So awhile back, one of the guys I work with and I came up with an idea. We’d both been in management for some time and had struck up a conversation regarding our observations about what affected our employees and their work habits/attitude/ethic. At the last job I managed, the company had me come up in front of all my new employees and “say a few words”. Here’s what I said:
1. Always, and I mean without fail, carry a wine key, pen, paper, a lighter and at least $20 in small bills and coin. This will take you far in life.
2. I don’t care what you have to re-arrange in your schedule, before you come to work, listen to at least one full song of whatever it takes to put you in “that mood”.
Obviously, the second item is the one I’m focusing on here. As the conversation evolved, we decided it would be fascinating to do an organized study, based on observation, of what people were listening to, how it affected them, and how it affected those around them. Taking it a step farther, we would have everyone keep track of the music they were hearing, and once a week or so, we would burn a compilation of all their selections and distribute it among everyone, so that they could get a feel for what their peers were listening to. Sort of interesting, although it seems alot less cool now that I explain it in words. Anyway, we’d call it “The Boost”.
It seems like everytime I get to a point in life where I think I’m doing allright, God picks me up and drop-kicks me to the curb. I hate this pattern….extreme swings….mountains and valleys….is not there some equilibrium to be found? This blows.
I’ve been doing a lot of thinking about the idea of progression lately. Are we advancing as a society, a community, people in general, or are we simply re-discovering things that generations before us have experienced? It seems that every generation thinks that they are seeing things that no one else has ever seen, be it war, drugs, or the way kids are dressing and talking. It seems that in every generation, we lose most of what we would consider our history, and start from ground zero, totally having to learn on our own, instead of harvesting the rich crop of experience that has been laid down before us. We often lose sight of our heritage (not in the flag flying, red white & blue, e plurbus unum kinda way) and in that we run the risk of perpetuating our problems and shortcomings. We also face the possibility that we could succeed. I’m not sure which is scarier to me.
I was reading Second Peter this morning, and he lays out a progression. He starts with faith. Gotta have it. It’s foundational. At this juncture, it can still be misguided, but it has to be there. Once established, add goodness. Do what you believe to be the right thing. In faith. Then add knowledge. Become more informed as to what the right thing is. Add self-control so that you can be more effective, using calculated techniques and efforts to do the right thing. Throw in perseverance so that you can keep doing the right thing for longer periods of time.
Once you’re here, you’re doing the best thing you know how to do, for as long as you can possibly do it, with the faith that something good will come out of it. This is where I find myself most often. Just sort of blindly doing what I think to be the right thing. Then it’s interesting what the next step is. Add godliness. From the greek “eusebeia” which is simply talking about a reverence and respect for God. Now, you’re doing your best, in light of your respect for God, which really changes things. Now, we’re supposed to add brotherly kindness, the love that we as Chrsitians have for each other, and take everything else into consideration against that. Last, but not least, add love. The rounder, if you will. This adds completeness the mix. Can’t quite explain that yet. Anyway, what’s really intersting is this:
“If you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being inneffective and unproductive in your knowledge of Jesus Christ. But if anyone does not have them, he is nearsighted and blind, and has forgotton that he has been cleansed from his past sins.”
So, is there really progression? I think so. Can there really be true progress? Yes. In order to stay on track, I have to get that whole “increasing measure” thing down though. No stagnation. Constant progress.
I was the closing server at work tonight. You know when you get a table at 4 minutes to closing that it’s gonna be a long night….but I was not prepared for these particular people. I’d like to belive that as an experienced purveyor of food and drink, I would behave differently if I were to walk in to a place and knew they were in the act of locking their doors. Some things you just hope are common sense. Apparantly not. Things got really good when they asked me if we acccepted food stamps or the Oregon Trail Card. Then they broke up, complete with sobbing, ad naseum, and all hell was unleashed. It got ugly. Almost 2 hours later they asked if they were keeping me. As I stood there twiddling my thumbs, caught in the conflict of being honest, yet ever-considerate, something dawned on me. The best thing I could possibly do for these people would be to be honest with them. So I said that I was done with all my sidework and that when they left, I could go home. I was still nicer than I could have been.
As I sit in Coffee People on the corner of SW 6th avenue and Washington, I ponder what topic I will breach for my first blogging experience. It’s kinda scary, putting things out there for the whole world (wide web) to see. I just logged on to the Evergreen Forum and read the blog post and it seems almost like I’m just hopping on the bandwagon now, which is not at all acurate, since I logged on to have my own blog before I read the post. Anyway, I work way too much to keep this up, so entries will probably be few and far between. This is actually not as scary as I thought it would be. It’s actually very calming. Sort of like talking in really slow motion. Well, at least it is if you say the word in your head as you type it. I do that. The girl sitting next to me in CP with headphones on keeps trying to look over at my screen. Maybe if she reads that I’m typing about her, she’ll stop looking. Nope, still looking. I don’t like that.
I had the opportunity to spend a day and a half in Walla Walla last weekend doing wine tasting. It was amazing. If you like wine, here’s some of the standouts we tasted:
Spring Valley Vineyard’s Uriah and Frederick
L’Ecole Vineyard’s Apogee and Perigee
Woodward Canyon’s Old Vines and Artist series
K Vintner’s The Boy
After we tasted all day on Saturday, I spent Sunday morning playing 18 holes of golf. I’m terrible at golf. Really bad. It was almost as frustrating as it was enjoyable. Especially since we joined with another twosome and I got my butt handed to me by a 13 year-old boy. He asked me what my handicap was (I had no idea what that meant) and found it amusing when I replied with “golf, apparently”. This is something that I would love to do more regularly. If you golf often, and you’re really bad, call me next time and we’ll hack together.
Do you ever get a really obnoxious muscle twitch that you can’t stop? I’ve got one right now in my hand, and it’s really impeding my typing. Girl with headphones is still reading my screen. At least it appears that my life interests someone. Hoo-ray. Apparently it’s contaigious, this looking-at-someone-else’s-screen disease. I just found myself glancing back at hers between sentences. Shame on me.
I’m finally taking time to read Sun Tzu’s Art of War. Fascinating stuff, really, and a quick read at that. Highly reccomended. It reads like hundreds of little fortune cookies about life and strategies of leadership. I notice many paralells to certain communities that I call myself apart of.
I have now blogged.
