them would have seen him or herself in the mirror and done the right thing.

The Man in the Glass  -  Author Unknown

When you get what you want in your struggles for self

And the world makes you king for a day,

Just go to a mirror and look at yourself

And see what that man has to say.

For it isn’t your father or mother or wife

Whose judgment upon you must pass,

The fellow whose verdict counts most in your life

Is the one staring back from the glass.

Some people might think you’re a straight-shooting chum

And call you a wonderful guy.

But the man in the glass says you’re only a bum

If you can’t look him straight in the eye.

He’s the fellow to please, never mind all the rest

For he’s with you clear to the end

And you’ve passed your most dangerous test

If the guy in the glass is your friend.

You may fool the whole world down the pathway of years

And get pats on the back as you pass

But your final reward will be heartache and tears

If you’ve cheated the man in the glass.

Read Acts 19:11-20

Today’s passage tells of things that would be hard to believe if I didn’t already believe that these Scriptures are Holy and infallible, the written words of God through divine inspiration by His Holy Spirit.  After all, who could believe in healing and evil-spirit exorcising handkerchiefs?  Who’s ever heard of such a thing?  How could it be possible?  Oh, and then there are the frauds or shams, you know, the ones who are “bandwagon” healers and exorcists.  They had heard of this popular new way to “get attention” and jumped on board, hoping no one would notice that they didn’t know the Truth, that they were great pretenders.

It’s not something I’m proud of, but today’s passage brought back memories of a day when I was a pretender, similar to Heath Ledger’s Will Thatcher of A Knight’s Tale.  It wasn’t all that hard to be one.  I had gone to church all of my life.  I knew the lingo.  I knew the motions, the facial expressions, and the “presence”.  I might have gotten a Grammy, or more likely a Daytime Emmy for my performance.  All it took was one person with the discernment of even the demons mentioned in today’s passage to question me for my “patents of nobility”, asking for my “spiritual birth certificate” proving that I was no more a child of God than I was Sir Ulrich von Liechtenstein from Gelderland.  I was guilty of impersonating a child of God and now I was exposed.  In retrospect, I’m glad it was only my pride that was stripped and beaten.  This incident challenged me to become more than I was.  I had been “weighed on the scales and found wanting“, tested and found lacking.

Under which category do you find yourself today?  Are you a Spirit filled follower of Christ willing to obey in miraculous ways, or are you a pretender and a fraud?  Have you ever experienced the miracle working power of the Holy Spirit in and through you?  Or instead, do you put on a front so others won’t know the truth?  Take a moment to ask the Spirit to search you and know you, to see if there is any wickedness within.  Seek Him earnestly today.  Submit to His reformation of your heart and Will (Knight’s Tale pun intended).  I’ll look for you on the field of battle to see if you’re wearing and wielding the full Armor of God.

Change Nobody Believes In.  ”A bill so reckless that it has to be rammed through on a partisan vote on Christmas eve.”  WSJ.

And tidings of comfort and joy from Harry Reid too. The Senate Majority Leader has decided that the last few days before Christmas are the opportune moment for a narrow majority of Democrats to stuff ObamaCare through the Senate to meet an arbitrary White House deadline. Barring some extraordinary reversal, it now seems as if they have the 60 votes they need to jump off this cliff, with one-seventh of the economy in tow.

Mr. Obama promised a new era of transparent good government, yet on Saturday morning Mr. Reid threw out the 2,100-page bill that the world’s greatest deliberative body spent just 17 days debating and replaced it with a new “manager’s amendment” that was stapled together in covert partisan negotiations. Democrats are barely even bothering to pretend to care what’s in it, not that any Senator had the chance to digest it in the 38 hours before the first cloture vote at 1 a.m. this morning. After procedural motions that allow for no amendments, the final vote could come at 9 p.m. on December 24.

Even in World War I there was a Christmas truce.

The rushed, secretive way that a bill this destructive and unpopular is being forced on the country shows that “reform” has devolved into the raw exercise of political power for the single purpose of permanently expanding the American entitlement state. An increasing roll of leaders in health care and business are looking on aghast at a bill that is so large and convoluted that no one can truly understand it, as Finance Chairman Max Baucus admitted on the floor last week. The only goal is to ram it into law while the political window is still open, and clean up the mess later.

Keep reading.

Just as well, Failure was the plan.  Myiq2xu at The Confluence shines the spotlight on the rigged machinery and the veiled attempts by the Democrats to bring forth purchased payback legislation for Big Pharma and corporate  insurance companies,  at the expense of meaningful reform.   Why?

… “follow the money.”  That is where the truth is.

As Uppity Woman said so plainly.

There is no profit in helping regular Americans. The profit comes from doing just the opposite.

See:

• http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704398304574598130440164954.html
• http://riverdaughter.wordpress.com/2009/12/20/failure-was-the-plan/
• http://www.free-animations.co.uk/money/money_1.html

At the core of every successful change effort I would argue that we find a democratic nerve center – an effort to bring key stakeholders on board through heavy involvement and giving everyone else in the organization who is affected by the transition the invitation to get involved and make themselves heard.

All to often we limit the work with designing the change to a small group of “chosen ones” leaving the rest of the organization on hold until they are hit by the tsunami “roll out” – a phase in the process where it’s hard or even impossible to make a positive contribution.
Doing this we miss out on the collective knowledge and creativity in the organization and looses the opportunity to win people over from the get go.

