A Story from the Aztec People of Mexico

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Aztec
Image by GazzaS via Flickr

It is said by our Grandparents that a long time ago there was a great fire in the forests that covered our Earth. People and animals started to run, trying to escape from the fire. Our brother owl, Tecolotl, was running away when he noticed a small bird hurrying back and forth between the nearest river and the fire. He headed toward this small bird.

He noticed it was our brother the Quetzal bird, Quetzaltototl, running to the river, picking up small drops of water in his beak, then returning to the fire to throw that tiny bit of water on the flame. Owl approached Quetzal bird and yelled at him: “What are you doing brother? You are not going to achieve anything by doing this. You must run for your life!”

Quetzal bird stopped for a moment and looked at owl, and then answered: “I am doing the best I can with what I have.”

It is remembered by our Grandparents that a long time ago the forests that covered our Earth were saved from a great fire by a small Quetzal bird, an owl, and many other animals and people who got together and put out the flames.

— As told by Margaret J. Wheatley in Turning to One Another

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Work-Life Balance Doesn’t Exist

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Look, we know the baby boomers failed at work-life balance. We know it doesn’t exist. So let’s just start talking about things that are real. . . . You can have kid-centered days or you can have career-centered days. You can’t have both. Let’s just stop lying to ourselves because it’s not helping anyone.

— Penelope Trunk

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The Common Good

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According to legends, Laozi leaves China on his water buffalo
Image via Wikipedia

Therefore the Master says:
I let go of the law,
and people become honest.
I let go of economics,
and people become prosperous.
I let go of religion,
and people become serene.
I let go all desire for the common good,
and the good becomes common as grass.

— Tao Te Ching

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A Man with a Grievance

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I wanted to be unhappy by myself. I wanted to grieve for Papa. That man suffered a lot. Even more than my poor mother who had to watch him suffer. For she had seven children to worry about as well, and children are a duty. Whereas a broken-hearted man with a grievance is only a liability, a nuisance. And he knows it too.

— Joyce Cary, The Horse’s Mouth

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Travels With Charlie

by  on Lightning
 
i'm a dog on a mission

My owner and I were out for a walk when we heard Charlie the Basset Hound behind us. He was howling and he was all by himself.

“Hey Charlie,” my owner said, “what are you doing out here by yourself?” Then he said to me, “We’ve got to take Charlie home.”

We don’t know where Charlie lives but we know what direction he lives in and it wasn’t the direction he was going, so my owner got him turned in the right direction and then said, “Come on Charlie, let’s go for a walk.”

At first, he walked behind us and kept howling but then he stopped howling and started walking faster and went ahead of us. After we went a couple of streets, he turned and walked up to a front porch and started howling again.

The lady who answered the door was sure surprised to see Charlie on the porch.

“Does he live here?” my owner asked.

“Yes,” she said. “Where was he?”

“He was up the street a bit. We started walking him in this direction and he came home. Was there a reward posted?”

Meanwhile, Charlie had gone inside and then came back out on the porch and started howling at us some more to tell us he was home . . .

— Lightning paw

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People I Thought Were Dead

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Updates

  • Bill Dana – died 6/15/2017, age 92
  • Fats Domino – died 10/25/2017, age 89
  • Don_Larsen – died 1/1/2020, age 90
  • Bill Macy – died 10/17/2019, age 97
  • Roger Mudd – died 3/9/2021, age 93
  • Della Reese – died 11/19/2017, age 86
  • Dale Robertson – died 2/26/2013, age 89
  • Mickey Rooney – died 4/6/2014, age 93
  • Jerry Van Dyke – died 1/5/2018, age 86
  • Earl Weaver – died 1/18/2013, age 82

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Plato in 90 Minutes

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I’ve never gotten anything out of trying to read Plato, and yet you keep hearing that he’s essential to an understanding of man’s existence, so I thought I’d check out a secondary source for guidance: Plato in 90 Minutes by Paul Strathern.

I’m on page 10 when my son says, “That’s taken you longer than 90 minutes.” He looks over to see how far I’ve gotten. “Page 10,” he scoffs.

“It’s not 90 minutes from when you buy the book,” I say. “You understand that, right? You have to give me some time to actually read it.”

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Aside

Open-ended question: How do we live a life we can’t hold on to?

How’s That WBS Working for You?

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Sample Work Breakdown Structure www.wbs-tool.net

Michael James posted this annotated job listing in the Scrum group on Yahoo . . .

[Redacted] is looking for a dedicated and experienced application developer [blah blah blah] to ensure delivery of high quality artifacts, to adhere and to follow [Redacted]’s SDLC. This is an excellent opportunity [blah blah blah] well-known Fortune 50 company.

Tasks and responsibilities

[clip]

  • Provide accurate and timely estimates (work breakdown schedules)
  • Must have proven ability to provide project estimates and work-breakdown schedules

And you know these guys are getting great results from their precise WBS and SDLC because of these lines:

  • Must be extremely responsive, able to work under pressure in crisis with a strong sense of urgency
  • 24/7 on call responsibilities on a rotational basis

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Leadership Lessons of the Ottoman Turks

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“Flexibility,” “Adaptability,” “Gets along well with others.” I don’t believe they’re what’s needed today if we’re going to force our institutions to adapt to us–which is our central problem.

The Ottoman Turks for over three centuries produced an unbroken succession of able leaders. Their performance appraisal sheet would have looked like this:

Adaptability
0
Adventuresomeness
100
Cruelty
100
Energy
100
Flexibility
0
Intelligence
100
Justice
100
Gets along well with others
0

— Robert Townsend, Further Up the Organization

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We Aren’t in Business as Shopkeepers

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[The Mayor, a Communist, has asked what penance Father Quixote would give him for fornication. Ellipses are in the original.]

“You know–of course you don’t know–I don’t like the taste of tomatoes at all. But suppose Father Heribert Jone had written that it was a mortal sin to eat tomatoes and the old lady who lives next door to me came to me in the church to confess she had eaten a tomato. What penance would I give her? As I don’t eat tomatoes myself I wouldn’t even be able to imagine how deep her depravity might be. Of course a rule would have been broken . . . a rule . . . one can’t avoid knowing that.”

“You are avoiding my question, father, what penance . . . ?”

“Perhaps one Our Father and one Hail Mary.”

“Only one?”

“One said properly must surely be the equal of a hundred run off without thought. I don’t see the point of numbers. We aren’t in business as shopkeepers.”

— Graham Greene, Monsignor Quixote

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Hockey Parents I Have Known

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My kid has played hockey most of his life. I’ve spent a lot of time over the last 12 or so years at practices, games and tournaments with other hockey parents.

I’ll miss the parents who watch and wait without calling attention to themselves, don’t over-celebrate, and encourage their kids while pretending not to be nervous or sad.

I won’t miss the obsessive, out-of-control loudmouths, or the parents who were too drunk to be nervous or sad.

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Just Like the Pros

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Above the rim

The boy comes home from somewhere this afternoon . . .

“Where have you been?” I ask him.

“Playing basketball,” he says, as he heads into the kitchen for a beverage.

“I’ve been trying to call you. Why didn’t you pick up your phone?”

“Does Kobe pick up his phone during a game? Neither do I.”

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Belief and Vodka Both Wear Off

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“I want to believe. And I want others to believe.”

“Why?”

“I want them to be happy.”

“Let them drink a little vodka then. That’s better than a make-believe.”

“The vodka wears off. It’s wearing off even now.”

“So does belief.”

— Graham Greene, Monsignor Quixote

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