Aging Capriciously

Sister G. as we both fondly and sometimes fearfully called her was one of those classic Catholic nuns that all of the musicals are written about. If ever there was an icon of the stern knuckle rapping nun, Sister G was it’s embodiment. She knew how to be tough and stern and unbending, but she also knew how and more importantly when to be kind, compassionate and forgiving. I worked for Sister G. at Guadalupe Area Project from 1979 to 1980 as a full time high school teacher. Don’t ask me what I taught because at the Project, you had to be willing to teach anything anytime. Education was more about character development than it was about rote learning. I also taught some citizen classes in the evening for adults in the community who wanted to gain their citizenship status. Despite our school being called the “Drop Out School” it was inspiring working there. I worked with about 12 other very dedicated teachers. We were paid about ½ the scale of a public school teacher but we did not care because we felt we were being called to a higher purpose. For me, the higher purpose was working for Sister G.

Sister Giovanni Gourhan, SSND, (1914-1990) of the School Sisters of Notre Dame, arrived in St. Paul in 1961 where she encountered many Latino teens performing poorly in school and eventually dropping out. In 1964, she began a summer school program for Latino youth, which evolved into Guadalupe Alternative School in 1967 to reach students that traditional high schools would not accept. “She singled out poverty as the villain and challenged the church and the community to work together to ease the burden.” -Helen Kock. The school was located in an area known as West Side Side Paul and had a large immigrant Mexican population.

I had finished my Master’s Degree in Guidance and Counseling from the University of Wisconsin in 1979 and was looking for a counseling position either with a school or with an employment office. I had an undergraduate degree in education but was not really interested in teaching. I had done that for about a year before going back to my MS program and did not want the low pay, high stress and work load. I received a call about a counseling position and setup a meeting with Sister Giovanni at GAP (Guadalupe Area Project). This was pre computer so I did not do any background research and walked in knowing little about Sister G or the school. We met and she said she was looking for a teacher. I was immediately thinking and said “Well, I thought you were contacting me about a counseling position.” She said: “Oh, don’t worry; you will do lots of counseling with these students.” I said “Well, I am sorry Sister but I am not a practicing Catholic, in fact, I am an Atheist.” She looked at me and without batting an eyelash, she said: “I don’t care what your religion is as long as you are a good teacher.” The longer I talked to Sister G, the more I wanted to teach at GAP. I remember taking the position and never even discussing salary. As a matter of fact, salary was never even important to me while I was there.

Years later at Sister G’s funeral in 1990, I never cried so hard in my entire life. She was one of the greatest people I have ever known. Her good friend Sister Anna Louise Wilson (1929-2008) taught at GAP for over 30 years and worked very closely with Sister G. Just before Sister Anna found out she did not have long to live she said: “I am not worried – I have God, my Guardian Angel and Giovanni.” When Sister G was dying she told Sister Anna, “You take care of things down here and I will take care of things up there.” That was a covenant that was more than lived up to by both women. Sister Giovanni was a mover and a shaker. She did not let the Mayor or the Governor stop her from accomplishing her goal of making the lives of poor people in St. Paul easier. Not only were they at her funeral but also at least one US Senator was there. Sister G. would have noted the irony since they often did all they could to avoid her while she was living. She was one of the major voices for the West Side St. Paul and they were frequently at odds with Sister G. who wanted better living conditions for residents.

Sister G. was another one of those people who I think defied time by not allowing herself to be hemmed in by the strictures of her time. A woman in politics in the 60’s, a woman entrepreneur, and a woman who would challenge the male bastions of power was not a typical role. In the early sixties, a woman’s place was still largely in the home and many men, especially those in power did not take kindly being told what to do by a woman, much less a school nun. Sister G fought the power structure of St. Paul for funding, building permits, licenses and many other changes that would enable structures to help alleviate the poverty she found on the West Side. While many schools today in places like Arizona and the Southwest are downplaying the cultural heritage of immigrants, Sister Giovanni had classes in Mexican history and Spanish. She did not want the Latino community to lose its unique cultural heritage. Sister Giovanni was a very progressive thinker and we did many programs that would not have been tolerated in the Public School system.

