I've been watching the SE Asian Tragedy on the news this evening - and quite frankly, I am lost for words.
I guess tragedy can lead to misery and hopelessness, or alternatively, by the way that as people, as families and as countries respond. Tragedies can also become defining moments which lead to greatness - bringing out the very best in mankind.
And thank God for organisations such as World Vision, Unicef, Red Cross and Oxfam in times like these.
Its seems that even tough guys can have a sound philosophy on Parenting.
From Mens Health: Michael Madsen's done his share of hard living. But even more shocking: At 45, he's the author of two books of poetry and father of five boys, ages 6 to 16. That's a lot of testosterone under one roof (and, says Madsen, "a lot of pee on the toilet seats*"). As he creates another blood-soaked villain in Kill Bill Vol. II, we asked Madsen how he tutors his boys about the delicate balance between tender and tough.
"My mother gave me culture. She encouraged me to be a sculptor and to read. And from my dad I got, "Ya gotta be the toughest son of a gun on the street." So I had this bizarre duality. I encourage my boys to do stuff in the arts, but I'm also a big advocate of not taking any sh--. I have a heavy bag [at my house in ontana], and every morning the boys go three 3-minute rounds on the heavy bag with the gloves".
MADSEN'S MANTRAS
1. Kids are a great excuse for you to stop acting like one yourself.
2. Encourage your kids' artistic side. Toughen up everything else.
3. Your children don't have to fear you to respect you.
4. Is it really selling out if it feeds your family?
*Something my own mother used to complain about with 4 guys in the house.
"Christmas happens but once a year - But lives in my heart forever".
-Charles Dickens
(Quote left anonomously on my Office whiteboard at work on Christams Eve)
On arriving home from school my 6 year old son exclaimed:
“Mum, out of everyone in my class...our house is the only one where Santa drinks beer…he drinks milk when he comes to everyone else’s!”
Please don’t think that I am weird. But some strange stuff is happening.
My wife and I were invited to a long-time friends house for dinner tonight. One of my mates from work/uni and one of my groomsmen. In fact I was sharing a house with him when I first became a committed Christian in my 20’s – but that’s another story.
After a couple of glasses of wine at dinner, I could tell that he and his wife wanted to talk. They confided in us that they have for some time being having trouble in their house. Hearing audible voices, cold rooms and electrical equipment suddenly coming on at anytime during the night. Their children are having nightmares and refusing to enter certain rooms etc.
They have also enlisted some spiritual professionals. A group known as the “Golden Dawn”. A simple web search reveals that this is a mystical/occult based group that is involved in Magick and things. (Obviously, sometjing that concerns me).
It is all odd. Apart from my nominal prayer life, some reassurances to my friends that I believe in the spiritual dimension and some advice that “Jesus is bigger than all of this” I have got absolutely no idea of where to begin to help them.
Sometimes I feel I have become a bit like an intellectual Christian, where there remains a huge gap between the theory and the practice.
But at the very least, the conversation led to spiritual reality, "Eternity" and the Lords Prayer,
U2's new album - "How to dismantle an atomic bomb" has been getting high rotation in our car of late. With a plethora of great songs the standouts for me are "Yahweh" and "Sometimes you can't make it on your own".
But one compelling line from "Miracle Drug" never fails to deliver a 'knock-out' blow:
"Freedom has a scent;
Like the top of a new born baby's head"
-Miracle Drug, U2, 2004
When I was in my mid-20's, and used to surf with my mates without half the responsibilities I have now, we would yell at each other statements like "Go Hard or Go Home" or "Eddie would Go!" when surfing bigger days at Dewars, Three Bears or Lancelin.
Memories.
Well while most are talking about Langer's massive 180+ innings - my thoughts are far, far away in the Hawaii. Its that time of year when the contset held in the memory of Eddie Aikau - The Quiksilver Eddie Aikau is held again.
You can read all aboyt Bruce Irons amazing win here.
"We must develop and maintain the capacity to forgive. He who is devoid of the power to forgive is devoid of the power to love".
