Entrepreneurialism

Willingness to take a risk to make money is what being an entrepreneur is all about. There is more to it, of course, but for the most part, the profit motive is the primary spur to going into business for ones self.

Sustaining the business so it produces reliable streams of profit is another thing entirely. For the entrepreneur, however, this is a challenge happily engaged. In fact the challenges are the daily fuel an entrepreneur feeds on to keep him – or her – going!

An aside: women comprise the majority of entrepreneurs. Be it retail, manufacturing, services or professional services, women by far outnumber men in starting businesses and saving them, too!

Back to the focus of this posting: entrepreneurs are the glue that hold the American economy together. They are the starters of new businesses. They are the innovators of new products and services that small businesses excel at. Let’s face it, if a new product or business trend looks promising and has lasted for a while, larger firms either buy out the smaller firms providing these goods and services, or they compete on a larger basis to smother the small guys. The big companies could do the innovating themselves but often they are so bureaucratic they stifle creativity and motive among their staff.

No; it is the small firm that most likely re-energizes old industries and creates new markets, new products and new services.

Entrepreneurs create something else. They identify capabilities within people. They encourage the capability to emerge, to be tested and perfected. If the creative spirit is located in a person without personal confidence to pursue the new creation, friends and colleagues may do it for him. Together they form an entrepreneurial team that runs with the idea and makes it happen.

The spirit to renew the self, the business, the mind – whatever, resides within each and every one of us. Not all are able to actuate the necessary parts to make a new business take form and function successfully. Thankfully there are a lot of people willing to support such business formations. Successful societies do this, make these things happen.

Successful societies make sure these things happen. Such is true in America today. Oh, the ebb and flow changes throughout time, but creative urges are almost always present in the USA. We were built on individual initiative and creativity. Besides we have whole industries that thrive on helping the entrepreneur exist and thrive.

Such industries are: banking, educational institutions, libraries, central governments, regional governments and charitable foundations.

The federal government has the Department of Commerce and the US Treasury. Both support the promise of new businesses. The Commerce Department, however, is home to the Small Business Administration. There they support early funding of new businesses, provide loan guarantees to banking institutions to make loans of promise to new businesses, and generally promote and educate entrepreneurs to take a chance on themselves and the nation to produce new jobs and new industries.

A helping hand to the SBA is SCORE – Service Corps of Retired Executives. SCORE has over 11,000 mentors nationwide providing free mentoring to people hoping to form their own businesses. SCORE also works with small businesses that already exist but dream of advancing their operations to a larger plane and market. All SCORE mentors are volunteers.

Each SCORE mentor brings a lifetime career to bear in helping the entrepreneur find his footing to start his business. Each mentor also has at his or her fingertips the experience and expertise of all the other mentors to help his client succeed. Together SCORE mentors help each other support and nurture the new firm to a successful start.

Once that’s done, SCORE mentors help the small business succeed, grow and expand to support yet more business success.

It is not done overnight. A lot of face to face meetings, workshops, late night phone calls and shared cups of coffee go into the mentoring process. Slowly but surely, though, the creative entrepreneur is supported in forming a business that will fulfill dreams of many people in the coming years.

Today, March 31, 2015, The Fox Valley SCORE Chapter (Illinois) is conducting a Small Business Forum from 1 to 5 pm at the Northern Illinois University Naperville Campus on Diehl Road. Panel discussions, workshops, individual mentoring and a plenary session will be available for anyone desiring help in thinking through their small business idea.

Although not free the afternoon is cheap: $30 preregistration and $45 at the door. Many lifetimes of experience and career expertise are there for the asking. Not just this  afternoon but long into the future. Come today and stay with SCORE for the life of your business. Our work is free.

Why? Because we care. Besides, it is in all of our interests that these new businesses get their start and succeed. It is the American way. We care and we build. And we do it as volunteers. How’s that for low overhead?

March 31, 2015

Oil Economics

The gas pump price collapsed this winter. It was projected to remain low. Then prices jumped 30-cents. Lately they skyrocketed another 50-cents. That says a lot about the earlier projections. Here’s what’s happening.

Some of these things you know in your heart to be true. Others you suspected. But now we have the goods on the oil industry.

First, summer fuel stock is formulated differently than winter fuel blends. Summer’s fuel is designed to ignite faster despite warm and humid temperatures. That’s why there is a summer formulation different from winter. Also, volatility is different to improve efficiency in hotter climates and mountain regions. Supposedly oil refineries pay more for this blend of gasoline. I don’t think the facts have ever been shared with the public on this pricing aspect. Oh yes, refineries have to be reprogrammed to produce the seasonal fuel formulations, but then they would have to maintain, shut down, and deep clean the refineries periodically anyway. They also do this to switch production to different products throughout the year. The question is: is it really necessary to increase the cost of fuel for these reasons? And by so much? I doubt the industry is being fully honest with us on this point.

Second, refineries shut down routinely for maintenance, modernization, and replacement engineering projects. These shutdowns only moderately influence overall production quotas and supply/demand ratios are normally unaffected. The shutdowns are planned and well calculated in production and pricing routines.

Third, an explosion or fire that destroys one refinery will not affect the fuel supply chain to the point of altering pricing. It just doesn't. Refinery capacity in America and overseas is more than sufficient to adjust supply calculations adequately to avoid price impacts to the consumer.

Fourth, the oil industry carefully reduced refinery capacity during the 1990’s to remove overcapacity from their price calculations. This is the single largest reason behind the pricing debacle by the industry. They attempted to make this happen so they were still in control of their pricing protocols. Shame on them.

Fifth, overcapacity in oil production exists throughout the globe. Why else is Russia in the economic pickle it is in now? Oil and natural gas sales is its ace in the hole for foreign currency. Without energy sales, Russia is without the ability to pay its bills on the world market for any and all goods produced outside of Russia. Russia would dearly like to sell all of its energy supplies to earn the funds to pay its bills. There is no energy fuel shortage in Russia. Or in Saudi Arabia or even in the war torn Middle Eastern region.

If supply is plentiful, why are prices at the gas pump higher? Because they can be anything the oil industry wants them to be. That’s why.

Christmas and New Year’s Holidays? Gas prices zoom. Same for Spring Break, Palm Sunday weekend and Easter Weekend. Also for Thanksgiving weekend. Any time the social calendar suggests family auto travel, the price of gas rises. It’s been this way for generations. Why would it be any different today?

All of the above is an ugly truth the oil industry continues to hide. But there is more.

The oil industry continues to shake the seats of power in Washington DC so its bidding is well served. Oil interests have donated funds to politicians for well over a hundred years so those same politicians would earn their keep by passing legislation favorable to the industry. Back home the congressmen claim this is saving jobs in their districts. But what it is really doing is saving his or her seat in congress. $150,000 or $300,000 goes a long way in re-electing a congressman every two years. In fact, fund raising for re-election is a constant job. That’s why the office holder is always looking for the funding hand that feeds him. It is only natural after a few years to assume oil industry legislative goals are a slam dunk.

Is this cynical? No! It is an honest assertion of the way life is in Washington DC.