As a manager and leader, Sister Giovanni was into the “Servant Leadership” model long before the term was even popular. Sister G. did not feel that we worked for her or that the students worked for her. She was there to support both her students and the teachers and staff at her school. She would not tolerate rudeness or lack of manners and she expected respect to be a two way street between teachers and students. She more than modeled the practices of Servant Leadership. She taught everyone what it meant to be a Servant Leader. Many managers today still think their employees work for them rather than the other way around.

Well, Sister G is the last of the five people I wanted to profile this week that I felt could fit under my rubric of defying time. Sister G. defied time and the establishment to create a more just world for all. She stood up for what she believed in and worked to be a leader who would bring more education to those whom the traditional education system had tossed out. She was a progressive with new ideas on education and she believed that curriculums needed to serve people and not the other way around. As you go about your day today, ask yourself what do you think needs changing? Are you willing to fight for these changes? Do you think these things will change by themselves? Are you willing to break with tradition and to find ways to change the rules? Why not?

Dr. W. Edwards Deming has been called the Father of Quality and the guru who started the quality revolution in Japan which changed the world of business. Deming was born in 1900 and died in 1993. He was brought to Japan by General Douglas MacArthur to help rebuild the Japanese infrastructure after WW II. He was so successful working with the Japanese that the highest award for quality in Japan was named in his honor. It was called the Deming Prize and is the most sought after award in Japanese industry. After helping Japan, Dr. Deming lived in relative obscurity in Washington, DC., until a TV special called “If Japan Can, Why Can’t We” helped to rediscover Dr. Deming and start a quality revolution in the USA in the early 1980’s.

I became part of that quality revolution when I was hired in 1986 by Process Management Institute as an Organization Development Consultant to help implement the Deming way of management into organizations. Dr. Deming started conducting these all day and often late evening conferences on quality when he was in his 80’s as a result of demand by American Management for learning about quality. His conferences ran 4 full days. Dr. Deming was 93 when he conducted his last conference which was about 6 months before he became too ill to conduct them anymore. Dr. Deming was usually on the podium for most of his conference. Needless to say, Dr. Deming never retired. Have you ever been on a stage for 8 hours? Can you imagine doing this for 4 days straight? Now think of doing this when you are in your 90’s.

I first met Deming when I volunteered to help at one of his 4 day quality conferences. In his irascible way, he proceeded to tell me that the Ph.D. that I had just spent 5 years of my life and over $60,000 dollars on was a waste of time. Needless to say, I did not see eye to eye with him on this point. It took me over 4 years of working with Dr. Deming and his ideas to realize that he was at least 90% percent right. Most of what I was taught in the University and most of what they still teach in most universities about business is wrong. I would occasionally bring PMI clients to visit with Dr. Deming at his home in D.C. for what you might call open chat sessions. We would visit and then go to lunch or dinner with Dr. Deming usually at his Cosmos Club where he was a member. Dr. Deming drove an older large 4 door white Lincoln for many years until he could not safely drive anymore. It was one of those classic Lincolns with the suicide doors.

Dr. Deming’s method revolved around a trilogy that included process understanding, data analysis and customer focus. However, Dr. Deming always believed that quality was not tangible since the most important part of quality was an attitude. You either strive for never ending improvement or you do not. The determining factor is your belief system. You either accept that the goal of business is never ending improvement or you subscribe to the more common USA attitude of “it’s good enough.” Dr. Deming believed that the typical attitude was a prescription for failure and obsolescence. Thus, the more difficult part of our consulting at PMI was not in teaching statistics or process analysis but in helping to change management attitudes from the old thinking of meeting goals and quotas to the new thinking that went beyond goals and quotas to never ending improvement and innovation.

