An eight year old gave me great hope for the future today. In a time where children are teasing, tormenting and bullying their peers via email, text and other social media, one young man is taking the high road and making a difference. This young fellow was recently mistreated by someone close to him and …
Category: Observations on Life
Mastery, Practice and Subtlety
The French have a saying: "Qui trop embrasse, mal etreint" which means, "he who embraces too much, has a weak grasp." What does it take to move from being a "Jack of all trades, master of none" to being a master of all trades? While there is value in have a breadth of skills and knowledge, …
Self-righteousness: A Destructive Force
One of the most destructive forces on earth is self-righteousness. I daresay that self-righteousness has turned more people away from righteousness than any other vice. You've no doubt encountered it along the way: the holier-than-thou, hypocritically pious and smug expression of someone who feels that his beliefs, actions or affiliations are of greater virtue than those of the average …
The Greatest Virtue
Of all the virtues, righteousness is the greatest. No amount of patience, generosity, earnestness, friendliness, diligence, kindness or humility will provide the counterweight necessary to overcome the gravitational pull of vice. Of all the virtues, righteousness is greatest. Righteousness is the quality that inspires to greatness, when nothing less will do. Righteousness is the quality …
A Father’s Gift to Humanity
I read a lovely tribute in the New York Times yesterday to Ladis Kristof by his son, columnist Nicholas Kristof, in celebration of Father's Day (http://tinyurl.com/249f2qq). Nicholas recalled a profound statement his father, a Slavic immigrant and concentration camp survivor, had written that impacted him for years: War, want and concentration camps, exile from home …
A Breath of Fresh Air
A friend and I were walking around Mackinac Island in northern Michigan yesterday morning and we both noticed something worth repeating. The island, if you've never been, is free of motor vehicles. To move about the island you have three choices: (1) walk, (2) bicycle and (3) horse drawn carriage. It is a piece of heaven, geographically …
The Rube Goldberg Machine
According to Wikipedia, "A Rube Goldberg machine is a deliberately over-engineered machine that performs a very simple task in a very complex fashion, usually including a chain reaction. If you have seen the 1968 classic "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang," you may recall the scene in which Caractacus Potts (Dick van Dyke) was cooking breakfast for his children using …
Your Abilities Matter
When you consider those around you do you tend to think more of their limitations or their capabilities? When you think of the world around you, do you tend to focus more on that which you have or that which you wish you had? Your experience of life is conditioned by what you tend to emphasize in daily …
A Tribute to John Wooden (1910-2010): A Century of Greatness
Coach John Wooden brought honor, dignity and humility to the profession of coaching in a way that will likely never be matched. His coaching achievements speak for themselves and when Coach Wooden spoke, everybody listened. I thought you would enjoy this link sent to me the other day of one of the hundreds of interviews given …
Continue reading A Tribute to John Wooden (1910-2010): A Century of Greatness
Our Fascinating Universe
There is nothing like a short course in astronomy to put things into perspective. All human activity in the course of human history, apart from several short forays by a select few just outside of the earth's upper atmosphere, has taken place on this tiny planet in a small corner of our galaxy, amidst billions …
Gregory Hake 