Memorial Day Parade in small town America…

May 26, 2015

I participated in the Memorial Day Parade again this year in our little Village of Milford. Milford is one of those Mayberry RFD type towns and the Memorial Day parade is one of our best parades of the year for all of the right Milford memorial day parade 1reasons. First off it’s totally non-commercial. There are no business vehicles with signs all over them and no politicians handing out campaign literature. No candy is thrown for the kids and there are no balloons or clowns.

The Milford parade has the spectators lining the entire route, especially Main Street all the way through the downtown, and applauding as the veterans ride or march by. A local florist donates flowers for the children to hand out to the vets. Many people make signs, all saying “Thank You” or “Thank you for your service”. Some stand and salute the vets as they pass. Most parents explain to their children the meaning of the day and the sacrifices that the Milford memorial day parade 2marchers have made for everyone’s sake. The younger one’s don’t really understand, but they stand and wave and yell Thank you anyway.

I rode in today’s parade; not because I couldn’t walk it, but they were asking for volunteers to ride so that the people who volunteered their personal Jeeps wouldn’t feel bad about not having a passenger. Most of the riders are elderly vets who can no longer make the walk on their own. The Jeep ahead of me had a man who is a veteran of both World War II and the Korean War. There are fewer and fewer surviving WWII vets here and elsewhere.

As I rode along today, waving at the people lining the way, a little girl ran up to the Jeep from out of the crowd and Memorial Day Paradre Cardgave me this card. I’m pretty sure that at 2 years old, she didn’t make it all by herself. Her older sister was there with her and may have helped some; but the enthusiasm and pride that she showed as she thrust the card to me was all her own. I had been given a flower earlier, a carnation I think; and I gave it to her in return.  Somehow I know that we will be OK as a nation as long as we keep honoring those who serve our nation and as long as we keep raising our children like that little girl is being raised.

It was another great Memorial Day Parade in small town America. Have a great week ahead. I know that I will.

Leave a Comment » | About Milford Michigan, Local Events | Tagged: , , , | Permalink
Posted by Norm Werner

Make the choice to stop today – stop what?

May 22, 2015

Tammy Flowers recently posted this quote on the Highland Matters Facebook group page that she moderates –

“Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people.”  – Eleanor RoosHenry Thomas Buckleevelt. The quote although widely associated with Eleanor was actually made much earlier by the English historian Henry Thomas Buckle (1821-1862).

So I wondered, if I’m discussing ideas for people to use when coping with events in their lives, what does that make this blog? Hmmm. Maybe it’s a greater than average blog about small things. No. Maybe it’s an average blog about great events in the lives of small people. No. Perhaps it’s about ideas on how to deal with average things so that they remain small and don’t become too great in our lives. That’s getting closer.

The thing about Eleanor’s quote is that that we (people) are impacted in ways by the events that take place in our lives and the ideas that we have or ideas that others have about us. I get that there it is a higher level of thinking required to discuss ideas and abstractions and the ability to do that with more complex ideas does seem to demonstrate a higher level of intelligence (hence a greater mind); however, events happen all the time around usgossip and to be oblivious to them and not react to them through discussion would seem abnormal, not average. As for discussing people, there certainly are things one should not do and most of them are hard to avoid for long when the discussion turns to discussing a specific person. It is a small mind indeed that allows prejudices, hate or judgements to color the discussion about a specific person. That is a pitfall that is as hard for many to avoid as a Michigan pothole.

So, perhaps the best thing to take from Eleanor’s quote is that if you can’t think of anything other than ideas or events to discuss you are better off keeping your mouth shut. We often associate the word gossip with discussions about other people and there are no good things to be said about gossip. One quote that I saw about it seemed to ring particularly true –

gossip2“Gossip is never fatal until it is denied. Gossip goes on about every human being alive and about all the dead that are alive enough to be remembered, and yet almost never does any harm until some defender makes a controversy. Gossip’s a nasty thing, but it’s sickly, and if people of good intentions will let it entirely alone, it will die, ninety-nine times out of a hundred.”  ― Booth Tarkington, author – The Magnificent Ambersons

So, focus instead on thinking and discussing concepts and ideas or about the events of the day and how they might impact you. Talking about a fellow worker or someone in your family or, worse yet, someone that you don’t really even know is not only a waste of your time, it serves no good purpose. Passing on or engaging in discussions that might impact the reputation of someone else is just wrong and something that you would not want others to engage in about you.