As I reflect on the work that we did at PMI, the teachings of Dr. Deming which still guide every iota of my business consulting and the state of American business today, I see a mixed bag of success. Dr. Deming would probably laugh and say “You expected instant pudding.” Yes, I did expect that with the logic that impelled the changes needed by America to regain a quality edge against Japan that the wake-up call would have been absorbed by American management. Sadly, most business schools adopted quality curriculum based on process improvement and statistics but they missed the essence of the quality philosophy that Dr. Deming tried to teach. The business textbooks are still full of bad instruction and fallacies that would make Dr. Deming furious for the stupidity therein. Dr. Deming’s 14 points for management remain a staple and bedrock for anyone wishing to change their fundamental thinking about how an organization should be managed. I daresay it will be 200 more years before his ideas have been assimilated. Unless of course, American organizations retreat backwards to the days of Frederic Taylor and what might be called “adversarial management.”  In that case, it may be a thousand years before we finally change our paradigms.

Dr. Deming defied time not only because of his continued longevity but more importantly because he defied the current thinking of his time. People laughed at Japanese quality for years and buying anything from Japan was often a joke. Dr. Deming counseled the Japanese to be patient. He told them in the 1950’s that if they continued on his path, in 20 years they would exceed the world in quality and capture markets in every industry where they applied his principles and ideas. Dr. Deming’s prescriptions for Japan bore fruit even faster than he had predicted.

Think of the vision, the wisdom and the patience that Dr. Deming was counseling. Think of working for twenty years on a foundation of faith and hope. I can constantly hear Dr. Deming saying: “There is no instant pudding.” Nevertheless, perhaps more than ever our culture wants everything overnight. We spent thirty years working ourselves into a large debt crisis and then most Americans expected Obama to bring us back to prosperity in his first 4 years in office. This is a classic example of instant pudding.

Are you willing to dedicate twenty year of your life or more to something you believe in? Do you expect instant pudding? Are you willing to challenge conventional thinking when you believe differently? Do you control your attitude or do you let others control it for you? What does it mean to you when someone says “think for yourself?” Dr. Deming used to say “survival is not compulsory.” Can we become great again with old style thinking? What will it take to really change our colleges and universities so they can truly fulfill the vision that Dr. Deming had for business and the world?

Imagine an 89 year old mountain and rock climber. Imagine a man who started climbing when he was 14 years old and taught himself most of what he knows. Imagine a man who has made more first ascents in history than any other climber. Imagine a man born in 1923 who was still climbing in 2011. Imagine a man who not only climbs like a genius but has written some of the most authoritative guides to climbing in history. If you can imagine this man, there is only one person on the face of the earth who fits the definition. His name is Fred Beckey. Some people think he must be a god because of his long record of survival despite tackling some of the most difficult ascents in the world.

Fred was not the scion of wealthy parents. Fred did not grow up in the middle of the Alps or Himalayas. Fred was not a Harvard educated man with too much time on his hands. Fred has never had a part in any “major” expeditions to climb the top peaks of the world nor does Fred make his living by financing would be climbers on exotically high priced expeditions to climb Mt Fuji or any other mountain. Fred leaves the business or commercial aspect of mountaineering to those who have since given up on any real climbing. Fred finances his climbs by working to support his climbing. Fred has had one passion in life and that has been climbing. He climbs solo. He climbs with friends or experienced climbing partners but he does not climb for glory, fame, fortune or to make movies. Now that he has been climbing successfully for over 70 years, fame is being thrust upon him but no one can ever say that Fred sought it. The only thing Fred has sought, besides sometimes chasing women, is the top of some peak that has not been scaled before.

