Choosing

"When my friend Matilda lay dying of Lou Gehrig's disease, she said that she had been prepared all of her life to choose between good and evil. What no one had prepared her for, she lamented, was to choose between the good, the better and the best -- and yet this capacity turned out to be the one she most needed as she watched the sands of her life run out." Barbara Brown Taylor, p. 46, Leaving Church, A memoir of faith.

"Good is the enemy of GREAT" – according to Jim Collins.

Many (most?) of my choices seem to be made by default. I resist being responsible for my own circumstances, often preferring to be able to blame someone else for the predicament I'm in.

Leaving Church details Taylor's move away from preaching at a small town church to teaching at a nearby college. I'm jealous. The Georgia property she describes sounds beautiful (my ancestors once lived in Habersham County, GA). And I enjoyed teaching at the college level.

Pun-dering Teachers, Good and Bad.

Miriam Cohen's book, No Good in Art, celebrates good teachers. But it opens with a discouraging one, Jim's kindergarten art teacher, who was quick to criticize. Without her help Jim may never have known that his grass was too thick or that his people had no necks. By drawing her own images on Jim's paper our instructor instantly taught Jim that he was "no good in art." In contrast, the encourager who taught Jim's first grade class helped convince him that he might indeed, become an artist.

The system is filled with both kinds.

First graders aren't expected to have the maturity to handle authorities who squelch. But adults don't seem to be any better at handling such mistreatment.

Mouse Soup and other Tail Tales

Originally posted on Thursday, May 26, 2005

I said goodbye to my first graders today. The semester ends tomorrow and I expect to move away over the summer. So it was a bit sad for me. They remember me now. Know what to call me. But I've been doing this for several years and realize that in two or three years some of them won't remember me at all.

But for now, I have a sack full of thank you notes.

What did they remember? Some just said thanks for reading to us. One remembered that I was willing to listen to her "Knock Knock" Joke. A couple of kids liked seeing the picture of my grandson – which tied the number of kids who remembered the time I wore elf (or Vulcan) ears. Three (all boys) mentioned the Yu-gi-oh type cards I used last semester to show them that Yu-gi-oh is a math game. Four liked the riddles (usually spelled "rills"). Five remembered the popcorn I served when reading The Popcorn Book. And eleven mentioned a book called Mouse Soup.

I'm intrigued. Mouse Soup wasn't the last book I read them. Perhaps someone mentioned it to get them started remembering and that mention got multiple play in the thank you writing process? Or is Mouse Soup just that much more memorable? Why not Tales of Amanda Pig or Little Bear or my personal favorite, No Good in Art?

Just the two of us . . .

Tonight I've been checking to see how many others share my interest in books, movies and various other items listed in profiles. I'd guess that a statistician could gather a barnful in such a pursuit.

For instance, do any other old guys list No Good in Art? ANSWER: Nope. Just me and a young art teacher. This is a book I've read to several first grade classes. I love the affirmating nature of the new art teacher. I've got to admit that while I want to be affirming, my first reaction to almost anything is to point out the problems. I enjoy the ballerina's multiple images to demonstrate movement. And, hey, I like pizza.

Who else likes DAVE? Apparently, the LONE RANGER does. And almost 1,000 other folks. I tried political life as a school board member. I learned that I didn't like it. So why do I still think about running for office occasionally?

Does anyone else in the world even care about How I raised Myself from Failure to Success in Selling? ANSWER: Two dozen. The Southwestern Company introduced us the summer I sold bibles door to door. Have you ever heard of Carrollton, Georgia? That was my home for the summer. I learned all kinds of things from that experience. Frank Bettger's book is great. It is filled with practical advice from his own experience. I've been so impressed by this stuff that I've tried several sales jobs even though I've never had much success in that industry.

It's a Wonderful Life ranks higher than The Sound of Music. Both pull in over 12,000 folks. By contrast, Spiderman pulls in over 20,000 and Star Wars yanks over 75,000. I'd think that nearness in time would be a factor except for Star Wars being so much older than Spiderman. My connections to Spidey go back to the era of 12 cent comic books.

Maybe we could start a new fad, checking blogger profiles to see if we've listed interests that only one other person shares.

Grief

This post provides a place for folks to respond to my "GRIEF" page at u-l0-g.com.

I once encountered a chaplain-in-training who seemed to feel that it was his job to get folks to adhere to Elizabeth Kübler-Ross' stages of grief. People react in different ways. Kübler-Ross was trying to document the Western path through grief rather than identify new scientific rules and regulations.

See the link above for more.

PUNs

Since PUN is an essential part of my title, let me admit my partiality to this particular form of humor.

I understand that puns have been accused of being the "lowest" form of humor. So? Wouldn't that make them the most common form (ala the lowest or least common denominator)?

I've rejected making this a forum for them because I believe the "best" ones are generated in response to whatever is happening at the time. "You'd have had to be there." For me a groan about the horror of a particular pun is as good as – or better than – a laugh.

This title is intended as a play on words. I want to talk about the fundamentals of life - the essentials. For me, humor - or at least my brand of it - is an essential. It keeps one from being too serious about life. As a speaker, I'm well aware that humor has pitfalls but the absence of it is deadly.

Stories, etc.

I have a number of stories about people on my website: Telling YOUR Story.

Be sure to check out: "Real People" and "More Real People." These are actually portions of eulogies I've delivered when speaking at funerals. The site also includes "How to Write a Eulogy" in case you'd like a bit of guidance in that area.

Here's one of the stories:

Joy had a great deal to be thankful for. Her life was rich in the love of family and friends. I’ve been impressed by her son and daughter-in-law. Almost any afternoon at 4:30 or 5, I could find them visiting Joy at the nursing home. They took good care of her. I’m sure that many of the residents envied her for the love she received from family.

But Joy had also known plenty of sadness and pain. She had been a widow for almost 30 years. Her daughter preceded her in death. She’d had many surgical procedures and arthritis had crippled her so severely that she could no longer feed herself. In all this she had learned to be content. She always had a smile on her face – a BRIGHT smile at that.

I know that many of the nursing home residents complained about having to move to the new home. But I watched Joy go through all the rooms till she found one with twice as much closet space. That’s the one she claimed as her own.There are many in this town who aren’t nearly as crippled physically as Joy was, but are far more troubled. Joy didn’t allow her limitations to make her an invalid.