Perhaps this final bit of advice that I found about gossiping might be a good guide –

“How would your life be different if…You walked away from gossip and verbal defamation? Let today be the day…You speak only the good you know of other people and encourage others to do the same.”  ― Steve Maraboli, author of Life, the Truth, and Being Free

Make that choice today and be free. Have a great holiday weekend.

Leave a Comment » | Inspiration | Tagged: , , , | Permalink
Posted by Norm Werner

What to do if they won’t forgive you…

May 20, 2015

A follower of this blog wrote to me recently with this problem –

I read your words of wisdom faithfully. I have to ask how to handle issues when you’ve apologized and the people you apologize to don’t accept your apology. Does one keep trying or just give up? Family members choose to hold grudges, etc. Usually, the person apologizing doesn’t even know what they did wrong. Curious. Thanks much.

Well, I’m flattered that you consider my musings on various topics to be words of wisdom; however, I not a counselor; I’m just an observer of life who has experience with some things, who has opinions on some things and who just likes to write about lots of things.

angry coupleI have to start by saying that my life experiences lead me to disagree about your last full sentence. I suspect that the person apologizing knows exactly what it is that they did wrong or that caused the problem. Sometimes what they did to cause the consternation may be something that they don’t think of as being wrong; however it is perceived that way by others in the family. So go back and re-think what it was that caused the issue with others in the family. The issue of right and wrong is sometimes a matter of interpretation or perspective and quite often there is denial on the part of the party being accused of being wrong. Accept the fact that whatever was done was seen as “wrong” by others and then you can move towards an apology and forgiveness.

The other thing that experience tells me is that sometimes the people apologizing do so in such an off-hand or flip way that the apology itself is offensive, because it is not considered to be genuine. Saying something like “Oopsie, my bad” is not mentoringreally apologizing; it is trying to smooth over things with a flip statement. This may again grow out of the perception of the wrong-doer that what they did wasn’t really wrong. The young especially have a hard time with that, when the offense is the breaking of some parental rule that they think is arbitrary or unfair.  Remember that a wrong may be something that someone else perceives as wrong or an offense against them.

When dealing with something like this situation, you can actually use a variation of a technique that is taught in business schools for dealing with objections in a sales process. at least this might provide you with some structure for proceeding.

First, identify the issue. Don’t assume that you understand the issues involved, especially not from the perspective of the people who are offended or angry. So the first step is to clarify what it is that they are angry, hurt, disappointed or offended about. Have them tell you what they are angry about. Accept that, from their perspective, whatever you did was wrong.

The second step would be to re-phrase the issue back to the people who are angry and get their agreement that you do indeed understand their perspective on the issues.  Put into words what you think the offense was and see if those who are your accusers agree that you have identified the “wrong” that you have committed. While you’re at it, accept that it was wrong in their eyes. This may take a few iterations, because you may not understand their perspective at all in the beginning. This step also is worthless unless you finally admit that what you did was wrong at some level, especially to those who feel that they were wronged. You cannot move forward from the position of, “What I did wasn’t wrong.”

sad looking manThe third step would be to express a heartfelt apology for the actions of yours that caused their reaction. You might also want to express what you learned from the experience and indicate what you will do to make sure that you don’t make the same mistake again. Perhaps you might even have to outline a plan of restitution, if your actions caused real damage or loss. This step is important for two reasons – it shows those who were upset that you are truly sorry and it provides you with the life-lesson knowledge about what was wrong and how not to repeat the mistake.