“Fred Beckey has achieved enduring recognition as the most imaginative, persistent, and thorough explorer and mountain investigator of the Cascade Range Wilderness. He was noted as “one of America’s most colorful and eccentric mountaineers,” and is unofficially recognized as the all-time world-record holder for the number of first ascents credited to one man. In addition to being the author of the Cascade Alpine Guide series, Beckey is also the author of Mountains of North America, The Range of Glaciers: Exploration and Survey of the North Cascades, and a personal narrative, Challenge of the North Cascades.” –Mountaineers Books

I won’t bore you with the long list of Fred’s climbing accomplishments or books he has written. Instead I am including a link to a film that is being made about Fred. This short excerpt allows you to listen to Fred himself and to hear in his own words his passion for climbing. It is also remarkable watching an 80 + year old man climb the way he does. It would challenge anyone a third of his age. There are many more videos on Mr. Beckey and they are worth watching if you really want to be inspired.

http://video.nytimes.com/video/2008/12/15/sports/golf/1194835655194/the-old-man-of-the-mountains.html

So you may be asking “well, ok, but so what.” What does this have to do with defying time? I hope the answer is self-evident but just in case it is not. Let me explain what Fred means to me. First of all, Fred is not some freak or some deviant of nature. Fred has watched his health and kept active. Fred takes risks all right but Fred is one of the safest and most careful climbers who ever lived. Fred takes calculated risks with his time. You cannot live a satisfactory life without taking risks. You cannot get up in the morning and spend your day avoiding getting hurt. As Shakespeare in his play Julius Caesar said “Cowards die many times before their deaths but heroes die only once.” I have known people who will not fly because it is too dangerous. When I went to Israel, Peru and recently Mexico on vacations and sightseeing trips, I had been warned that it was too dangerous. I have been in Washington D.C. on a business trip and been given a “red zone” card by the hotel I stayed at and told to stay out of these areas. I am not a brave person. I would like to live a long and healthy life. However, I don’t see it happening by staying in bed and avoiding risk. People like Fred and Connie (whom I wrote about yesterday) are living life. It is one thing to be alive; it is another thing to be living.

You cannot really be living if you are afraid of life. I don’t think you can be really living if you are not pursuing your passion in life. You are certainly not living if you work at a job where you hate Mondays and you watch the minutes pass in slow motion until quitting time. Imagine doing this for 40 years. Do it and you will have sacrificed living for making money. We all have to make a living by working but we can choose how much of our soul we give away to the world.

How many people do you know who are really living? Are you really living? Do you let your fears jeopardize what you would really like to do in life? What can you do to overcome the fears that hold you back? What if you did die climbing a mountain or jumping out of a plane? Would your friends say that you had really lived life to the fullest? What would it take for them to say this about you?

I first met Connie Douglas Reeves in a newspaper headline on August 21, 2003. It read “Woman 101 Years Old Thrown off of Her Horse Dies.” Now I had never heard of Connie Douglas Reeves and I would bet that most of you have not either. However, I was immediately struck by the fact of a 101 year old woman who died in such a remarkable manner. It is not often that 101 year old people are riding horses. I picked up the article (on the web) to read further and found one of the most interesting people I have ever known (at least through what I have read about her. I only wish I had met and known Connie in person). If ever there was anyone who has Defied Time, Connie was that person. A few facts about Ms. Reeves who was born on September 26, 1901:

• Oldest member of the National Cowgirl Hall of Fame.
• Obtained a Bachelor’s degree in Speech Communications in 1922
• One of the first women to study law at a Texas law school.
• Author: “I Married a Cowboy.”
• Taught over 30,000 girls to ride over 67 summers at a residency camp
• Motto: Always Saddle Your Own Horse

An article posted in the Floridian after her death had this to day about Connie:

“She wasn’t just teaching about riding, she was teaching about life,” said Clark, who learned to ride from Reeves. “She was teaching the girls you can be afraid of something like getting on a horse, or you can just go out and do it and get out there and ride that horse and know that you’re going to be okay. Even if you get bucked off. And she got bucked off every year.” (Sept 7, 2003)

She died in a hospital several days later from the injuries sustained from being thrown from her horse. Doctors were at first outraged that anyone would let a 101 year old woman get on a horse. They were quickly disabused of the idea that anyone would be able to “let” Connie do anything she did not choose to do. Connie was a woman who valued her independence and self-reliance as well as her responsibility to help other people.