So oil interests continue to be supported and nurtured at every turn.

The same goes for the oil industry’s sister industry – automotive manufacturing. You see, it is in the interest of the oil industry that car manufacturers continue to make gas-burning vehicles so there is a ready market for their energy products. And congress goes along with this.

The point is major: as a nation we need to find alternate energy sources to replace oil as it is depleted from the planet. Same with natural gas. These two energy sources are finite. One day they will cease to be. It is prudent we find replacement energy. Not alternate energy. Replacement.

It is only natural the oil industry does not want this to happen. They have a huge investment in their drilling, supply line and refinery facilities. They don’t relish writing these investments off to zero. Yet they are the very people who have the most to lose if they do nothing; they are also the very people who have the most to gain by discovering new energy sources and converting society to that new replacement energy source. They have the infrastructure to do this, they have the know-how, the research and development tools, and the funding to accomplish this herculean task.

With universities and governments assisting, the energy industry can succeed at this.

Why don’t they? Because they earn far too much from penny ante antics today to make it worth their while.

It’s time we called them out on it. And called our elected officials out on this as well. Who’s working for whom?

Congressmen – your job is to lead. Do so!

March 30, 2015

Thought for the Day

Senator Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) provides another pithy quote for us today:

“The largest private sector employer in the United States used to be General Motors, which paid unionized workers good wages and good benefits. Today, the largest private sector employer is Wal-Mart, which opposes unionization and pays low wages with minimal benefits. For the sake of our kids, this path downward must be reversed.”

Those General Motors employees also paid taxes on strong earnings and thus supported governments at all levels in our society. Those earnings are much lower today, and taxes paid are even less, thus starving the governments of what they need to care for their people and taxpayers. Instead, the current employees of Wal-Mart earn so much less that they are eligible for federal assistance in income and medical care. Wal-Mart does not pay these benefits but the government does. And it is the rest of us in society that pay that bill through our taxes.

This is a subsidy that is not subtle.

Yet Wal-Mart benefits of lower taxes because they pay politicians ‘donations’ for their re-election. In turn they pass legislation that softens the tax bite for Wal-Mart.

You see how this works, right? When will we change this?

March 28, 2015

Futures Built on Healthy Youth

For millennia generations have come and gone. Immigrants, emigrants, native born. Babies of love. Babies of hope. Babies without homes, homelands or even parents. War babies, orphans, too. Mangled babies from accidents, war and evil hands.

Scanning the news one realizes many births are in war torn areas of the world. Yet they still happen. Always with a struggle the miracle of birth remains; in war-torn areas the miracle is heightened by survival of the newborn even for a few years.

The news cameras catch sights of kids running through bombed out buildings, or straggling down streets riddled by poverty if not violence. They peek out at the cameras and often smile! They even cavort for the photographers and giggle their way through a ‘conversation’ with the camera crew. They are friendly kids. You can see it in their eyes that they are hopeful.

Of course we wonder how this can be. Were the situations reversed, how would we carry ourselves? Would we sport a smile for the visitors or would terror mark our faces? Would poverty be worn well on our face or would worry lines and fear tattoo a grimace for eternity’s photo?

Switch the scene to a densely populated locale, say something like India, Delhi perhaps? Or Bombay (Mumbai for the modernist)? A nation of 1.252 billion people (2013) has urban streets and even village paths teeming with people, mostly children. Nearly all of them apparently happy nested in their homes, neighborhoods and family surrounds. Giggling, darting, jumping and running, the kids are filled with spirit and energy. Like they should be.

The same in most parts of tribal Africa where villages bubble with happy energy from children. Of course there are exceptions where extreme poverty, hunger and disease reign supreme. In those trenches of horror and suffering kids may begin life in hope but soon experience the opposite. They become the burden older people simply cannot support any longer.

In America and in any other economically advanced society, youth are our temple of the future. We place our hopes and dreams in them so they can live better lives than ours. We educate them, feed them, and doctor them so they are ready for the future demands placed on them. We instill in them our hopes and dreams. The question is have we pressed them too hard, raised expectations too great? Do they feel hopeful and expectant? Or do defeat, worry and fear rule their days?

Most youth I think are happy and adjusting to their surroundings. They are loved and feel loved by their families. Of course there are those who are poorly loved, even abused and thwarted. Some are so badly abused they die. Often such deaths are horrible. We shudder at the thought. That is our ethic demanding a response to horrors inflicted by others.

Such is the panoply of life for youth even in America. Perhaps other nations do a better job raising their youth? Who knows for sure. But we in our land know or ought to know. Why else do we have kids but to continue the human race and provide progeny of our hopes and dreams?

We cannot live our kids’ lives. That truth forces two other truths: first, our youth must forge their own tale of survival and prominence into adulthood; we support and nurture but cannot live it for them; second, they must struggle with the negative forces as we did to learn their roles; and if they fail it is not our failure.

If they fail the tests of youth we will try and save them. That is a given. And so will the institutions of our society attempt to save them. But the saving is on the kids. They must do it on their own else they do not learn important lessons.

I work with youth who have abused drugs and alcohol. At first I wondered why they did this to themselves? I witnessed their disbelief of wrongdoing. I saw them fighting for freedom to do as they wished. They resisted parental controls, even court required controls. Eventually they went along to just get through the ordeal. They harbored the hopes of getting back to freedom to do as they wished.

The program surrounding them requires them to behave differently than they would wish. In doing that, however, the hope is they will glimpse a healthy role for them to follow. That role is not theirs by design; it is ours, the adult world’s prescription to fix the kid’s behavior.

What if their behavior is natural? What if the abysses of troubles they are embarked upon are what they ought to be experiencing? Perhaps such are the tests youth must live through if they are to have the strength to survive later tests. Survival of the fittest we ask? Perhaps this is a test of that?

Some of the kids in our program sit silently observing the actions of others in the room. These same quiet ones laugh at passing humor, go along to get along but exit the program with passing assessments. I ask: if they have silently acquiesced to what is expected, have they actually learned anything they can use in the future? Maybe; maybe not. At least they ‘learned’ to get by.

Those kids who fight the system and the program exit it at long last, later not sooner. But I wonder if they are the ones who have actually learned something they can use throughout life?

I don’t posit these thoughts lightly. I’m concerned that each of us be challenged by life so we can learn what mettle we have inside to fashion survival tools. As much as I resent the arrogance of some of the kids, I think I am seeing the nerve and stuff of power they have to make something of their lives.  That is a good thing.

I know the chaos of their feisty resistance to the desired norms is frustrating. It is noisy and difficult to work with. Then again it is not our lives they are working through. It is their own.

I hope our work provides them with the tools they will need. Their future is not ours. We have our futures in hand. Today it is their turn to find the future they want and expect. Or not! But then they will have their own tools hard won to do battle with.

March 27, 2015

Commentary on Recent News

Well, perhaps it is not news, just pieces published for public consumption. Most likely they were designed for such consumption and represent little logic or factual basis.