The final step is to test for acceptance of your apology and forgiveness of your offense. You may have to ask bluntly, “Can you forgive me?”  Some amount of time may have to pass before you actually get the acceptance and forgiveness that you are seeking; especially if what you did to cause this situation was really grievous. If you’ve done step three properly it will be hard to “hold a grudge”, but don’t expect everyone to just forget about it for quite some time.

One should never just give up on other people, especially family members. If the four steps above don’t work to bring
closure to your situation, perhaps you need to take the situation to a higher authority. Ask your family members to pray withpraying you about this and seek their forgiveness as you seek it from God. You know that at least one participant in that prayer is going to forgive you if you ask for it. If your family is not one that prays together, you can still seek forgiveness from God and ask also for His help with your family members. You need to get right with yourself and with God, before you can truly seek the peace with your family that you desire. Remember to start by admitting that you have done was wrong and ask for His forgiveness and help.

I hope this helps a bit with the situation that precipitated the question. Life is filled with missteps and wrongs that we do or that we perceive are done to us. Learning to deal with them in a way that brings closure and then moving on with life is an important step in the process of growing up. Knowing where to turn for the help that you need sometimes is important, too. Fortunately, that is an easier thing to figure out. He is always there when you need Him.

2 Comments | Inspiration | Tagged: , , , | Permalink
Posted by Norm Werner

Be a friend; be goofy with someone today… 

May 19, 2015

From the Jack’s Winning Words Blog – “I’ve learned that no matter how serious your life requires you to be, everyone needs a friend to act goofy with.”  (Andy Rooney)  Jack went on to write – I miss Andy and his “5 minutes” at the end of the 60 Minutes TV program.  I’ve read that he didn’t have many close friends.  He said you just need one…to act goofy with.  I’ve got a few like that, and maybe you have, too.  I wonder if the Queen of England has a friend to act goofy with?  What does it mean to have a friend? 

pillow fightI’ve written here before about the need every now and then to be a little goofy, maybe to make a face at yourself  in the mirror, just to lighten the mood. It’s also great to have someone with whom you feel so comfortable that you can be goofy together. Many of us have buddies – golfing buddies or fishing buddies or maybe buddies that we play cards with – but there are usually only a very few (if any) friends that we feel safe and secure enough around to be goofy with them.

Being goofy with someone is about temporarily letting go of the control that we exercise when around others and just having fun in the moment. It isn’t about getting drunk or high with a friend; although many people do goofy things (maybe dumb is a better term) when they are drunk or high. Being goofy with a friend may be about laughing uncontrollably or pretending to be someone or something else or maybe just making funny faces to each other. Being goofy with a friend is about saying,”I trust you and our relationship enough to not hold back.”

Do you have a friend or friends that you can be goofy with?  Have you ever been goofy with a friend of yours? How did that make you feel? Did you feel the release of that moment of not having to hold things in and act like others expect you to act? Sometimes, being able to be goofy with as friend feels better than achieving some goal at work or getting praisegoofy freinds for some act of kindness or charity. While those feel great too, they are things that happen in your life within the context of you acting out your role as an adult. Being able to be goofy with a friend lets you return for that moment to the joys of childhood before you became burdened by the expectations of others.

So, find that BFF of yours that you can be goofy with and go have some fun today. Maybe you can just call them and the two of you can get goofy over the phone, reminiscing about the last time that you got together and got goofy about something. It will lighten up both of your days. Be goofy with someone today.

1 Comment | Inspiration | Tagged: , , , | Permalink
Posted by Norm Werner

Someone is waiting to talk to you today…

May 17, 2015

“Somewhere, something incredible is waiting to be known.”  (Carl Sagan) – I saw that little saying some time ago on the Jack’s Winning Words blog and filed it away for future comments.

saganSagan is one of the great scientific minds of our time and he is certainly right about great things waiting to be known.  Just in my lifetime some many great things have been discovered or done that there would not be enough room to list them here. The pace of discovery has picked up too, as seemingly the more that was discovered the wider the frontiers for even more discoveries. Sometimes I wonder, what took them so long to make the connections between one thing and another in order to see even more things that were hitherto unknown. Sometimes it’s the development of instruments or tools that hold up discovery for a while, but many times it is just man’s inability to see beyond the obvious or the current and to look for something new just beyond what is currently known.

