Wednesday; April 10

On April 10, 1912, the “Millionaire’s Special” set sail from Southampton, England on its way to New York. It was the Titanic’s maiden voyage and was filled with a lot of excitement and expectations. In a modern era of luxury and jet service, it is hard for us to imagine the excitement surrounding the week long voyage, but it was big deal. While the lead-up to the event was news in 1912, it is how the trip ended that has been the story for the past century. In the early morning hours of April 15, the ship struck and iceberg and within a few minutes, the great ship was submerged in the icy waters of the North Atlantic. In the end, about 1500 people lost their lives.

The sinking of the Titanic is an interesting tale, but I am also fascinated by the amount of time and energy put into assessing blame. In the aftermath of the tragedy everyone from the ship’s captain, Edward J. Smith, to another ship in the area, the Californian, were accused of adding to the tragedy – the captain for striking the ice and the ship for not getting there quickly enough to help with rescue efforts. As we have seen with most catastrophes, there is a lot of armchair quarterbacking that goes around after the fact.

There is a need to assess responsibility so that we can learn from mistakes, but when tragedies strike, let’s lead with our care and concern for those hurting and save our criticism for later. We can always find fault, but often the most pressing need is support for those whose lives will be changed forever. Whether it is through empathy or sympathy, let’s start with feelings and, then when the time is right, move toward facts.

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