For example, take John McCain’s assertion that President Obama take it easy with Netanyahu! Yes, McCain actually said this. He thinks the President has taken easy offense from Israel’s leader and shouldn't let the world see this side of him.

Well, John, what would you say had you been elected President and had your Congress/Senate/opposition party ignore the Constitution and directly involve themselves in peace negotiations? When the President sat down in thoughtful discussion with a prominent newsman and aired his thinking in this area, he shared important thinking with the public. Rare that a head of state does this with full intellectual strength applied.

But McCain feels otherwise. He is not ready to admit he was wrong to dabble in matters of state, let alone join 47 lone wolves of the Senate to do that. He is not ready to admit that Israel does not control America’s future or Middle Eastern policy. Nor should it. No, McCain doesn't understand the fine points of the Middle East’s delicate balance of power.

But he sure is willing to demonstrate his ignorance. And to think he came close to being President. Along with Leslie Graham, John must think he has international relations down pat. Not!

George Zimmerman – the putz who killed Treyvon Martin on a vigilante run – thinks President Obama is responsible for the racial divide in this country. Imagine that! The guy who sneaked around in the dark as a self appointed keeper of the peace follows a sweat-shirted black youth walking to a friend’s home in the neighborhood, thinks he is up to no good and shoots him dead. Shoot first, ask questions later; I’m white with a gun; you are black without a gun; I don’t want you in my neighborhood; I’m entitled; you’re not. Bang!

Sure Mr. Zimmerman, Mr. Hot Temper, Mr. Constantly In Trouble; you have the answers, right? You have proven to the rest of us that your cool calm demeanor analyzes an issue calmly and accurately and leads you to the correct action. Right?

Why any news organization would even give Zimmerman the spotlight and microphone is beyond me. Zimmerman is the racist who stirred up a whole lot of trouble. And he gets to label others?  I don’t think so.

Kardashian. It is a word meaning celebrity, empty celebrity. The family name conjures a horde of publicity seekers and egocentrics. They produce nothing but self attention. No real glamour, news or good works. Just self notice. And noise. Don’t forget the noise. All signifying nothing. What putzes we are to give them air time!

Volatile Stock Markets.  So investors are moving their money into and out of selected stocks in anticipation of a hike in interest rates authorized by the Federal Reserve Bank? The investors want higher interest rates because they think they will earn higher returns on their investments. What they seem to have forgotten is that return on investment is a reward for taking a risk. Currently the investment community is not taking many risks. To prove the point, please note the $7 trillion in cash lying idle. At least that much. Because there are no takers on using this available cash hoard, interest rates remain low. Because millions of underemployed people still want better jobs, and still more millions of unemployed need a job, interest rates remain low.

Get it? Available manpower and mucho available money. All waiting for risk takers to use them.

But they don’t. Why? Because they don’t want to take a risk. Oh, maybe they would if the federal government guaranteed them, like the investment banking debacle of 2007-2009? Or maybe the utter collapse of the American real estate industry? And the mortgage industry? Remember those bloodied noses and black eyes? Losses were guaranteed. The American taxpayer bailed out the risk takers. We The People bailed them out.

And today, those same risk takers are sitting on their goodies afraid to make a move unless someone holds them harmless.

Last time I checked there was a long list of risks they could take; most would likely earn them a bundle of profit. Here’s just a taste of what they could take a risk on:

1. Find a new way of generating power to replace fossil fuel electric power generation. Make this energy source renewable and environmentally safe.
2. Tweak physics to discover a new portable energy source to power personal transportation (automobiles) without endangering the planet’s air/water/soil, and make this discovery self sustaining and renewable.
3. Design and build new housing options for an aging population; eliminate steps and stairways; design in low maintenance and long lasting surfaces.
4. Re-design commercial/retail spaces for adaptive uses now that retail goods and services are purchased mainly over the internet. What will we do with all the obsolete shopping malls and strip malls?

These four ideas are ready for risk takers. The American university network already has much research and development available for use and at low cost. The American military/industrial complex has invented the electronics of the future as well as the materials of the future that risk takers can use to advance their projects. We’ve already paid for these discoveries in our military budget. It’s time to use the goodies for the advancement of our living standards.

The return on equity for risk takers is already heavily subsidized. Why aren't they chomping at the bit to take on the newer risks? One wonders if their greed has finally blocked them from making any decisions?

Meanwhile, their indecision makes for volatile investment markets. They play the uncertainties very well because they control them. So, another opportunity made by them to make money from the rest of us. Playing the stock market for their own gain while their trillions await fruitful use in a later game written to their exacting standards.

For shame!

March 26, 2015

One Person at a Time

Can world peace be achieved one person at a time? Who knows the answer to that question when we haven’t tested the hypothesis adequately? Even if we had done so, could we measure the results accurately and the individuals involved?

Maybe not, but attitudes begin to change when just one person feels differently about an old idea and is able to express the new view to a few members of his family and friends. The change may encourage others to do the same; at the very least his change will have others questioning their established conclusions. In that atmosphere a lot could happen. Whether it will, remains an open proposition.

World peace is a huge issue. Hundreds of nations comprise the global family of decision makers regarding peace. And peace has an opposite – war. If we aren't speaking of peace, does it automatically call into play its opposite – war? I don’t think so. Between war and peace is much space. In that space a lot of talking and maneuvering can take happen. Each of those efforts can make a difference. Collaborations among several nations can shift and move toward new goals. Peace negotiations thus change and evolve.

We have witnessed the Women’s Movement change a nation’s position on many issues – women’s rights, abortion rights, access to education, expanded opportunities for women in international affairs, diplomacy and executive leadership of nations. One woman can change her mind, and move hundreds of others to join her. Those hundreds move thousands more and soon the movement has swept a nation to a new position internationally.

The same is true of youth, Christians, Muslims, Jews, Hindi as well as other faithful. They take a stand on an issue. Discussion begins. Modest agreement on basic principles follow. Clarification on disagreements occur as well. Those discussions are saved for another day when more attention can be devoted to them. But when that happens, more modest agreements take shape and old prejudices fall away.

Those participating make a difference in those discussions and revised thinking. Quiet contemplation and talk go a long way in changing mindsets, opening channels of communication. Youth have a way of doing that with seeming effortlessness!

The way is more complex when religious minded people gather to explore each other’s minds on faith. However, when they do they discover the roots of each faith tradition share core beliefs. Yes; they share much the same history and evolution of tradition. They have more to gain by working together than struggling apart.

One person can start the conversation. One person can carry the message to another potential participant. Later they may join in conversation. Or in written discussions exploring many possibilities.

This is basic communication aimed at understanding. Not finding fault or points of disagreement, but finding commonalities which demonstrate how similar we all are. It is at those moments and places that we discover seeds of peace.

Remember those old ‘bull sessions’ at the dorm during college days? Do you recall how flabbergasted you were when you learned a fundamental fact you based a lot of thinking on was actually quite different?  It changed everything at the time. You saw the people differently and your thinking shifted to another plane. Logic jumped to a new role in your process of weighing ideas – old and new!