I think the same little phrase could be easily modified to read, “Somewhere someone incredible is waiting to be known.”  Don’t you often wonder, “ I wonder what their story is?”;  as you pass by someone, maybe someone with an unique look or perhaps an intriguing “air” about them. Haven’t you ever seen someone across the room at a party or gathering and wonder who they are and what their story is, what they do, where they came from and where they’re going? Maybe you’ve overheard someone talking about living overseas and wondered how that must have been. Perhaps you’ve listeninglistened to a speaker and thought about what they must have gone through to get to this point in their life.  There are all examples of incredible people who are waiting to be discovered.

While our lives all march forward with time they do not do so in parallel; rather they come and go from all sorts of angles, intersecting our lives for a moment and then disappearing off in their own direction. What makes life really interesting is those few moments of intersection when we can share experiences and knowledge with each other. Many people think their lives to be uninteresting or even boring; but, most have actually done or seen or experienced things that others may not have, so they do have something to share. The problem is that none of take enough time during those moments of intersection with others to really get to know them and let them know you. Admittedly, a chance meeting at a gathering is unlikely to be that opportunity; however, we do get more than that with many people in our lives. How often do we actually explore their lives and share ours?

I wrote recently about conceit and perhaps it is that which tends to drive us to focus upon ourselves, rather than to blah blahexplore what the other person has to offer. If you spend the entire time with with someone them telling them about your trip to the grocery store or the little league game, they may not have time to tell you their story about going to tiger Stadium and meeting Justine Verlander. If you care more about relating your story of your last vacation to Disney World, you may miss their story about meeting the Pope in Rome. Maybe your child’s latest bout with pink eye is more important than finding out from a woman that you meet that her mother went to school with your mother and that her mother almost married your dad; but, you’ll never know that because you never got around to listening to their story.

Then there are the stories of the people that we avoid. The homeless man sleeping in the doorway may have been a successful businessman and a family man – how did he get here? The bag lady pushing the grocery cart down the street wasn’t born on the street. How did she get here? Does she have a family somewhere? What does she need to get back on her feet? How will you ever know if you don’t ask? There are so many people whom we might meet with stories that might help us better understand different perspectives on life, if only we engaged with them in conversations. It is so much easier to sit back and condemn people who pursue the GLBT lifestyle than to engage them in meaningful conversations that might help us better understand. It is also easy to dismiss and avoid those of different faiths that we do not understand, rather than seeking an understanding of their view of God and the influence of faith and religion on their lives.

Don’t you think that the Good Samaritan in the Bible story probably talked with the man that he helped on the road that day and even listened to his story; or do you believe that he just threw a few Shekels at the inn keeper that he took thatGood Samatitan
man to and told him to take care of the robbery victim. Using charitable giving is sometimes so convenient because we don’t have to take the time to actually meet the poor people that our money is supposedly helping.  Just dump a buck or two in the can of the poor guy sitting on the sidewalk, but try not to make eye contact. His sign says that he’s a homeless Vet; did it ever occur to you to ask how the hell he got there after serving his country?

Somewhere someone incredible is waiting to be known; but you’ll have to look them in the eye and listen to their story. Maybe someone will take interest in you long enough to listen to your story. We will all get there someday – to that place where we are hoping that someone wants to take the time to talk to us and listen to our story. Be that someone for someone else today.

