Sharing and Social Order

Individually we slowly grasp our surrounds. As kids we gather the stages of life skills. Later, we tackle the educational system and eventually exit to a job, a family, or another educational institution. In time, we mature in many ways and adopt adulthood.


Still later we embrace the social order that is immediately before us. The family. The neighborhood. The work environment. Church, commerce and culture come together in a tumble. Our world expands as we learn to balance it all.


Once learning the basics we soon learn that change forever wrests our understanding with new complexities. We adapt. We move on. We find rewards and interests that make it all worthwhile. Slowly we are aware of social order in broader contexts.


We share what we know with others and enter groups of common interest and fidelity. We adopt ways of thinking and filtering the rest of society. We are making sense of things. This is accomplished by sharing and trusting in norms of thinking and common definitions of terms.


As the world enlarges in time and experience, we continue sharing. Mixing timelines and frames of reference, we come to larger understandings of the real world. The boundaries stretch to include more territory and people, more topics and specialties of interest. We are growing. Cultures are growing in our minds.


Making sense of all this takes focus, attention, and gathering facts. Understanding it all in context takes more discipline and work. But in the end, there is no end. The kaleidoscope of change continues to challenge our senses. The only way to survive and thrive is to share and expand, share and expand.


Richness and texture of living excites. We try new things, trust and grow.


A pandemic makes this more obvious. And the obvious gives us the power to carry on and do the heavy lifting.


Tomorrow is another day.


April 30, 2020

Getting Down to Business

Serious people do serious work. That is the work that must be done as we struggle forward. Through whatever trial we encounter, we must slog on to find footing, find sustainable routines, and survive another day.


For some this work is horrendous. Think emergency room personnel. Think ambulance EMT crews. Think nursing and tech staff in ERs, ORs, ICUs, and recovery rooms. Constantly on duty and alert to ever changing conditions and circumstances. Always 100% on; little rest or respite breaks.


Teachers instructing kids (all ages) electronically from remote sites. Not a practiced method, but learning. Thinking every step of the way. Encountering student questions and pulling answers out of thin air. Sharing results with other students and bringing everyone along on the learning journey.


Same with farmers working fields, planting crops, hoping for ready markets for crops harvested months from now. What market mechanism will handle the trade? What distribution network will carry the crop to end users? How will the crop perform on the dining table or in manufacturing process?


Retailers without walls or borders. How do they sell inventory to those who need the product? How will buyers know and understand the product, why it is better than an alternative, or if the price is fair, or quality top notch? How then are sold goods transported to the new owner? What networks for delivery are available?


Financial transactions have been going electronic and remote for the past two decades; remote transactions are pretty much the norm; still, how does the bank or credit union know it is me? What serves as a signature these days? Can we leap to a new standard that keeps money flowing digitally?


And jobs. Where are they? Where do I work from? How do I learn new tasks and career requirements as change mounts to ever different norms? What is the product again? You know, the one my job supports? Is it a real product with weight, size and materiality? Or is it a service? Or is my work a service that sells, buys, makes or transports the material goods?


So many questions. Always questions. Ever have they been.


What we do with the questions is actually the work to be done. With questions, the new is present. Knowing it and understanding it is the work. Vitality is demanded to process all of this. In the end, it is handled. It is work performed and accomplished.


We learned how to respond to the new all our life long. School, family, social settings, skills, sports, clothing, appearance, food, health – all of what life entails. Careers formed on schedule as we departed institutions of education, as we learned to take steps as adults into the unknown future. We each have done this. We all must.


And so, what is unknown right this instant becomes our work. We engage it. We do it.


Life goes on. We learn to smile. Tell jokes. Find love. Make babies. Continue the human race. All in the embrace of change.


We are becoming. Always becoming.


April 29, 2020

Focus Focus Focus

We have a problem. A big one. It’s the pandemic. Left unmanaged it will kill countless millions of people across the globe. It will infect trust and stability in all public institutions, markets and economies. It will consume a major part of our heart and soul as a nation, too.


Yes, there are other enormous problems we face. Like climate change, global political issues, education, healthcare and infrastructure. But one is the top issue at the moment – COVID-19 Pandemic.


Let’s focus on that issue and do a great job managing it.


All the other issues are noise. All the other comments and infighting are noise.


Focus. Focus on dealing with the COVID threat and prepare our people to live in a world with a new normal. Be adaptive to the challenges. Allow the daily quirks and frustrations to be the motivation to invent new ways to live with these annoyances. In the end, we will survive the pandemic. In the end we will find a new normal.