Those changes happen all the time when people of goodwill sit down to discuss issues honestly and openly. You and I can do that. We are just ‘one person’. We can find peace at least among us?  Who is to know where this will lead? Maybe world peace – eventually?

It seems improbable but what can we gain from it? Very likely world peace.

Just imagine.

March 25, 2015

Building Blocks

Stop and think what makes a strong community. Might these elements be present?

• Neighbors aware of each other and caring about them; watching out for their well-being
• Kids playing well together in the neighborhood
• Community is economically stable, self sustaining
• Schools are respected, supported and families are involved with them
• Citizens feel safe and secure in their town; police and fire services are effective
• Public utilities are reliable and affordable: water, sewer, electric and natural gas systems work well with few outages
• Citizens are active and knowledgeable of local affairs
• Local governments are responsive to citizen needs

What attracts these elements in the first place? Might it be as simple as citizen expectations? We who live in these communities expect good government, mutual participation in civic affairs from our neighbors, family involvement in the schooling of our kids and an environment of active management of our communities?

If that is so, where do these expectations come from?

I suggest people expect things when they are involved, discuss life around them, get to know people, and in turn those people get to know them. Participation breeds understanding and awareness. Thinking about the issues and exercising logic enters the picture, too. Sounds a whole lot like education related skill sets, doesn’t it?

If we expect life to be good, pleasant, productive and forward looking I think education is a common denominator that we all must share. That gets right back to providing schools within the community that prepare kids for adulthood and living lives that matter to them.

If we glance superficially around our schools, today, we will find each has strong points; and weak points. The latter are mostly about funding; the former are mostly reliant on attitudes of staff, teachers and families. If those folks desire kids to eventually take responsibility for their own lives then schools will need to prepare each student to use their talents to good advantage.

Each student comes to the community with different abilities, interests and dreams. It is the job of the community to help each student find his way, pursue his dreams and interests, build abilities into performance strengths and then let him loose on the community to do his life’s mission. The mission will vary from kid to kid. Just like the rest of us, we are all different. We all have different roles to play in our own lives, in the lives of others, and in the promise and performance of each community.

We are not alone. We are not totally self reliant. But communities do not automatically come endowed with the willingness and open-mindedness to provide supports to the individuals within the community. That is an acquired feature of the community. It comes from a well educated population committed to carrying that tradition forward to the next generation and the next and so on.

Such communities are self sustaining. They develop the local economy sufficient to support the costs of running the community, supporting its families, and providing the necessary infrastructure that maintains a well run town. The citizens recognize these strengths and support them through volunteer actions and paying taxes. It comes from education and creates more education.

Like so many things in life there is no beginning or ending of good things. They are intentionally started, intentionally provided, and intentionally expected to return good results.

Such is not all about schools but good schools come from this public action. So do many other things great communities require of themselves. But I think strong public education is the keystone of all of this.

If you agree, help your local schools succeed. If you agree, get involved in public affairs and lend your hand to carry the issues forward to everyone else in town. Help build your community. Begin by realizing the importance of public education in all of that.

Building blocks are the key. Help make great things happen! Get involved.

March 24, 2015

Open Agenda

My time is open to new possibilities. Stepping away from the newspaper has freed up my time and attention. The latter is the most important. Attention. What I spend time thinking about, maybe doing something about. What are the most important things I could and should focus my energy on?

The freedom aches a bit. Like a new car that has extra horsepower yet local roads are not designed for that power. In fact traffic laws thwart use of the horsepower. So I ache to find the open road to test the car. Feel the thrust into my seat as my foot presses down on the accelerator. Yes! The freedom and the rush. Without it only yearning can take its place.

That sort of ache. I have the time and the brainpower to choose things important to my philosophy and learning. I have the capability to do something worthwhile. But what subject will receive this attention?

Currently I volunteer with SCORE, the national corps of retired executives, and mentor small business people attempting to open a new business or trying to improve an existing small business and take it to a higher level. This is a rewarding use of time. The people I meet are energetic, bright, filled with ideas and promise for the future. Our job is to help them channel their talent, ideas and time/money in a manner that will yield business results for them. With those results come another tiny boost to the economy and its resilience. This is like building a large ship one plank at a time.

Another volunteer effort is Alcoholics Anonymous. Specifically I work with those who need an extra boost of encouragement to get sober, or remain so. Working with a teen group at a local rehab center is an example of that work. There the teens (13 to 17) are mostly abusers of drugs and alcohol. Some are addicted, chemically dependent, although those patients have completed a detox program; our job with them is to alter behavior that led to the dependence in the first place.

This work is often frustrating because we have no control over the persons afflicted. We can only encourage, provide a helping hand, and an uplifting word to guide them on their way. There are no guarantees that such actions will have desired effects. Many good steps forward overshadowed by the downward slides!

Another involvement is church, mostly behind the scenes with committee work and idea generation. The occasional written piece is thrown in to help, too. Mostly this work is directed outward so that inward we can experience what the faith journey is all about. For most of us that journey is incomplete – a poor start, a bad middle, a few false re-starts, and finally a better exploratory journey today. Who knows where the finish line is? Indeed, does that really matter?

I also journal daily about whatever is on my mind. That’s what this blog is. And it has been mostly a daily deliverance for me for 3.5 years now.  Well over 1100 posts and 62,000 hits have occurred in that time period. And the audience is not just America, but global. That is a sobering fact in itself!

I sing (mostly at church) in the shower and car. I read a lot. I yearn, too, to write a book.

So that is what consumes my time presently. You can see how the newspaper consumed a lot of time. Now free of that, I can move into other areas of interest.

What will those interests be? Among available issues are these:

-World peace: what one person can do

-Futures built on healthy youth

-Finding the power within to…?

-Education reform

-Onward to a future without petroleum

-Music, art and the well educated person

-Other?

There seem to be several big-idea issues on the list. That’s as it should be. If we can’t get our heads around them, how can we expect anyone else to make a breakthrough?

Stay tuned as we explore these issues in more detail in coming months.

March 23, 2015

Thought for the Day

From Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. comes today’s idea to pursue:

            “We must build dikes of courage to hold back the flood of fear.”

If you think about it we live with an ocean of fears and doubts. We wonder how we will survive the threats and unknowns. Yet it is the living of each and every one of those that gives us the strength and power to survive.

It takes courage to go forth and experience life. The joy is realized that each experience didn’t kill us. Instead we are informed more fully what we need to do to yet experience a new challenge.

Dikes of courage will serve us well in so many unexpected places.

Do well. Do so with courage. And the fear will lessen. It won’t disappear. We need the fear to test us and our courage.

March 21, 2015

The Ages

I did not post to the blog yesterday. Wednesday was a 'getting ready for a colonoscopy' day. That meant no solid food. Only liquids and clear ones at that. Chicken broth and water were the mainstays. With that diet I attempted to maintain a normal schedule for the day. One meeting to get to prepare for, and conduct, then return home. 

As you might expect my mind was elsewhere. I didn't even feel interested in reading, let alone writing. So the Blog had a vacation.