Leave a Comment » | Inspiration | Tagged: , , , | Permalink
Posted by Norm Werner

Beware of conceit…

May 16, 2015

“Talent is God given. Be humble. Fame is man-given. Be grateful. Conceit is self-given. Be careful.” – John Wooden

Wooden’s advice certainly applied to athletes, especially those with enough God-given talent to progress on to the highest levels in sports. It also applies to people in the entertainment business and to life in general. Most of us will never achieve fame, but that’s doesn’t mean that we cannot become conceited.

world revolves around meConceit is defined as excessive pride in oneself, synonyms – vanity, narcissism, egotism, self-admiration, self-regard; pride, arrogance, hubris, self-importance; self-satisfaction

I actually think that some of those suggested synonyms are OK, so long as they are not taken to excess. I would encourage people to have pride and hopefully find self-satisfaction in the things that they do in life, especially the good things that they may do for others. Often the self-satisfaction that one may feel is the only thanks that they get for their actions and hopefully they continue to find that to be enough. I’ve also written that you most love yourself before you are capable of truly loving others. In that regard synonyms like self-regard and self-admiration in appropriately moderate amounts would see also to be good.

kissing mirrorThere’s no way to spin vanity, narcissism or egotism in a positive light; those are always wrong in almost any amount. Those may also be the most common that we encounter in everyday life with non-celebrities, especially in the business world. We have a little saying in business about people like that – they are legends in their own minds. Of course there were other things that we called them, too; but I won’t repeat them here.  The people in business who attracted attention for such behavior were almost always in management or leadership roles and they almost always eventually failed, many times because they just couldn’t live up to their own hype. Remember the guy who claimed to be the smartest person in the room? He ended up with his own little room in a Federal prison.

I recently saw a little feature piece on a NASCAR driver whom everybody loves because he has remained so humble and so down-to-earth. He signs autographs for everyone, does all of the interviews that he’s asked to do, gives of his time to worthy causes and is beloved by his fellow competitors.  You find examples like that in every sport and when they do any kind of in-depth story on those people you almost always find that they had a great upbringing by a mother or family who instilled in them the messages of John Wooden’s first four sentences above. These are people who don’t have a “posse” of hangers-on following them around telling them how great they are. They are usually also people who understand the frail and temporary nature of fame and of any fortunes that they may have now.  You probably won’t hear of them having to sell off their memorabilia later in life.

The thing about conceit is that it holds itself up as a mirror right in front of you, so that all you see is yourself. You get so focused on yourself in that mirror that the other things in life, many of them important, fall out of sight. Once you begin to post your own press clipping up on that mirror and start to believe them, you lose the ability to see all of the things that you aren’t doing.

When you become so focused on the “I” and “me” in your life the “you” and “we” that you may have had with a loved onealone at sunset begin to fade away. Once your fleeting moment in the spotlight is through you will discover that having room for only  “I” and “me” makes for a lonely life. More than a few once-great athletes can testify to how quickly the adorning posse disappears once a career-ending injury has taken them out of the spotlight and the big-bucks contracts ended. Too many also discarded the wives and families that they had before they achieved that fame.

So be careful as coach Wooden said to avoid conceit. If you must surround yourself with people, try to make it ordinary people, maybe people who don’t know about or don’t care about whatever level of success in sports, entertainment, politics or business you have attained. There are people who really don’t care about all that; and, if you can find them and treat them like ordinary people, they’ll return the favor without asking for favors. If you start acting like you’re a big deal, the real friends in that group will call you out on it and hopefully embarrass you back to reality. I remember a scene from the movie Julius Cesare in which Cesare was in a triumphant parade into Rome, with adoring crowds calling him a god. Cesar had a man walking behind him whispering to him, “Remember that you are only a man.” Those who let conceit take over their lives would do well to hire a guy like that to walk around with them, instead of a posse.

celebrateSo, go out and use the talents that God gave you. More power to you. Achieve all of the success and fame that you deserve; just never stop deserving to be liked as a fellow human being. Remember where you came from; because when this ride is over, you may end up trying to get back there and that’s very hard to do over bridges that were torched by your own conceit.

Leave a Comment » | Inspiration | Tagged: , , , , , | Permalink
Posted by Norm Werner

Do you need to change before you go?