-Author: Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929-68), African-American reverend, civil rights leader
Sadly, another two people have been taken by Sharks off Australian Beaches this week. Again it appears that two Whites were hunting as a pair as I have seen in a Californian documentary.
I love nature, and consider myself a hack-amateur-naturalist to a degree. I do believe, however, that Great White Sharks should be controlled and not necessarily protected.
I am also surprised that the fisheries authorities neber have a predetermined strategy and position for dealing with Shark attacks. They always need to wait for a report before a termination decision is made. By that time, the offending Sharks have moved on.
Encouagement: n 1: the expression of approval and support 2: the act of giving hope or support to someone [syn: boost] 3: the feeling of being encouraged
I consider myself fortunate.
Purely because people have invested themsleves voluntarily into my life. Many people, in many ways who have given me the confidence to stretch into areas that I never thought possible. People who have helped fill the gap, between what I was and what I now am.
Recently I was given a bonus of some value, to celebrate a success. But the words in the card were worth far more than the unexpected gift inside. An astute man, encourged not only myself, but also my wife for the supporting role that she played in helping me to achieve what I needed to achieve.
The card read "Champions. You are both great people who we respect greatly. I am also so pleased that I selected you to work (with me). You are an asset to me and someone that I can totally depend on. Nothing is impossible for you...You have a great future".
I don't write this a s a boast. Rather, to capture a momment that has now become part of my very being, my DNA, and my confidence in what God has designed me to be.
The card that contains this message, is kept with some other letters of encouragement together with my Bible, for those times that I need hope most.
Please NEVER, EVER hesitate to write someone a note of encouragement, or to "pay hope forward" so to speak - even if you never see the impact that the Hope, or the warmth you give may bring into their lives.
I faced death today. Well not quite, but I faced something that I fear much more terribly.
I gave my presentation on Project "Odyssey" - and to me Public Speaking is a fate much worse than death.
But with some thought, preparation and practice - I pulled it off. Used some segments from my Billabong Odyssey DVD which added some interest to a rather dull topic (the link between Big Wave Surfing and Business Process Reingineering was tenuous - but believeable) and got some good feedback from the audience (who I thnk could see that I am more passionate about the Ocean than IT!).
Only facing fear leads to growth.
I'm working my butt of for this one. The timeframe is ambitious but I trust that this Project is going to be my Opus.
"To know and not to do...is not to know".
-My Boss's words of wisdom
"The Internet Changes Everything" (Bill Gates)
“….Even Surfing"
The wild grass of Spring, now golden brown. The Jacaranda tree losing its deep purple bloom.
Welcome Summer.
A few hot days. Suddenly there’s flies. And off-shore winds, turquoise seas. Abalone now stripped from reefs by swarming multitudes. I’ll get the tanks pressure tested this week. "C'mon Marty, organise a leave pass - haven't you any control over your wife?. HA!, HA!, HA!"....Undersea hunting begins.
Hot nights. Late nights. The aroma of smoking meat. This season T-shirts, boardshorts and thongs are all considered formal wear. Occupied verandahs enhanced by a hew of fairy lights, all soften moods. Listening to music and the murmur of chatter over fences.
Playing mellow songs while entertaining friends. Jazz, Chill or Blues. "...Or bring out an oldie... “PianoMan”, “Cold Chisel” or perhaps “Hot August Night”...please".
Australia Day. Great South Land. Pride and thankfulness. The intonation of Ritchie Benaud dominating our screens. Chomping on peanuts. And home made dip. Sucking the home made beers of a friend. “Made for only 12 cents a bottle” he boasts... "And where’s my change mate?" you jest - swirling the last undrinkable third right under his nose.
And mustn't forget, the Red wine...to serve at room temperature - take straight from the fridge, of course!.
Early morning jogs. It takes no discipline at all to arise from bed...Except every Sunday.
Swimming pools. Family time. Precious time. All under baking heat.
Bring it on!
We are laying low this weekend. Apart from a barbecue at some good friends house, we have been kept largely in-doors as our 7 month old has come down with a mild case of rubella. I've been working and (blogging for breaks), getting things organised.
