The following is brought to you by me, for free, and un-sponsored, for today is an un-ordered, un-strcutuered, un-scheduled and random rant about stuff. Odd part is some of what follows is about control which for the next hour I am willingly relinquishing for the good of the guy at the keyboard and perhaps you as well. Let it go and you will grow.
Welcome to the Best of BLOG. Unlike “best in class” which I never was for many reasons though I didn’t settle for second best, put myself to the test and found out second, third and so on ain’t that bad. We all need to find our place and space. This is why I NEVER recommend a movie, restaurant or most anything except my BLOG since it is good for me and YOU. Why? Because of the Power of Definition. Who or what defines BEST? A Primate Survey. Questionnaire. Opinions. I read it on the Internet so it must be true.
How is it that every doctor recommended to you is the best, the very best (meta message) in his field. We all can’t be the top student. Somebody is number two. I was about 350 out of 360 and glad to have graduated. Nurturing my heart will tell me that’s good and find something artificially positive when in fact I had to face the truth that I wasn’t the best. I was okay with that and still am. Even modern day top ten lists have a number one and a number ten. Who makes that decision? Judges? I always questioned movie critics who tore apart, analyzed, critiqued, criticized and sometimes spoke well of a movie. I thought if they knew so much as experts, BEST, and were so critical they should make a movie and let us do their job.
Speaking of CONTROL. Was I? (not from Get Smart you TV and movie folks) I mean CONTROL.
Example: A baseball pitcher cannot find the strike zone when pitching in the game. His pitches are wildly all over the place and the batter, catcher and umpire are in the line of fire and fear the unknown. I know this because it happened to me. I played Fast Pitch Softball. My position was shortstop. One day our catcher did not make it to the game. The coach looked at me and said, “put on the gear” which I did without hesitation having never been a catcher. Our main pitcher could put the ball anywhere I placed my glove as his target. He did this with any of the four types of pitches he threw. He had CONTROL. In the middle of the game he was called away to report to his work location. Our second pitcher took over. He was wild off the field and even wilder on the pitching mound. He threw only one pitch, a fast pitch, which had no direction and never reached its destination which was my glove. He pitched to the first batter he faced resulting in the batter reaching first base via a “walk”. To the second batter he threw five pitches two of which made contact with my unprotected private region. The sixth pitch found the same private region. I threw off the catchers mask and told the coach I am going to back to shortstop. The coach made a few adjustments and since he was a player-coach he took over the catching but kept his guard up. He, too, took pitches to the privates but he was wearing protection. What happened here was the second pitcher had no control and was taken out the game.
When we get out of control nothing good happens.
Soooooooooo, I want to include another cliche to “Best In Class”.
“To The Next Level”. Progress. Advancement. Upward Mobility. Keeping Up. Drive. Ambition. Spiral Up. Spiral Down. Down goes faster than up. like money. It takes a long time to save for something and a few minutes to click “buy”. Disappointment. Let Down. When will we be satisfied. Want to see how fast thirty days go? Sign an IOU at the bank.
We all reach our own level of incompetence. The wise folks know when they arrive. It is un-settling. It is a conscious awareness of the end (definition) of their journey. Best of all it does not have to be permanent only a delay or time-out from the quest for “success” which has already been achieved and conquered only often we don’t appreciate what we have accomplished and take it for granted. The wise in awaiting must do that, wait. When you get it either on your own or with support, guidance and help you are empowered. There is no clock like in baseball. Only time, which must be your friend explained in detail in an upcoming BLOG.
Most artists are highly critical of their own work. I could / should have done this, or that. I could / should have taken more time, used different materials and so forth. But, rare as they are, artists create beauty from pain. We could all use a dose of that because we are all hurting we just have to say it ourselves and someone we trust. I always thank the artist for allowing me to visit the place where they live. I can’t get there without the artist.
To move away from the rant I will chant.
I know I can, since way back I would say I can’t.
Keep It Simple – Keep It Real
POWER UP YOUR POWER ‘CAUSE THE POWER IS IN YOU!!!
Marty
hamp73@gmail.com
Keep It Simple - Keep It Real 