Good Thursday Morning!
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Question – How do you wish to be remembered?
2. Thought – I do not want to be remembered as a
statesman. First of all, I do not classify myself as a
statesman. I put myself down as determined, consistent,
persistent. I set out to do something. I keep on chasing
it until it succeeds. That is all….Anybody who
thinks he is a statesman needs to see a psychiatrist.
I do not think I can decide how I will be remembered. I
live my life in accordance to what I think is worth doing.
I never wanted to be in politics. I wanted to be a lawyer
and make a good living, to be a good advocate, but I was
thrown into it as a result of all these political
earthquakes that took place. So I was saddled with
responsibility, and I just have to be responsible to get
the place going….All I can do is make sure that when
I leave, the institutions are good, sound, clean,
efficient, and there is a government in place which knows
what it has got to do and is looking for a successive
government of quality.
I am not saying that everything I did was right, but
everything I did was for an honorable purpose. I had to do
some nasty things, locking fellows up with trail. Close
the coffin, then decide. Then you assess me. I may still
do something foolish before the lid is closed on me. (Lee
Kuan Yew)
“Presidents do not get reelected if they give a
hard dose of medicine to their people. So, there is a
tendency to procrastinate, to postpone unpopular
policies in order to win elections. So, problems such
as budget deficits, debt, and high unemployment have
been carried forward from one administration to the
next.”
(Lee Kuan Yew)
Thank you Doc! Great book!
AND: Aloha Rem, I coached over sixty teams over the past
18 years and I am a true supporter of the message below by
Mr. Harrison. When we grew up in the 70’s and 80’s the
league would provide trophies to the Champions of each
division. It was a SYMBOL of ACCOMPLISHMENT/ACHIEVEMENT.
We have lost sight on the meaning behind rewards… we set
the bar higher back then and to receive a trophy for
Championship had true meaning…now we are desensitized to
the importance of this symbol where the attitude amongst
many is that “everyone is a winner”. That is a fantasy
and this world is competitive and there is truly only one
winner when it is all said and done! I always told the
parents of the baseball and basketball teams I coached
that we will not have trophies provided to the players,
UNLESS we were the CHAMPIONS in our league. Nuff Said.
AND: Great topic….it’s getting a fair amount
of media buzz in our area.
Just as I don’t let the Beef Council dictate how
much beef is good in my life, I don’t think
I’d let the Trophy and Awards Businesses tell me
what’s good for my kids. A team photo, a team
shirt, even a team coin are different than a Team
Participation Trophy. Why does the Trophy biz feel that
mimicking the champions award is okay or even suitable?
Perhaps they like selling Trophies–even ones with
minimal margins.
I say let’s let James Harrison raise his kids and be
the parent he envisions. Yes, he could have handled this
differently–perhaps privately would have been
better.
The one piece of reporting that sticks in my brain was
CNN. The morning lady was reporting this
story–rolling her eyes and such–and then she
brought in an “expert” to discuss the topic
with. The conclusion, the last statement made on air
regarding this story was the sarcastic reply that Harrison
won’t be in contention for Father of the Year. Wow.
No doubt there are Baby Boomers who grew up feeling under
appreciated…feeling like they weren’t part of
a team…feeling they had given their all yet fell
short of the ultimate goal and thus their efforts were
futile. Their pain was/is real and they never want their
kids to experience it. And suddenly the Participation
Trophy was born. Sometimes I think its not about the kids
pain and its more about the parents pain. Kids do know
the difference in winning and losing…and for the
vast majority of youngsters that I have observed, their
“pain” of falling short of the goal fades
about the time the team rolls into the local pizza joint,
yet the parents continue to worry about reactions.
Lets let Mr Harrison raise his boys.
AND: I disagree with the trophy store owner. The look on
a child’s face being priceless for receiving a
participation trophy is just the wrong justification for
giving the trophy. Such a trophy discourages
competition. If parents want to see that look on a
child’s face, they can take the child to his
favorite toy store or such or restaurant or playground and
let him pick out something as a reward for being part of
the team through all the practices and games. But the
competition side needs to remain pure…winner gets
the trophy, etc. If I didn’t think I would gain
something for striving to do well in school, I never would
have put in the extra effort. Even though I earned only a
couple awards, the result was I learned more and even
learned to comprehend and problem solve…a far
greater reward than a trophy. That wouldn’t have
resulted in the developmental stages of my youth if I was
rewarded for doing simple things. People are failing to
understand today that children grow through different
developmental stages in which certain milestones must be
present and pursued/encouraged. Failure to go through or
complete each stage results in an adult with
social/private issues he or she will struggle through the
rest of his/her life. Issues that truly will never be
resolved because of the missed oportunities to develop the
brain at the appropriate ages. I don’t care what
psychologists want to spin…we are seeing the result
of this among the adult citizens across the
USA…especially among entitled either by poverty via
welfare or by wealth. Entitlement kills the desire for
mature healthy development. Trophy store owners need to
stick to just making products available instead of
interfering with childhood development by pushing
sentimental justification to sell more products.
AND: Something given is not something earned. We have
managed to cloud the difference which has resulted in a
significant loss of the strive for excellence attitude. We
see this every day by the that’s good enough
attitude. It is never good enough and one should be taught
to never quit. Yes these are hard lessons that have
largely been forgotten or cast aside because its just too
damn hard. Look at today’s society in America.
Teach the children to strive for greatness yes they will
fail, there are lessons in this. Self esteem is what it
says, self. Striving for excellence builds self esteem,
receiving a trophy for showing up leads to a lackadaisical
view of life and work. Actions exhibit the winners and
losers, not trophies given for showing up.
AND: Rem,
When we were kids the Seltest ice cream guy stopped by the
house & wanted to give my dad 6 ½ gallon cartons of
Ice Cream because he got the milk contract for the school
district ( dad was on the school board) . My dad told him
to take the ice cream back to his truck, he got the
contract because he was low bid & not because of him.
We were puzzled , free ice cream come on dad ( we had six
boys in the family & didn’t get ice cream often). My
dad look at us and said you get what you earn not what
people give you. We had yard work chores that week end
& on Sunday after church our dad took us for ice cream
& said you boys earned it, enjoy.
Memories of growing up in a blue collar family,
rem – know the why or lose the way!
Question & Thought & ANDs.
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