May 15, 2015

“A bad attitude is like a flat tire; you can’t go anywhere until you change it.”  (Guideposts)

Many times when we are going out, whether for diner or something else, we may feel the need to change clothes. Perhaps we get a little more informal, if we’ve been working in a suit all day, or maybe a little more formal, if we’ve been in jeans all day and we’re going to a nicer place or event.

bad attitudeSometimes it’s our attitudes that need changing. A tough day at work can result in you bringing home a grumpy or down disposition and perhaps being too abrupt with our family members. Sometimes a bad day that can result in incidents of road rage before you even get home. A recent incident involving road rage actually resulted in one of the participants being killed and the other party being convicted of murder. Those were both attitudes that needed to be changed before they got on the road.

Sometimes we wake up with a bad attitude – called getting out on the wrong side of the bed by many. Perhaps we are facing a day with something scheduled or expected during it that we dread – having to let someone go or maybe a break-up with someone; or perhaps we fear being let go that day. Whatever the cause, we really need to try to change our bad attitude before we proceed. There are things that we can’t change in life, but we can approach them with the outlook that we will get through whatever it is and that we will make the best out of it.

So, before you set out to whatever is ahead of you next, check your outfit and your attitude and see if either needs changing. You would just embarrass yourself if you showed up at a swanky event in your jeans and it can be just as embarrassing to realize later that you were acting like an ass at an event or with a family member, or whomever, becausemirror you had the wrong attitude on. You can actually see both in a mirror if you look. The clothes issue is perhaps more obvious; however, that scowl that you may see looking back at you is not appropriate attire either. No one wants to see you show up at the party in a Speedo or with a scowl on your face – both are embarrassing.

I have found that, if I stand there for a minute of two just looking in the mirror, I will eventually ask myself, “What’s that scowl all about? What are you mad at and why?” Then I might make a funny face at myself to break the mood. That usually works and helps me re-adjust my attitude.  I may get one of Red Nose Daythose red clown noses that will be used on Red Nose Day and keep it by the mirror for future attitude adjustments. I have a feeling that sticking on a red nose and standing there looking at yourself with it on will break just about any bad mood. Get one and try it.

One thing that most people are unaware of is how they look in their normal, relaxed state. It’s not that you really are scowling at the world, but rather that most people’s faces just naturally droop into what looks like a scowl. So, you may have to be more conscious about trying to smile and look friendly to those whom you encounter. People may initially wonder what you’re smiling about, but that’s better than them trying to avoid you because you look so unhappy. People will actually ask, “What’s got you looking so happy?” If you answer, “The thought of meeting (or talking to) you”; you will be off to a great start with them and have a great attitude at the same time.

Have a great weekend and start it off right by checking your attitude and making adjustments as needed. And, if youbad attitude cartoon
should happen to see someone who obviously has a bad attitude, see if there’s anything that you can do to help them change, too. Perhaps just being around you will be enough, like Kevin Spear showed in this cartoon. It’s better to glow than to glower.

Leave a Comment » | Inspiration | Tagged: , , , | Permalink
Posted by Norm Werner

The search for truth…

May 14, 2015

From the Jack’s Winning Words blog – “Most people really don’t want the truth.  They just want constant reassurance that what they believe is the truth.”  (Collective Evolution)  Jack went on to write – Plato (428 BCE), seek-truthfamous philosopher and teacher, was also a funny guy.  He’s the one who said, “I’m trying to think.  Don’t confuse me with the facts.”  He was joking, of course.  In life, we are continually asked to test the sources for our beliefs.  Don’t be afraid to examine the “facts” during your search for truth.    😉  Jack

That saying goes well with another that I also picked off Jack’s blog – “If you would be a real seeker after truth, it is necessary that at least once in your life you doubt.”  (Rene Descartes)

The dictionary defines truth as:

– the quality or state of being true.

“he had to accept the truth of her accusation”

– that which is true or in accordance with fact or reality.

noun: the truth

“tell me the truth”

-a fact or belief that is accepted as true.

plural noun: truths

“the emergence of scientific truths”

So it looks like the opening statement was the true after all – it’s all about what people want to believe. Some peoplesearching believe that all of what they saw and heard during the moon landing in 1969 is the truth, but others believe that it was all a giant hoax and that the men never left the earth. Both groups embrace their views as “the truth.” It’s interesting, too, that all of the definitions rely on using the word true to define the truth; and some of the definitions for true also point back to beliefs.