Ms. Reeves was not a surveyor or observer of life. Ms. Reeves lived life to the fullest. She continued to be an engaged and active participant contributing to help build confidence and self-esteem in young girls. She found her passion in life early and stuck with it. I doubt Connie ever woke up and thought life was boring or uninteresting. I doubt she could not wait for Friday each week or that she often wished it were not Monday morning. I doubt she was counting her days until she could “retire.” I doubt she had any regrets over the work she had chosen as her profession.

What can we learn from Ms. Reeves, apart from the fact that you might live a great deal longer if you stay active and live a healthy and engaged life style? This latter fact alone should give most of us something to ponder. Speaking for myself, I have learned that a passion about life and living for that passion, whether riding horses, writing or playing music is key to making a contribution to the world. Napoleon Hill was famous for his speeches on success coming from providing value to the world. Connie was providing value by helping to build confidence and self-esteem in over 30,000 girls she taught during her lifetime. When we find our passion and use the talents that God has given us we are able to accomplish remarkable things. We benefit and the world benefit. It is a win-win. There is no paradox.

What are your talents? What do you wish you could do every day and get paid to do? What training or skills do you need to follow your passion? Are you thinking it is too late? Why? What if you knew you would live to 100, would you think about life differently? Perhaps you will if you live a life like Connie Douglas Reeves.

Defying Time: “Renowned astrophysicist Stephen Hawking to turn 70 Sunday despite being diagnosed with a crippling muscular disease when he was 21.” (January 6, 2012)

I saw the above headlines this weekend and along with many people who have known of the work of Dr. Hawking, I was stuck by the enormity of the accomplishments of the man in the face of what should have been the biggest barrier in the world to ever achieving anything. Dr. Hawking has Lou Gehrig’s disease and is a quadriplegic who lives in a wheelchair and cannot move his arms or legs or even speak. I thought of the comment by Ben Franklin that we should all either do something worth being written about or write about something worth being done. Dr. Hawking and his life surely merits worth being written about. However, it is somewhat coincidental that I was thinking about two other “elderly” people who also merit attention. With this headline in mind, Defying Time, I have decided to write a series this week about people who have defied time. I will start with Dr. Hawking and each day this week I will post a brief blog about another person who has defied time and reflect on the message that they and their accomplishments have for us. First: A brief list of Dr. Hawking’s accomplishments:

Awards and honors:
• 1975 Eddington Medal
• 1976 Hughes Medal of the Royal Society
• 1979 Albert Einstein Medal
• 1981 Franklin Medal
• 1982 Order of the British Empire (Commander)
• 1985 Gold Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society
• 1986 Member of the Pontifical Academy of Sciences
• 1988 Wolf Prize in Physics
• 1989 Prince of Asturias Awards in Concord
• 1989 Companion of Honour
• 1999 Julius Edgar Lilienfeld Prize of the American Physical Society
• 2003 Michelson Morley Award of Case Western Reserve University
• 2006 Copley Medal of the Royal Society[50]
• 2008 Fonseca Prize of the University of Santiago de Compostela
• 2009 Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian honor in the United States

This list does not mention that he has published a book called “A Brief History of Time” that has sold over ten million copies or that he has dozens of papers and films that he has either authored or contributed to or that he has fathered 3 children and been married twice or that in 2007 he completed a zero gravity flight at Cape Canaveral. He has even acted in several TV shows in which he has played himself. My short list of his accomplishments barely brushes the surface of what Hawking has accomplished in his 70 years on this planet. Most people with Lou Gehrig’s disease die within a few years of their diagnosis. Stephen has survived and with little doubt prospered despite the crippling disease. He is honored, respected and admired the world over.

