The Winds of Change

On January 20, the 45^th President of the United States will be sworn in, and approximately 6 billion people globally will watch it happen. And there are some who won’t.  But, that won’t stop it from happening.  That seems to be the thing about life—when we least expect it, when we’re not ready for it, when we think we need more time—it happens. Life, that is. So, no matter what side you are or were on during the past 15 months of the election debacle, here we are.

Tensions are high; you don’t have to be an expert in emotional intelligence to recognize that some people are dealing with the upcoming inauguration in very different ways, and those ways don’t often reflect the views of their friends, family members or maybe even general society.  This often creates even more tension.  So, let’s try to take the anxiety down a notch.  Let’s try to remember that at the end of the day, most people try to be decent citizens and quality humans.  Let’s try to extend kindness to one another so that kindness becomes the norm, rather than the exception.  Let’s all remember who we are.

To do that, maybe we should take a look at some of those who came before us.  Let’s look at someone who dared to stare down the hostility and degradation of racism not with the arrogance of a pointed finger and a rolled eye, but with the kindness of a smile and a soothing word or two.  It seems fitting now, one day passed, to talk about MLK and what he stood for then, as well as what his legacy stands for now. 

You all know the “I Have a Dream” speech, and you all know that it is a rhetorical masterpiece, ripe with all the devices and strategies that good literature is famous for, but what it also is is one man’s blueprint for his own American Dream.  54 years ago, Dr. Kind delivered that speech about his dream of equality.  In some ways, the world is a very different place now than it was then.  However, there are some who would say it is not nearly as different as it should be.

So, your challenge this week is to carefully consider the upcoming National event of the inauguration and what that means to people, as well as think about the state of the world you currently inhabit.  If Dr. Kind were alive today, do you think his dream would be different?  How so?  If you think it would be the same, how come? What is your own dream about the future of the world? Construct your own “I Have a Dream…” and show me how you conceive of the American dream.  What kind of impact will the next four years have on that dream?   

New Beginnings

Whew.  So, it's over.  2016--the year of...well, there are really too many adjectives, verbs and hyperbolic phrases that could be inserted there, so that's where I think we should start.

I am a huge fan of moving forward--I don't even like to put my car in reverse if I can help it--true story--but I also recognize the value of taking a backward glance from time to time. I mean, how else can you see:

1) how far you've gone
2) how much you've left to go
3) where the twists, turns and pot holes in the roads were

Now, for me, of all of those, #3 means the most.
 Like I said, I am a fan of moving forward, but most of the time, the natural enemy to forward thinking or really any kind of positive progression, is repetition.  The repetition of a mistake is the most obvious deterrant to progression because it usually means going backward, but even repeating things that worked out for you can be detrimental to progress because it could mean that you are comfortable and not taking any more risks, and then, consequently, you can't "really" progress. Personally, I like to see where things went bananas for me, or where I made a wrong turn, or how taking the shortcut would've helped me had I only listened to someone else.

So, usually right around now, I allow me the time I need to take stock of my personal and professional situations. I should do this more often than just the start of a new year, I know this, but something about the symbolism of starting at 1 just speaks to me, so here I am.
What I noticed I did way too much last year was to let things that were either out of my control, or not really fixable in the first place, define who I was.  As a result, I spent too much of 2016 feeling like a colossal failure. Thus, for 2017, I have decided to form BOTH an interpretation and a life plan from something I read by accident over break. It was a quote from a long-dead German author named Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (that G name is actually pronounced "Gert-A), and it states: "Things that matter most should never be at the mercy of things that matter least."
I am trying to find a sign that says that, but so far, no luck.

Now, its your turn.
First--I want you to fill in that sentence I started at the beginning: "2016--the year of ____________". Explain your choice.
Second, of the three reasons I listed for why looking back is good, which one do you see the most value in and why? Explain in detail.
Finally, moving forward in whatever area of life you want to focus on, how would you like to proceed that is AT LEAST marginally different then whatever you did last year?