Wednesday; April 17

During his time at Florida State University Warwick Dunn had a lot of people cheering for him, but like anyone involved in athletic competition, not everyone was his fan.  In fact, some of the people weren’t content to merely cheer for their team – they heckled him.  Some even went to the extreme of even making light of the fact that his mother had been killed in a robbery attempt a few years earlier.  Can you imagine, being so into your team that you would dig up something so painful as the loss of an opponent’s mother?  When Dunn reflected on heckling he recalled how it made him question the decency of people!  No, not everyone did it, but the pain caused by those that did tarnished his opinion of his fellow man.
          Have you noticed how quick we are to heckle people today?  We take issue with and make fun of their sports teams – but, it has gotten even more prevalent to include other’s political beliefs, race, religion and so many other things.  It seems that very few things are immune from critical comments.  In a “competitive” environment that crosses so many boundaries people say things that hurt and that tends to make us question the decency of people.  In our effort to get under someone’s skin we make derogative statements that get into people’s hearts!
          I remember my Mom saying, “If you can’t say something nice about someone, don’t say anything at all.”.  Maybe something even more eloquent comes from the Bible where Christians are reminded, “ So then we pursue the things which make for peace and the building up of one another.” (Romans 14:19).  Do we really need to say something negative about someone?  Let’s do us and them and all of humanity a favor and stop heckling one another.  Maybe when we do we can reestablish decency and restore civility.
          Think About It!

Popular posts from this blog

Tuesday; November 29

The biblical story of the Good Samaritan has changed our world. Notice I didn’t say that it had change religion or even Christianity, it has influenced the world. There are very few people who don’t know the moral of Jesus’ parable about the Good Samaritan. In fact, the phrase has become a common description of everyday people doing good to their neighbors. While Jesus’ parable from Luke 10 shares several spiritual lessons, one of the most practical is that good can be done by anyone. You don’t have to be a church official to do good, it is not only possible for each one of us to help, it is required of all of us. If a Samaritan can be good, so can we! After presenting the parable, Jesus asked the man who had originally asked the question about being a good neighbor which character in the story was a good neighbor, “… he said, ‘The one who showed mercy toward him.’” at which point, the discussion from theoretical to personal, “Then Jesus said to him, ‘Go and do the same.’” (Luke
Read more

Thursday; January 12

The other day I was watching a television show that used a rather common term applied to overcoming challenges. When organizations experience unexpected setbacks – especially when they lose key people – they rely upon the concept of “Next Man Up”. In essence, when our starters (or stars) go down, effective organizations rely upon their next levels to step into the vacancy. While this is an effective response, have we given much thought as to how we prepare to be the “next people up”? First, we must know our job. Even when we aren’t the primary players, we need to be preparing ourselves to be ready when we get the opportunity to shine. Second, we must do our best when we get the chance. Knowledge is important but what turns potential into talent is effort. Yet, maybe the most underappreciated aspect of this concept is a willingness avoid excuse-making and whining about the unfairness of our situation. When we complain about the circumstances that caused the need for replacements
Read more

Monday; September 25

When I was a youngster, I remember hearing about this thing called the Generation Gap. I was a little bit too young to be active in the social movements of the 1960s, but I do remember listening to the challenges the generations were experiencing way back then. Interestingly, now that I have been on both sides of the aging process, I have to admit that the Gap of the 1960s was nothing new. With the development of each generation comes conflict. The young people don’t feel like the older people understand them and the older folks tend to believe their input is being underappreciated. Too often trust is the casualty when two generations collide. The sad thing is that it doesn’t have to be this way. When we can capture the innovation and energy of the younger folks and harness the wisdom of those who have been around for a while we can develop a winning combination. No, we won’t always see things eye-to-eye nor will we necessarily speak the same emotional language, but when we app
Read more