If ever anyone had an excuse for giving up on life or even hating life, a person diagnosed with Lou Gehrig’s disease surely qualifies. I have had some personal encounters with the condition as my wife took care of a patient (Carol) for several years who had this disease. My wife Karen is a nurse and she would do a shift several times a week with a family in St. Paul who had contracted with her for nursing care for their invalid daughter. I would occasionally go over with Karen and spend some time visiting her and Carol during the evening after work. Carol was also a fighter and she demanded as much independence as she could get given the confines of the disease. Think about not being able to move or walk or talk and about the dependency that you would have on everyone for any of your needs from breathing to eating. Carol was on a respirator and could not even breathe by herself.

For many of us our independence is the most important factor in our lives. From the time we are infants to the time we die, we all want to live a life of independence and self-determination. Imagine the struggle to continue to live, if you had to forego any such notions of independence. It is difficult to imagine even surviving much less accomplishing anything under such conditions. In fact, many of us would probably say we would rather be dead than to live with these disabilities. Facing such incredible barriers to living, anyone wanting to be dead could surely be forgiven.

What can one say for a life like Stephen Hawking has lived? Is it grace, self-determination or simply a miracle that he has overcome his disabilities to give back to humanity much more than he has been given himself? How many of us go through life with our petty excuses for not accomplishing anything or even trying anything? I don’t have the time! I don’t have enough money! I don’t have the patience! I am too old to start anything now! If only I were younger!
Dylan Thomas has a poem which I like and occasionally use as an inspiration for myself, it goes like this:

Do not go gentle into that good night,
Old age should burn and rage at close of day;
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
Though wise men at their end know dark is right,
Because their words had forked no lightning they
Do not go gentle into that good night.

So take a minute today to think about Stephen Hawking. Take a minute to think about what you may have given up on or what you may have used as an excuse for not starting something. Do we really owe humanity anything? Does it matter? What do you owe yourself? What barriers do you need to rage against? Do not go gently into that good night.

What would a blog on Time be without some predictions for the New Year? Herewith are my 3 predictions for the New Year. As you may have already surmised, they will all concern politics. I will give you my predictions and then a brief explanation as to my underlying assumptions. Feel free to take the poll that I am attaching to this blog and let me know what you think. Scroll to the bottom of these blogs and you will find two quick polls.

Prediction:

More money will be spent on the 2012 political campaign than has ever been spent before on any election. Mitt Romney will emerge victorious as the Republican candidate.

Assumptions:

1. The Republicans will not sacrifice their desire to see President Obama defeated merely to appease the more conservative sector of their party. We have already seen the “Tea Party” favorite Bachman drop out with little support.

2. Money talks. Mitt has more money than anyone else and his funds will feed ads that will continue to sway voters. In auto racing land, they say “Win on Sunday, Sell on Monday.” In politics land, it is “Advertise on Sunday and numbers change on Monday.” A true testament to the fickleness of the American Public. Also amazing how many people I know who say they make up their own minds and that ads have no influence over their choices.

Prediction:

The 2012 Congress will make the 2011 Congress look good. This will be the most acrimonious partisan get nothing done congress in the entire history of the USA.

Assumptions:

1. The Republicans will do everything they can to deny President Obama any chance to look good or to accomplish anything.

2. Obama will be viewed as a lame duck with the approaching elections and will need to spend more time trying to get re-elected then fighting for any bills or changes.

3. The Democrats will see no need to compromise for fear of associating too strongly with a president who might just become more unpopular or unseated.

Prediction:

President Barack Obama will narrowly win reelection to a second term.

Assumptions:

1. Even without the efforts of a “do nothing” congress, the economy will continue to get better and jobs will grow taking much pressure off of Obama.

2. The majority of Obama’s policies have been to benefit the American people and the majority of the people will realize that he has not been pushing special interests to benefit friends and family.

Well, there you have it. In black and white, I doubt I could be more specific. Unlike horoscopes, tea leaves and crystal balls, I have set my theories down and am open to being either right or wrong. You will find few talking heads who will so commit themselves to concrete specifics as I have now done. It will be interesting to look back on these predictions in 12 months and see how they fare.