We "kick-start" our Project to migrate our accounting platforms on Monday week, so there is much to do, logistically and contractually speaking over the course of this week.
I have also been watching one of my favoutite movies, "Apollo 13" for inspiration, as I have done many times before.
[I am always inspired by the achievements of NASA, and was overwhelmed with awe when we had the opportunity to visit Cape Kennedy exactly two years ago. It is the epitome of Project Mangement - Vision, a technical solution, a diverse group of people who possess different skills all working as a team to achieve a common objective.]
Back to Appollo 13, I admire the character played by Ed Harris who played the Mission Controller, 'Ed Kranz'. Always dignified under pressure, and not necessarily a technical person but knows just enough to get the right stuff done through the right people.
I'm fairly new to the "People Thing" myself, but I'm fast learning that there are only very few technical issues that can't be solved in "Project World" - but there is always a technical solution. The only real issues are 'People issues'.
We are currently going through the 'forming stage' of the Project. Its becoming routine ('as sure as the sun rises, the theory always manifests in practice) - but every time it is sightly different.
Naturally, people are unsure of their roles are and how they wll fit in and be seen by Me or the team. Insecurity, grievances unfamiliarity are all a bomb waiting to explode. But inevitably, as soon as we get some early wins on the board, give credit where it is due, celebrate a successful milestone or two, the team settles down and works as a team should.
Got to admit, despite the headaches from time to time, I love what I do. That's the nature and beauty of vocation.
This is one to keep your eye on.
My wife was visiting a friend in hospital last night, and I was baby sitting. The premiere of a new TV series caught both mine and my sons attention last night - "Joan of Arcadia". (Yes, we were fans of "Touched By an Angel", "Party of Five" and the sacharine sweet "Seventh Heaven").
This one looks interesting.
A girl who has a unique relationship with God, who incognito appears to her as a variety of characters - a girl in the playground, a garbo, a young teenager, an electrician - and talks with her.
What is interesting to me is the accuracy and insight contained within some of the responses that God gives to Joans question's on suffering, the rarity of miracles, his character etc. Her father is Chief of Police and her brother has recently been crippled in a car accident - and all this winds into the plot. She makes friends with and discovers potential and purpose in the lives of "rejects".
As this article says "The punch of "Joan of Arcadia" is that even with God in Joan's corner, things don't always go well - though there's always a moral, and a moment, to take away at the end".
The show is supposed to be non-denominational but one can't escape seeing both overt Jewish and Catholic influences.
I for one am very wary o the influence of universalism, and the New Age, and for now I will place it on a "watching brief". But it looks intriguing.
By the way, my son was put to bed before the show ended last night...he ran into our bedroomthis morning and the first sentence to fall from his lips was "What happened to God?".
At the very least it will make you think.
\Re*spon`si*bil"i*ty\ n.; pl. -ties (-t?z). [Cf. F. responsabilit['e].]
1. The state of being responsible, accountable, or answerable, as for a trust, debt, or obligation.2. That for which anyone is responsible or accountable; as, the resonsibilities of power.3. Ability to answer in payment; means of paying
Its 1:05pm WST. Working from home. I’ve been drafting a document all day without a break.
No Lunch yet. And I am thinking about the definition of Responsibility.
I would define responsbility as: “the force that binds you to making the right decision when forced with an intense temptation to sneak out and grab a coffee from the ‘Purple Goat’ while your 7 month old son lies asleep in his cot...".
I’ve got very serious coffee withdrawls OK...instant coffee is gross!
I am busy getting a Project of the ground, so I am blog thieving at the moment - as there is little time to be original:
This Quote from Gavin Lloyd's Blog in UK:
"Men are born soft and supple; dead, they are stiff and hard. Plants are born tender and pliant; dead, they are brittle and dry. Thus whoever is stiff and inflexible is a disciple of death. Whoever is soft and yielding is a disciple of life. The hard and stiff will be broken. The soft and supple will prevail." - Lao-tzu
Life Thoughts From Underneath A Jetty