In our everyday lives I think most people believe much of what they hear from others and accept it as the truth; however, all of us have probably known people that we just didn’t believe. Maybe they earned that distrust by repeatedly lying about things or maybe they just came across as being a bit shady, so we took everything that they said with a grain of salt. Whichever is the initial case, most people search for the truth. They are not content with just not knowing or not being sure. Maybe they are not searching for the truth so much as for that confirmation of their beliefs that we started with.

doubtBut what of Descartes’ advice? Was he advising that we doubt or beliefs in the search for truth? Yes and no. I think he was saying that one cannot go through life never questioning or doubting things that we might have been told are truths. If truth is based upon belief, then there are many truths in life than cannot be tested or proven; they just must be believed. Certainly religions have always relied on the continued acceptance and belief in things that cannot be proven.

The doubts that have cause schisms within religions seldom had to do with doubts about the basic beliefs, but rather about the dogma imposed over the top of those beliefs by men in power within the church. None of Martin Luther’s 95 theses called the faith that was the basis of the Catholic Church into question; rather he questioned the authority claimed by the Pope and the practices of the church of that day concerning the forgiveness of sins – the selling of indulgences

So the key to Descartes thought is to properly direct that doubt and not to let it degrade into cynicism. Use doubts to doubt your doubtsdiscard old ideas and beliefs that cannot stand inspection and to reinforce those that prove to be true after a closer look. Doubt not your faith, but perhaps those people and institutions that have codified and legislated the practice of that faith into dogma to meet their own needs.

Do you seek the truth in life or just go through life believing everything that you’ve been told is true? How do you act upon your doubts? Do you just let them gnaw away in the back of your mind or do you take some action to prove or disprove those feelings of doubt? Are your religious beliefs based upon a faith strong enough to be classified as a truth in your life? If so, do you share that truth with others through your words and deeds? Do they see that truth in you? If you live your faith then another saying will apply – “you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.”

Leave a Comment » | Inspiration | Tagged: , , , , | Permalink
Posted by Norm Werner

Be a rainbow today…

May 13, 2015

“Try to be the rainbow in someone’s cloud.”  (Maya Angelou) When I saw that recently on the Jack’s Winning Words blog, I knew that I had to write something about it.

Everybody has cloudy days, sad days, days of anxiety or fear, days of remorse or sorrow, perhaps just boring day; days caringwhen we could use a rainbow to cheer us up. We all also have the ability to be the person (the rainbow) who goes a little out of their ways to cheer up someone else who is having a bad day.

Some people have an almost automatic reflex to help other whom they see are in need; however, for many of us (I count myself in that number) that is not an immediate reaction. We hesitate, reluctant to “get involved.”  Maybe we mumble a few words of encouragement to them as we scurry past or perhaps we give them a quick hug, or utter a brief “I’m so sorry” and then hurry on with our day. We were polite. We were politically correct. We did our part; but we weren’t a rainbow in that person’s cloudy day.

Being a rainbow means actually taking the time to listen to the person having that cloudy day and paying attention. It girls huggingmeans asking that second question and maybe more, in order to better understand the issue that is causing the problem. It means holding on to that hug for a little longer or just reaching out and touching them in a way that says “I care.” It may mean opening up and sharing something from your life – a similar situation or one of equal seriousness to you and relating how you were able to deal with it. It may mean calling upon the Faith that you’ve spent your whole life developing and sharing it with this person. Hopefully, that Faith is the pot of gold at the end of your rainbow.

men huggingBeing a rainbow in someone’s life is yet another area where women seem to have the advantage over men. Women will run towards someone in emotional pain; while men might turn away and try not to get involved. Hugs (at least meaningful ones) don’t come easily for most men, especially if it’s for another man. Yet a fist bump or back slap doesn’t convey the same feelings. And most men hate to relate stories about times when they were down or needed help. They think that shows weakness. The essence of being a rainbow for somebody is being able to reach out from your soul and touch their soul. The rainbow doesn’t come from over there on the horizon, it comes from inside; it comes from the soul.