Wednesday evening from 5 pm to midnight was consumed with preparation for the procedure early Thursday morning. Drinking a gagging concoction of bowel flushing ingredients was the task. It was not pleasant. I'll leave it at that.

And then the procedure day. All went well. We arrived at the hospital at 5:45 am, were processed into the gastroenterology wing and further prepped for a 7 AM procedure. Groggy but glad it was over, we were home shortly after 8 AM. Rocky fixed a small breakfast of eggs and English muffin and lots of juice. Then I hit the recliner and slept for 2 hours. They told me not to do anything outside the home and not to drive until Friday. I couldn't if I wanted to! I slept. A lot.

So here I am Friday morning bright and filled with energy! And ready to get back to a full schedule.

My thoughts are on ages -- A granddaughter turns 14. Another is 11. A grandson is 14 months old. And Mom is 101. My daughter is 43 and son is 40.

I’m nearing 72 and the body reminds me well of that fact. My brother is nearing 76 and my sister 73. The core family is dwindling and aging. The dwindle is slow. The aging fast.

What we do with that time is up to us. Always has been. Always will be. 

There are so many opportunities to follow. So many in fact that we mostly don't see them. How many times have you asked yourself  'where are the options'? You feel stymied and out of opportunities? The opposite is true in most cases. Options exist at every turn. We are too consumed by circumstances to see clearly.

Experience informs us - we can follow this path, or follow that one. Each decision allows subsequent options. As experience grows still more options appear, each with an opt in or out decision. The trouble might be that most of us do not have a clear idea of where we want to go. We say we want to be happy but don't know what that fully entails. We see other happy people but don't really understand why they are happy.

There is no template for happy. I have to make my life happy. I must discover what makes it so. And so do you and everyone of us.

Awaking to a new day makes me happy. Hearing birds warbling their tune of greeting makes me happy. Seeing people out and about on their routines makes me want to do the same. I check my calendar and note the appointments. No doctor appointments; that's good! No nasty meetings with people I don't want to be around. That's even better! Three meals ahead of me; that holds promise and satisfaction. I wonder what they will be? And that alone makes me happy.

The meetings I have posted and will continue to make are for a purpose I think is very positive. That is SCORE and the young and hopeful entrepreneurs we help begin or perfect their small businesses. That is a mission of long term hope and genius for our nation. New ideas, new businesses and fresh energy always give the promise of hope and economic development.

Those small businesses are the seedlings of happy lives. 

So too my work with AA and the church. Seeds of happy lives - helping others transform from less happy to more happy. That's a purposeful mission to follow. 

So too is smiling and saying something pleasant to complete strangers met in the course of a day. That behavior tends to leave a trail of smiles and good feelings behind. That is also a good mission to follow.

Age is a number that tends to be viewed as a template of how to act. It really isn't that. We only tend to make it so. No, age to me is yet another opportunity to follow the mission, or select a new one.

So many options. So many good things to do. To think about. To relish!

March 20, 2015

Without a Song

Sit down at a keyboard or a blank piece of paper. Fill it. Take 20 minutes or so to do so. That’s the assignment. OK.

Today not OK.

The yesterdays of years past were OK. Lots to think about. And so to write about. Pages filled quickly. They posed questions of the times. They suggested answers, or at least possible answers. So many options to choose among. So many ideas to sort through. So much yet to understand. But the process was exciting, enticing. Searching for meaning among the heaps of ideas always present is both a challenge and a joy.

The mind is agile if you let it. It can swing and turn on a dime. It can whirl into the third or fourth dimension in a flash. With those movements the mind follows and knows its company is good. All is OK. All makes sense. Maybe not to you and I at any given moment, but it does all fit together.

The sum of the parts equals the whole. The whole broken apart yields all the parts it needs to become whole again, when they are pieced together!

Recently my mind is at peace. Seemingly it is whole. Yet a nagging sense of something missing echoes my conscience. Am I on the precipice of discovery? Or the abyss? Peace or abyss? How does peace enter such a picture?

Not sure. But I’ll take a stab at it.

Today the keyboard beckons but the page remains blank. Well sort of; after all you are reading the page, right?!

Yes, you are. But the ramblings of my mind are what you are reading. Whether there is cogent thought presented here is open to broad interpretation! I am willing to go forward with this. It is in the end an exploration of what we think, the thoughts not thought before, or at least ideas placed in relation to other ideas ill fitting as they are.

The exploration is what we are about. It is the commentary on what is happening around us. It is the finding of meaning in a complex universe where everything is possible and every resource is available to address needs. The finding of the necessary needle in the mounds of haystacks is but one of the mysteries we labor over. Yes, once the needle is found, one must consider which problem it is among the many it will be used to apply its solution.

Is it a medical conundrum we are focusing on? Or a political one? Or a geopolitical enigma desiring solution over the ages? Perhaps it is a marital issue or a workplace disagreement we struggle over. So many layers of consideration. Of problems and applications of balm.

The ordered mind sorts these things out to a point. Society, however, is not an ordered mind. Society is a construct of millions of minds contorted by history and experience over time thus further complicating the playing field. Order, you see, is relative; relative to time, place, history and context. All are in play all the time. We do not have the luxury of stopping time, performing an exploratory surgery or autopsy on the problem to discover the best solution. No; we have only our wits to use and palliate the circumstances. Not solve. Palliate.

Stop the world we want to get off? Hardly practical but at times we wish it were possible.

If what we are experiencing is uncomfortable and unpleasant, perhaps we need to find another approach to handling it? Do you think? And does this involve only ourselves?

No, it doesn't. All are involved who are affected by it or want to control it for their own reasons. That’s where diplomacy and sharing enters the picture. Whether this is an international peace issue or a medical discovery puzzle matters little. Defining the problem is the first order of business. Identifying who is involved is the second. The third is knowing the resources available for solving the enigma. The fourth is the hardest: sharing and working with people at odds to craft the solution. Then apply it.

It doesn't matter if the issue is financial, relationship, construction, medical or musical. We can perform the dance solo or in ensemble. The universe of experience is more complex but more rewarding if we engage with all of the others.

It is why the universe is so complex. Not one of us has the answer. At least not alone. So why do we continue to fill blank pages?

Engage.

March 18, 2015

Now is the Time

There comes a time when a person knows something has to change. At first what needs changing eludes identification. So much does need changing it is hard to pick which gets our first attention.

For example, it’s time for the news. In years past this was the late afternoon, pre-dinner cocktail hour. The 5 o’clock news, a scotch on the rocks, a few cigarettes and the news to bring me up to date. What was happening, how did the stocks end their day, how bad or good was the weather today and what’s in store for tomorrow? You know the sort of thing.

Over time this ritual takes on a different meaning. The cigarettes become unpleasant, unsatisfying; even the scotch loses its allure. But the news? Brother, it drones on and on with less and less meaning or timeliness. Boring. Predictable. Two-sided, maybe biased.

So changes were made. Fewer cigarettes was one change. Scotches were counted. Then different news channels were tried. In the end it came to the same disappointing result – the good was boring and the boring was bad.

So, smoking was eliminated. So too the scotch.