Time consuming generally means something that takes a great deal of time. To consume means to eat, so something that is “time consuming” literally eats our time. Have you ever made a list of time eaters? Probably they will be different from time wasters. We know that time wasters have little or no value, However, time consumers may have a lot of value but they still take a great deal of time to accomplish. It is time consuming to paint your house, find a new babysitter, complete your B.A. degree or write a book. Nevertheless, none of these things is a waste of time. There are so many time consuming activities that we could do and that would add value to our lives. Some wise man once said, anything worth being done will take time. And of course, how many times have you heard, “Rome was not built in a day.” I was amazed to read that Truman Capote spent ten years writing and researching his novel in “Cold Blood.” It simply astounds me that someone could spend ten years on such an activity. Of course, his effort was well worth the time spent.

While we know that anything worth while will take time, it is generally more of a logical thing that we know in our heads. Our heart is telling us to hurry up and lets get it done. We want it now, not in a thousand, hundred or even a few years. It is a testament to the patience of humanity, that we have built so many great things that could not be done overnight. Dr. W. E. Deming used to counsel that “people expect instant pudding.” He meant that any major business improvement would take time and could not be accomplished overnight. Nevertheless, we battle our impatience daily and it sometimes seems a battle we start at birth and continue to death. Witness, the tantrums of little children which later become the impatience of adults unwilling to think long-term or willing to destroy the environment for a few more seconds of prosperity.

How can we get over the hurdle that these large consumptions of time present? We have so many things do to; it is hard to spend a large amount of time on any one activity or effort. Time consumers bog us down and force us to ignore other time activities that may be screaming for our attention. How long should we invest in one activity? How can we tell when a time consumer really will be worth the effort? Is there any way to measure the value of time consumers? Perhaps, the power of Faith is the only measure that we have when it comes to making a long-term effort and finally reaping our rewards?

If I could save time in a bottle,
The first thing that I’d like to do
Is to save every day till eternity passes away,
Just to spend them with you. – Jim Croce (Time in a Bottle)

How often do you want to spend time with someone, but it just passes away? Then you think that you wish you could have saved time and spent more of it with the person then you had. We have all had the experience of knowing someone who has died and during the funeral we regret that we did not spend more time with this person. The saddest stories are those of friends and relatives who have not seen each other for many years and then meet at the passing of a loved one and mourn the time that they lost or did not spend together. If we could only have put that time in a bottle.

One morning I woke up and went out about my daily activities. I came back about 10 AM and Karen was still not up. I went into the bedroom and she was turned over and quite still. I looked closer and she did not appear to be breathing. I was in a near panic and my heart started to race. I gently shook her and then shook her harder. She turned over and asked me what was wrong. I started to cry. I was shaken to my core. I had never thought of her just passing away like that and suddenly the possibility was a reality. Each day now one of my goals is to spend some quality time with Karen. I try to start the day off by asking what I can do for her today or how I can help her. I mark off on my goal chart this activity so that I can remember how important it is.

No matter our best efforts, time just passes away and we never spend the quality time you are hoping to. The problem happens because we are living in the future and not in the present. In the present, time is a gift that we have and we can not save even a single minute. When we live in the future, we are worried about tomorrow and we are not concentating on what we are doing now. Can you imagine having a good love expereince, if you were thinking about your work or what you needed to do later? The more we can put ourselves into the moment, the more we live our lives today. Take each moment, savor it and live it to the fullest.

So who can you spend more time with this week? Who have you been putting off seeing because you had no time? Who would you cause you the most regrets if they died and you had not shared another moment of eternity with them? What is more important today then spending time with them?

Do you know the difference between Wisdom and Knowledge? You can spend your entire life trying to gain more knowledge and you will become a very intelligent and thoughtful person. However, no amount of time spent can make one wise. Wisdom is not found in journals, textbooks and the local library. Wisdom does not necessarily come with age. Our greatest prophets did not have degrees and most of them were recognized as wise men at a very early age. Jesus and Buddha were both in their 30’s when they started their ministries. As we begin the New Year, here is a bit of wisdom that I picked up from a book called “The Path of Love” by Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh. I think this passage from his book has a great deal of relevance for our current economic situation.