Pablo Neruda put it well when he wrote in The Book of Questions – “Donde termina el arco iris, en tu alma o en el horizonte?  – Where does the rainbow end, in your soul or on the horizon?”rainbow in between

Perhaps he would agree that if the rainbow actually starts in your soul and reaches out to touch the soul another; and, that is a beautiful thing. So, don’t add to the gloom of the day. Resolve to be the rainbow in someone’s life today. I suspect that just going about your day with an attitude that says “How can I help someone today?” will make your day better too.

Have a great and brightly colored day! I hope that we meet today, so that I can see how beautiful you can be.

Leave a Comment » | Inspiration | Tagged: , , , | Permalink
Posted by Norm Werner

It takes a strong man to urge compromise in the face of gridlock

May 12, 2015

I usually tune out most car ads, unless they are really catchy. The recent Cadillac ad caught my attention, but not in a good way. The current Cadillac ad uses the tag line, “It’s a weak man who urges compromise.” I think I understand what they were going for there – they’re talking really about not compromising on the car features or design; but, it doesn’t necessarily come across that way.

As it sounds on TV, the ad is actually offensive to anyone who sees compromise as the best way to get out of the current arguinggridlock that has governments and state and national levels effectively stalled. It is the weakness of being unable to compromise that has caused the great divide between the parties at all levels. It takes strength and conviction to do the right things sometimes. Those are character traits that are obviously lacking in our Michigan State government and which have been lacking at the Federal level for years.

In life there are seldom situations where some level of compromise is not required by some or all of the parties involved. As soon as the number of people involved reaches two or more there will be differences of interpretation or opinion on almost any topic. Some people like to hide behind words like “truth” or “facts” to defend their interpretation of things; but facts and truths are perceptions of reality and each person has their own perception of the world around them. What you present as a “fact” or as being undeniably “true”, I mightthe truth perceive as being a distortion of what I see in the same event. Just ask the various groups involved in the recent spate of police shootings what the facts are and the truth about those events. See what different realities there are in their answers.

So, if there are different perceptions of reality driving the decisions that are being made all of the time, how does anything get done?  Through compromise by all parties involved. I can’t see things the way that you do and you don’t know where I’m coming from; but perhaps if I give a little and you give a little we can reach a middle ground and get things done. If both of us refuse to take that step towards each other’s perceptions of things, gridlock occurs. That’s where both Lansing and Washington are at right now – a refusal by the politicians to move towards the middle in order to find enough common ground to get anything done.

At both the state and national levels the root problem is the same. For the most part, the people who are there are professional politicians and professional politicians are more concerned about getting reelected than about getting things done. Getting reelected means spending big money. The businessmen behind the scenes, who control the money, control the politicians by doling out the money; and, for the most part, doing nothing is what they would prefer. On occasion they may have their politicians go fight a war somewhere, if their business interests are at risk; but, the rest of the time gridlock works in their best interest by keeping the government from interfering too much in their business world. Let the common people grumble; just keep the politicians fat, dumb and happily running for reelection and all will be fine.

I recall the days when there was a spirit of compromise in Washington – the days when there were moderates in both parties who could reach across the aisle and forge solutions out of compromise. Those were the days before the litmus handshake2tests that all candidates must now pass to convince those in their party’s so-called “base” that they are conservative enough or liberal enough to deserve some of the support and money that will allow them to be elected (reelected).  There is no longer a place for a moderate Republican or for a conservative Democrat, so there is no longer a place for compromise. It’s sad, really; but eventually the pendulum will swing back towards the middle. That may not happen in my lifetime; but hopefully it will happen before the current political gridlock permanently and irrecoverably damages America. Wouldn’t it be sad to join the other nations that once had great power and respect around the world, only to be done in by their own inability to change with the times? It takes a strong nation to urge compromise sometimes. I hope that we still have that strength.

Leave a Comment » | Inspiration | Tagged: , | Permalink
Posted by Norm Werner

« Previous Entries
Next Entries »