These changes, however, did not save the news hour from being boring. So the news was eliminated. No more TV news. What was reported didn’t interest me and the why was always elusive but suggested anyway. I searched for an alternative.

I found it in internet news items from trusted suppliers (Associated Press reports, BBC items, New York Times articles, NPR and IPR articles, etc.). I found these offerings complete with cited articles and research papers. Data was present to be scanned. Research questions were posed and partly answered. The unfolding weight of the stories were allowed their own tempo.

In this way the evening news/cocktail hour was eliminated and re-programmed.

Over time, say a year or two, other habits changed. More novels were read. New non-fiction books were investigated. The mind was engaged in finding perspective from a world of stimuli. Questions formed. Always with an open ending – who? What? In what order? When? Why?

The questions were enough for a few years. Eventually, however, they demanded a response rather than more searching.  Foundational ideas were sought. Something that told me what was important to me, what needed focus by others, and where we were headed, not just me, but everyone on this planet.

I know, that’s a huge thought! Who am I to even pose the question let alone wrap my head around the idea.

At some point, though, I had to do it. Pose the question and idea. Don’t you do this as well?

As we mature I think it is natural to fit disparate ideas and happenings into a shared context to better understand their meaning and value.

I recall staring at a sunset. Ever changing in color and intensity until fading slowly it disappears. What did I just witness? Was it only for that string of moments or was it of long-term weight? The quick response was it was for the moments only. And the ideas those moments called forth in response.

Beholding beauty – view – vista – scenes – is an act all by itself but it holds meaning and impact on our lives. It changes our thinking. We build a world view from these moments. They change us. But when we contemplate them seriously we are informed by them.

How often do we contemplate these matters? Are we systematically piecing things together? Are we informed by our life experience? Do we do this consciously and intentionally? If yes, great! If not, why not?

Perhaps now is the time to contemplate what it all means. Maybe it is time we took a stab at understanding our lives and what’s happening?

I’ve been doing this for some time now; still need to do more but more importantly, I need to extract more understanding from this process.

How about you?

March 17, 2015

Taking Step Two

A lot has happened in the last few months, 6 to 8 weeks specifically. 

The happenings are seen as daily events, routines of life. We don’t set out necessarily to do something different, we just do it. For some reason we decide to handle an event differently than we have in the past.

This presents a fresh set of experiences. New stimuli. Even a new perspective emerges. That alone is empowering. So we think a little bit more about it and suddenly we are breaking old molds, shaping new patterns, and living life a little differently.

Renewal evolves like that. Say your working for the same employer 15 to 18 years and you realize one day that the hopes and dreams you started with are not yet realized. As new agendas appear and become routine your old dreams are set aside yet again. And so it goes, over and over until one day you say to yourself – ‘what is the point of all of our work?’  Are we getting where we wanted to go? Am I getting where I wanted go?

In an uneasy flash we see clearly that the answers to both questions are no.

The next question is why?

Then the cascade begins. New ideas, new routines, better work methods and a yearning to make a difference someway, somehow. This isn't about making a living anymore. It is living in a way that matters. That appears more and more as an awareness and common theme.

Suddenly I’m looking for another work relationship, a project, a plan, that will absorb creativity, attention, inventiveness all for a riveting objective. Whatever it is. Whoever is involved. It the new grail – the search for purpose.

Old relationships are de-emphasized, even old careers are disengaged. A new partnership is entered to attempt to get better things accomplished.

Reinventing myself is hard to do. Same for you. But we all are asked to do this from time to time. Sometimes it is an opportunity that beckons from unexpected origins. Other times we recognize an opportunity that has been staring us in the face for a long time. We are now sensitive and aware that the opportunity is real and needs our attention.

We re-invent ourselves on our own terms as well. The mid-life crisis might be the stimulant, but most likely we just get tired of the same old thing and need new ideas to make life interesting. We switch to another career. Or we catch the entrepreneurial bug and start our own business. Whatever, asked or not, we are likely to be vulnerable to major life changes. Maybe twice or three times. Retirement is an automatic major change. The same impulses are at work then as in earlier moments of life changing circumstances.

For the lazy there are few opportunities. One does what one has been doing. Over and over again. For years and years, and then retirement, then a few trips and finally death.

For the ambitious (not boring) person opportunities exist in unlimited forms. Much to do, many ways to do each and every one of them, and the ability to address each is very much a given to each of us.

Unlimited possibilities. Which ones make the most sense for me? Or for you? Which ones ought to be explored first, then second and third? What are the priorities in need of settling? What transition work is needed to make the change? What preparations should we make? Do we even have to consider if this change is safe?

Quite doubtful. In this atmosphere change is inevitable and we know we have to make it. So we do. And logic is followed as surely as night follows day.

What could be easier? Why would it be unsafe?

The future beckons and it offers excitement. The juices begin to flow. And the ideas.

March 16, 2015

Thought for the Day

Love this quote:

            Economics 101:

                        We can’t have a consumer-based economy

                        If consumers can’t afford to consume.”

                                                ~Facebook.com/NoTeaParty

It companions well with this quote from President Franklin D. Roosevelt:

“The test of our progress is not whether we add more to the abundance of those who have much; it is whether we provide enough for those who have too little.”

Now place both of these in context with today’s congressional ‘discussions’. Sad isn’t it?

March 14, 2015

Back to Basics

       

Lately I’ve written a lot about a local matter. It’s time to return to commenting on issues large and small.

Found on the internet over the past few weeks are several quotes I’d like to write about. Today I will select three.

The first,

“Connect with people who are excited about celebrating people and not destroying people.”  ~Marcusgill.org

What a wonderful thought! Every newscast seems to be about people hurting other people either physically or mentally. Then there are the political items in which ideological enemies strike out at each other. Rather than focusing on what we can build together, or invent collaboratively, we settle on what’s wrong with the other guy. Not very healthy for any of the parties.

How refreshing to spend time with people who see the world as opportunity and possibility. Life is given by those people and in those times spent with them. Exciting and fulfilling. With these rewards so evident why don’t we spend more time with these people?

The second,

“If a doctor, lawyer or dentist had 40 people in his office at one time, all of whom had different needs, and some of whom didn't want to be there and were causing trouble and the doctor, lawyer or dentist, without assistance, had to treat them all with professional excellence for nine months, then he might have some conception of the classroom teacher’s job.”  ~Donald D. Quinn

Simply put, no other professional but a teacher puts up with this. Oh, maybe a group therapist would/does, but then not for long!

The creative field for the teacher is the chaos of the minds of younger people. The challenge is to bring order to the chaos and help them accept their surroundings in order to learn. The process is the gold that brings order from chaos. Together the students learn about each other and themselves. The gold is experienced not seen or touched. And then used over and over again to expand the universe.

The third,

“A perfect person

doesn't smoke,

doesn't drink,

doesn't cry,

doesn't fail and

Doesn't exist.”           

~Anonymous

Well let’s see, I don’t smoke, or drink; haven’t for many years. But I still do cry and boy have I failed, even recently! So I guess I’m in pretty good company. How about you?