“Unless there is more than enough, man will always be exploited by man; it is not a question of communism or socialism or capitalism. Unless there is more than enough, man will be exploited. So create more than enough, be creative, use all possibilities to create more: that is the first thing. And the second thing: live in the present, don’t think of the morrow. Listen to Jesus; he says: Look at the lilies in the field. They spin not, they weave not, they labor not, they don’t think of the morrow – yet they are beautiful. Even Solomon arrayed in his whole glory, was not so beautiful. Live in the present. The future creates greed, greed creates hoarding, hoarding creates poverty.”

There are two points of wisdom here that are very clear. 1. Create. 2. Live in the present. The third point is more subtle but it is there. The third point is share. If we create but we hoard, if we create but we worry we will not have enough for ourselves, we create a greedy society. I dare say that since the 1970’s, the culture of America has become imbued with an ethic of greed and materialism. Many assume that it is capitalism itself that is evil or wrong. As Bhagwan notes, it is neither capitalism nor socialism that is wrong, it is a system of poverty and exploitation that is wrong. Capitalism affords us the best means of creating more for all. However, capitalism alone does not insure that everyone will have enough. There must be a spiritual component to our efforts that allows for charity and generosity.

As we start this New Year, I hope we can all think more about creating abundance and sharing that abundance with others. What can you create this year that you can share with others? What can you do to live more in the present and worry less about tomorrow? What does it mean for you to be generous and charitable to others? How can we all worry about having less stuff and sharing more with others?

January – the beginning of a new year. As we start this New Year, I want to share with you some statistics from Bloomberg’s Business Week “2012 Year in Review”.

+ Since 1981,the number of people living in extreme poverty has declined from 50 percent to less than 20 percent in the developing world.

+ Infant mortality across the world is down.

+ The number of girls attending school is up.

+ Teenage pregnacies are down.

+ The chances of anyone dying in a war have never been lower.

+ In 2012, each person was born into a world that is richer, healthier and safer than at any point in history or time.

OH! and please note that the world did not end on December 21st, 2012.  We are safe for at least another year.

Take these statistics to the doomsayers and hate mongers and parasites that want to destroy the world. Show them to those who are against progress and change and science. Recite them to all of your friends and coworkers who may be wont to wallow in their current problems and are blinded to the big picture. Put them in your pocket and whenever anyone starts with the “good old day” please pull them out and ask them to be more specific.

I have never been known to be a “Pollyanna” and I am often the most pessimistic person in the room, but I know in my mind and sometimes in my heart that today is the best day in the world and tomorrow will be an even better day. I know this not because it is a fact, although it is for many in the world, but for me it is a choice. What I do, what you do with your time this year of 2013, will determine whether this year is a bad year, fair year or great year for you.

For many beginning a New Year, this is the time when we make new resolutions and promises galore. A time to begin over and to make dreams and wishes come true that did not work out the year before. We bring in the New Year as a new born baby, full of promise and youth. Some critics look at the trail of broken promises from bygone years and laugh at the efforts of others. Such people disregard the possibility of hope and change. Yes, we are better this year than we were last year and we will continue to grow and change and look at the folly of our past lives. If we believe in the future and believe in ourselves, we will make 2013 an even better world than it was in 2012.

Hope as they say springs eternal in the human breast and what would we be without it? We need to try again and when we fail, try again. The only failure is when we stop trying. So I say: “Disregard the naysayers, go ahead and set some new goals and new dreams. Stretch your vision and your horizons. People do not perish because of their dreams; they perish because of a lack of dreams. My dream for all all of us in the coming year is for even more peace, more health and more wealth. We can and will create a world where the visions and dreams of all can be fulfilled.