I stumbled over this great set of principles for organizational democracy from Worldblu, which makes perfect sense managing change: 

1. PURPOSE AND VISION
A democratic organization is clear about why it exists (its purpose) and where it is headed and what it hopes to achieve (its vision). These act as its true North, offering guidance and discipline to the organization’s direction.

2. TRANSPARENCY
Say goodbye to the “secret society” mentality. Democratic organizations are transparent and open with employees about the financial health, strategy, and agenda of the organization.

3. DIALOGUE + LISTENING
Instead of the top-down monologue or dysfunctional silence that characterizes most workplaces, democratic organizations are committed to having conversations that bring out new levels of meaning and connection.

4. FAIRNESS + DIGNITY
Democratic organizations are committed to fairness and dignity, not treating some people like “somebodies” and other people like “nobodies.”

5. ACCOUNTABILITY
Democratic organizations point fingers, not in a blaming way but in a liberating way! Democratic organizations are crystal clear about who is accountable and responsible for what.

6. INDIVIDUAL + COLLECTIVE
In democratic organizations, the individual is just as important as the whole, meaning employees are valued for their individual contribution as well as for what they do to help achieve the collective goals of the organization.

7. CHOICE
Democratic organizations thrive on giving employees meaningful choices.

8. INTEGRITY
Integrity is the name of the game, and democratic companies have a lot of it. They understand that freedom takes discipline and also doing what’s morally and ethically right.

9. DECENTRALIZATION
Democratic organizations distribute leadership and power across their enterprise.

10. REFLECTION + EVALUATION
Democratic organizations are committed to looking in the mirror and asking, “How can we be better?” – not just quarterly or annually, but daily.

Are you ready to introduce a democratic approach to your change efforts?

So another year almost done and dusted. We’ve left the review and the prophesies to others, by and large (see our Christmas Crackers post), and we’ll be signing off for the year later today. We hope you have survived the year – one of the most testing many of us will have had – and at least hoping to optimistic in the year to follow.

Colleagues here will be chiming in later in the day with their own versions of ‘three things I’d like to see in 2010’. But as Editor, I get first crack

1. More people thinking about where they’re going.  The next twelve months will see the economy (nationally and global) starting to recover from not just a major recession but a crisis of the global financial system that raised bigger questions than ‘how long will the recession last then?’ And this is not the only tectonic plate moving beneath the surface of our daily lives: changing demographics, climate issues (and the difficulty of even attempting to address them, as the Copenhagen Summit has just proved), our on-going love affair with technology and its impact on our lives. 

As most of us move on from a year where the short-term has been our main focus, one thing that I’d hope for is that a greater number of us spent at least some of their time looking to longer horizons and thinking in longer timeframes. (A challenge for both for the public and private sectors, albeit for different reasons, as our recent interviewee John Best pointed out.) Much as recovery is welcome – relief is a natural human response – more people probing what ‘business as usual’ might evolve into would be welcome. (Nostalgia for better previous years won’t make them return, after all: life’s uni-directional, and we all have to face the future. We might as well raise our gaze.) We’re already looking forward to reviewing Richard Donkin’s The Future of Work to see what he has to offer – look out for our review in the New Year.

2. Organisations remembering what ‘customer focused’ means.  I don’t know what network provider he’s with, but quote of the year on customer service went to everyone’s favourite Shakespearean spaceship captain, Patrick Stewart.

Last Wednesday, I stupidly dropped my iPhone in the bath, and my life has sort of spiralled almost out of control. The only still centre of my life is Macbeth. To go back to doing this bloody, crazed, insane mass-murderer is a huge relief after trying to get my cell phone replaced.”

Much as HR professionals need to invest time in making sure they understand what existing staff and future recruits really value (and what really annoys them), more companies taking an interest in listening to customers – whether we’re talking B2B or B2C – and taking stock of their actual reactions would be welcome.

There are too many companies – many of them having designed contract options, processes and procedures that work magnificently for them – who behave as if their customers’ calls aren’t quite as important to them as the synthesised voice in their automated answering system suggests. We hope for their sakes that they do record Patrick Stewart’s call – and everyone else’s – for training purposes: if they listened to them again sometime, they might be surprised at just how much potential learning they contain.

3. More people doing this.  Blogging, social networking … whatever we want to call it. It’s not just about extending the brand, or demonstrating the values – although it can certainly be. It can be about any number of things – engaging customers, showing latest thinking, exploring ideas with a wider community, engaging staff in communicating about values, products, services. Or just showing that there are living breathing people inside organisations as well as outside. You’d be surprised how well that can work, and how positively even battled-hardened social marketers respond to it – as the Brains on Fire blog recently commented:

I applaud Ford for putting a person front and center. So many brands are just jumping on the social media bandwagon without a strategy. But Ford has one and in my humble opinion they are being pretty true to it: Ford simply wants to “humanize the brand”. Second time I have repeated that here because, I love the simplicity of that. And because I know this; people trust people. People who make and keep promises.”

Which takes us back to point 2, I guess. So I’ll sign off, wish everyone the best of the season (thank you for reading, and we hope to have the pleasure of your digital company again next year), and hope that some of you will share my hopes for Point 1 – and act on them in the year to come.

Add to: Facebook | Digg | Del.icio.us | Stumbleupon | Reddit | Blinklist | Twitter | Technorati | Furl | Newsvine