March 13, 2015

Letting Go

OK, I quit the newspaper as managing editor. Trouble is I’m a co-founder as well. The legal papers say three of us own equal parts of the paper. I don’t know how that figures because we have differing dollars invested in the paper. In fact the other two were funding our operations without my knowing it because at the time my finances were in shambles.

We have managed to pay down those interest-free loans. In my case entirely paid off. But then I didn't lend the enterprise a lot of money. Later I couldn't lend it any.  But the other two guys kept writing checks. A lot of them.

Yes, we have paid one down to only a working balance of about $5000. The other co-founder probably has $10,000 riding on the books.  If the newspaper closes its doors, they don’t get paid. I don’t like that very much. I’d rather we kept the paper going until we can pay the two guys off completely. If we can do that, we are also saving the paper for the community. And that I like a whole lot.

We started the paper for the community. It has been a non-profit, all-volunteer organization from the start. To help pay the bills we entered the Winfield market. We attempted to address the West Chicago market but didn't find a group of citizens willing to write for the paper without pay. So West Chicago has been a non-starter. With the right outreach, however, I still think West Chicago would benefit from having its own coverage.

All of that is moot if the paper shuts down. None of the three communities ends up with a paper.

For now I’m getting some interest in keeping the paper alive in Warrenville. I think those people are reluctant to jump into running a newspaper; they don’t know how to do that. But neither did we at the beginning. We saw a need and did what we did to meet the need.

If it helps I will volunteer to be a coach to help new people take on the paper. If my help is seen as a barrier, I’ll step aside. Immediately.  Pretty simple offer.

It is a lot of work and not for the faint of heart. It is important for the community to take charge of its own paper. Are you willing to get involved?

If yes, let others know so this can become a group effort. Let me know if I can help.

March 12, 2015

Want a Local Paper?

Several blogs ago I announced my intention to remove myself from the local paper. I said that this decision was caused by the members of the paper’s management team developing divergent directions. They were each going in their different ways and that essentially was dissolving the team itself.

It takes time to do that. Dissolving is not done overnight. Routines are kept because it is easy to do. So we printed another issue of the paper. We have one ahead of us as well. There are obligations that need to be fulfilled. Advertisers have bought space and we will honor that.

Other obligations exist as well. One is honesty and credibility with the public. That requires a high standard to fulfill. It also takes discipline of thought and effort to bring off.

Last fall, we realized the bills would not be paid if we published twice a month. The first issue actually made money while the second issue was nearly an entire loss. So the first issue subsidized the second and we felt this was not right.  So we killed the second issue to see what effect it would have.

The public didn’t really notice right away. It took five months before people realized we were only publishing once each month. But we noticed something else. The public didn’t send us as much information as they had before. Our data resources were drying up. The calendar was cut in half. Announcements of key events went by the wayside. So too notices of deaths. The paper’s flow of information was shutting down.

We did not do that. Shutting down. It was a happenstance of our actions, but we didn’t plan on it. As the calendar producer I noticed it first. Then I noticed that few obituaries were being submitted to us. Finally I noticed the family and children’s clothing sale at the Fire Department was being announced by yard signs rather than a public relationship release to the paper. Also, Facebook postings were increasing for local events as well as announcements of actual news items.

An in-town armed robbery occurred and was solved in less than 24 hours. The criminals were in jail and no one was hurt. The mayor announced this over Facebook and was picked up by many others in town. The item never hit the newspaper.

So, pulling back the publishing schedule caused shrinkage of coverage and content. That is the death knell of any publication I think.

So here’s the deal. If our community wants a newspaper, it will have to be worked for by those same people who care. The ones who have done this for seven years are pooped. They need help. They have asked for help. They have received some help, but not enough.

If the community wants it, they have a ready made paper to take on. They will need a managing editor, an executive editor, writers, ad sales people and a host of other willing souls. The existing paper has had all of that in the past. From willing volunteers. Without enough support from the community, however, they have run out of steam.

Some of them may be willing to remain in place. Others are more than willing to train new people to replace themselves.

The key question, however, is this: Does Warrenville want a newspaper? Is the community willing to work for it?  It costs $4000 to produce a 12-page issue complete with overhead expenses. Note: this does not include the cost of writing; all such has been volunteered to this point. No one should assume this to continue!

The mechanism of the paper exists. The know-how exists. The need exists. New people with fresh energy are needed. Might you be willing?

March 11, 2015

Being Asked Again

Yesterday’s blog was a long one. About double the size of my normal posts. But it was the basis of some thoughts I think need to be explored.

Being asked for help is a two sided proposal.  First, being asked to help or lend a hand is an invitation for you, or me, to get involved in something of value for the good of the relationship or community or cause that many support. We often sit on the sidelines and wonder how others got involved when in fact, the opportunity to do so exists most of the time. All we need to do is respond to a request for help and involvement. Then we are in, involved, part of the scene that is making something happen. If you believe in it, explore it. Get involved. Step forward. Know that your help is always needed. Volunteer. Or wait to be asked. But if asked, for heaven’s sake, respond. Say yes. Do something positive.

Second, being asked for help requires us each to have courage, take the leap and say yes. The courage is needed, I think, because we don’t always know if we are capable of doing something. Truth be told, we don’t know if we do have the capability until we test ourselves. Try it. If it works, keep at it and acquire more skills and confidence in doing more of the same. If you do this, you might just be on the road to a new expertise. I might add, you are on the road to an expertise you didn't know you had!

That’s a pleasant surprise. We learn throughout life that we are more capable than we give ourselves credit for. And we often have the opportunity to become an expert in something that we hadn't fathomed before. The expertise comes with experience and skills honed through challenges well met. The expertise, by the way, remains with you as long as you practice it. Let up a little and you will lose a lot of the expertise. Take a prolonged vacation from the practice and you will most likely lose the expertise entirely. Forever.

But that aspect is not the feature of this post today. No, I want to focus on being asked, being ready to be asked, and having the courage to say yes.

We Americans have a good life but it has become too easy. We actually expect things to be good and well provided. Streets and highways are to be well built and maintained. They are supposed to be where they are because that is where we want and need to go. Schools, too, are supposed to be in the right place offering the right programs at the right time. If there is a problem we expect the problem to be taken care of, eliminated, fixed. The same with local infrastructure – water, sewer, communication networks, power grid and natural gas distribution. Whether owned and operated by a unit of local government or a public corporation, we expect the systems we rely on daily to be managed properly and expertly.

Until they don’t function as expected. Then we have a tizzy fit. We shout at the board of education, the city council, the village board of trustees, or the utility customer service agent. The former seats of authority might provide you some results; the latter most likely won’t (customer service agents).

My point is not to complain or expect consistent operating results. No, my point is this: don’t take so much for granted; get involved with the things you think are important and need some help to be better.

Every organization needs people within it dedicated to the mission and long term vision of the organization. Yes there are workers who do as they are told and expect salaries and bonuses if they exceed their performance objectives, but such folks often are not the vision people every organization needs if it is to succeed for the long term.

The same goes for public authority bodies. Active citizens who care that their communities, counties and states function properly today and for the long term are needed to get the job done. There is more to be done than there are ready hands to do the work, let alone the ready minds prepared and able to do the more difficult tasks of planning, organizing and asset acquisition necessary to prepare for the future.

If people come together to do these works in good faith a magical thing happens. Context erupts.

This is subtle. Often those involved don’t even know it is occurring. But small truths are discovered. We see them as facts. We work at something we don’t know, explore it and research it. We learn things. Small at first, we later place them together to see what might happen and we learn even more things. We expand our understanding of how the issues work together. They develop a context of meaning and performance relationships.

From this context we learn that other issues and problem areas have related solutions and dependencies. And those enrich our body of knowledge so we can perform well in a multitude of arenas for the organization.

Doing leads to understanding. Understanding leads to knowing.

This is not a perfect thing. Many things change enough and often enough to upset what we had understood earlier. So more doing is required. To keep us fresh and up-to-date.

Entering the context at some point pulls us into knowing and understanding. We can only do that by willingly getting involved and becoming a part of the whole enterprise. It starts with being willing, screwing up the courage to try, and hearing the plea for help.

Are you listening? Are you willing? And…?

March 10, 2015

Being Asked

I’m in a recovery program, one of those 12-step ones. It has been very successful for me. I wanted sobriety and peace and got it by following directions. Like a good little boy. At the time I might have acted like a kid, but I was 62 years old. Nine years later I’m doing good without any missteps. A critical factor in this success story, however, is a very difficult element. I’m thinking (I don’t really know this) this element is ‘humility’.

Humility is defined as a modest or low view of one's own importance; humbleness. Some synonyms would include modesty or lack of vanity. An action that would test humility is a simple one: asking for help. This action clearly requires a person to admit he cannot do something by himself and thus needs to ask another person for help.

That is not easy if you are not humble. Need a ride because your car is disabled or you don’t have the money to buy gas but really do need to get to the doctor? What to do? Ask for help. Or walk. The latter action may be a demonstration of determination but it is not one of humility. The person would find it hard to find sobriety if he couldn't ask for help.

Now, I’m not perfectly humble. What a surprise! I really work at being self sustaining and self reliant. If I can’t afford something I do without it. I still assert myself in ways many people wouldn’t think of doing. But assertiveness alone is not a lack of humility. Standing up for oneself is a good thing. It means a person has enough self value to work through the tough times in life and learn from them.

For instance, I love to sing. But singing in front of a group of people – or any one person – scares me to death. I learned to sing in choirs at church and school. Doing that I learned I had a decent singing voice; I just didn’t know how to fully use it. So I didn’t. Oh I sang in the shower and in the car. Loudly and with gusto! Little by little, however, the church asked for some help with the music and I just did it – sang liturgy. Most of the time I did it at the back of the church so no one could see me. Still do! The little boy inside remains with me!

Over time I became able to sing in front of people in little bits and pieces. It helped me control my fear, and develop enough courage to work through it all. Same with public speaking. That was a horrific chore for me but then I realized I had something to say that others needed to know if they were to grow. Slowly I gained enough courage to speak.

And then write for public consumption. It was a struggle but well worth it. Like most people I was nervous about writing for others to read. I felt exposed to ridicule, shame and the boogeyman. Or whatever is taken for the latter. Most likely the boogeyman is really a shadow or doubt about the self, but it is very real just the same. I didn't want to expose myself.

Over time I realized that I knew something that others needed to know or consider in their thought process. Thus I came to write reports for trade journals, then speeches for a few executives. Slowly but surely trade newsletters asked for more information on specific topics and I began to feed that information machine. I became published in a very small way.

When our community needed a paper I began to report on the doings at City Hall because I had been on the city council and knew the background on a lot of issues that others didn’t. So I became the de facto city hall reporter for the paper. From that we formed a new paper, I was named managing editor so I could help draw in a broad array of ‘news’ from the community and fill out the paper with lots of information and civic opinion. In that role I wrote obituaries and other interest articles. Rather than writing editorials, however, I formed a column in which opinions could be freely shared with the public, opinions and feelings that would help nurture and grow the spirit of community. That was my role.

That role required my courage to perform, to put ideas and thoughts out on the stage of public opinion where anyone could shoot me down. I felt very vulnerable. Frightened even. But feedback taught me that most people are kind and supportive. The experience helped me develop more courage and to stretch my writing capability. I got more feedback, mostly pleasant and confidence building. A trust was building.

So now I had courage to do things I hadn't done before. On a weekly and monthly basis as well. The paper built its own story as well and is now 7 years old. All volunteer. All non-profit. Built by and for the community. It is an interesting story of a small town newspaper in an electronic information age.

That story, however, was built day by day by people who cared and took the risk to put their ideas and writing on the stage of public opinion. Each of them had to overcome their nagging doubts about ability, grammar, syntax and facts. Each had to weather anonymous judgments and attacks from the public. Each had to push through to a different level to perform a service to their community. All those stories existed side by side unspoken and unshared. Through it the newspaper matured and survived.

It began by asking people for help – their writing, their organizing, their efforts and labor. We asked them to perform tasks they had never done before. We learned how to manage by team and without pay. We put in long hours and personal risks. Some even loaned money to the enterprise to get it going, to keep it going, and to overcome obstacles. The paper survived all of this because of all of them.

Talk about humility. None of us could have done this alone. Only in concert with fellow volunteers was any of this possible.

Like sobriety, losing oneself in a selfless enterprise teaches invaluable lessons about the self. Sticking with the program yields even more results previously unknown.

Now, the newspaper has some needs and is humble enough to ask for help. Here’s what it needs:

1. A Bookkeeper/Accountant willing to keep track of expenses and ad revenues while paying bills and balancing the cash flow to maintain operations
2. An Ad Sales Manager willing to develop a continuous flow of ad revenues from the community sufficient to pay the newspaper’s operating costs
3. An Information Technology manager to supervise, acquire and maintain the necessary technology platform to keep the paper operating in an electronic age
4. A Web Developer to upgrade our website so it mimics the newspaper’s printed edition but becomes a 24/7 hub of information flow within the community
5. A Webmaster to supervise the 24/7 functioning of the website and keep the information current and organized; and clean of foul insertions!
6. Calendar coordinator: seek, organize and arrange copy for the community calendar
7. Reporters willing to follow story assignments and write cogently about them; our editorial staff will make it look pretty and correct grammar and whatnot to help you look good! But we still need writers:
1. School sports – events, developing talents, photos, achievements, etc.
2. PTA and school news throughout the community
3. Rumor Central to receive, research and report on gossip and rumors that may or may not be true
4. Business news from within the community or affecting the community
5. City Hall reporting; county, too
6. Current events writing as they happen; unfolding news stories with impact
8. Donations to pay for upgrades to the paper.
9. Feedback from the community so it becomes the voice of the community.

The Village Chronicles could be a much better paper than it is with the support outlined above. Is there something you could do to help?

You are being asked to help. We are humble enough to ask. Are you courageous enough to lend your hand?

March 9, 2015