The best we can do – and ought – is relax, let the mind noodle with the problems, come up with solutions, and move on to the next plateau. Meanwhile, the scientists, doctors and other organizational managers will focus on managing the virus, its healthcare treatment, and the aftermath of the disease.


That’s the best we can do. That’s the best we ought to do.


Ignore all the other noise and let’s get on with the business of living.


In time our social order will re-open. The economy will percolate its new pathways. Jobs will return. Income will be generated. And we can celebrate what really matters.


Life and each other in that life.


April 28, 2020

  

Venturing Out

Friday, we eyed the outdoors. So we planned an impromptu outing.


First, we drove out of the garage, onto the street and then the regional highway. Traveled half a mile or so and stopped at the Thornton’s gas station. Paid $1.71 per gallon. Although that’s the lowest price around here, I think it should be down around $1.20 given the crude oil market. Anyway, bought 2/3’s of a tank for $17.


Drove farther down the highway to our favorite McDonalds. Ordered Quarter-pounders and fries, one order with a chocolate shake, and one with a coke. Parked in an open space next to the garbage can. Ate the delicious meal! Tossed the trash in the can, and drove off.


Next stop was a slow drive through Warrenville to see spring coming alive. Budding trees, shrubs leafing out, and the glorious Magnolia tree at the corner of Route 56 and Batavia Road. Gorgeous. A little past its prime, but still a treat for the eyes. Lawns all around are greening up, some even freshly mowed.


Then we drove a big circle back to the apartment building, parked the car in the garage and returned to the apartment. Probably 10 miles driven. Two business transactions totaling $36. We took our seats in our recliners.


Then a nap. An exhausting regimen like that produces a need for slumber!


And that’s what we did with this Friday during the quarantine.


You?


April 27, 2020

The Treasure of Bill and Melinda Gates

Facebook and internet life have opened a stream of live communication. For several years America’s public voice box has been exposed. What an airing of words, thoughts and misconceptions! Voluble is one term for this. Opinionated, another. Ever-flowing and distracting. Annoying. Illogical. Blame and complain.


We have generations of experts in America. We have invested in them, their academic strongholds, and their corporate and institutional organizations. Whether partnered with tech industries, academic and research institutions, or government agencies, these people deal in the details the rest of us don’t see or understand. They have our back. And they have saved us from ourselves many times before.

They will do that again and again; if we let them. If we help them.


That is not a given in today’s upside down world. We find fault with everything. When we can’t find just the right thing, we invent another target of fear – the unknown, the dark state, unreliability of science and its institutions, etc.


Some decades ago, Bill Gates came on the scene to change our world through technology. He came equipped with an internal vision of the world and the use of technology brimming at the edges of society. He put the two together and built Microsoft. He introduced our entire culture to the immediacy and genius of the Internet and personal computing. He made it accessible and doable.


With the billions he earned from that enterprise, he now retired to quiet spaces to think on other large problems and potential solutions. Poverty. Third world countries. Public health on a global basis and its effect on other areas of the globe. Potable drinking water for all. Neutralizing sewerage and making it broadly available throughout the globe to boost public health.


And now climate change.


Bill Gates doesn’t need more money. Or fame. Or ego massage. All he wants to do is tackle big problems and tame them. Bring them safely home to serve and protect the rest of humankind.


And he doesn’t do it alone. He reaches out to others who have resources that can be targeted to help whatever cause is their focus at the time. Then they lay out the project – defining the specific problem, identifying what the ideal outcome would look like, and knowing the stumbling blocks to a solution.


Then the team finds experts in many related fields and focuses their energy on the project. In time solutions become available. This is work the government is not doing. This is work few nations are tackling. But these are the problems that block global advancement to equal access of human health, food, water and other basic needs.


They have made a difference. In some instances, some governments do not allow use of the solutions, but there is no limit to stupidity.  Access to healthy sewage treatment that produces its own power to accomplish the task, quarantine’s the toxic matter from public contact, and produces clean water at the end of the entire project. This is one of the projects not allowed in India and some African countries. Go figure.


But potable water projects are going forward and producing results. Same with drilling for water in areas with scarce resources. Villages are banding together, drilling shared wells, and thriving in scattered, remote areas of Africa.


I hear people complain that Bill Gates is not a scientist and should keep his mouth shut. On the contrary, he is a man of ideas and financial resources. He finds the scientists to address the issues he feels are most important. Then he funds the work and helps produce results that matter for people in need.


He is my hero. I thank God for Bill and Melinda Gates daily. They do more than many governments can. And the wellbeing of humankind reaps the benefits.


We applaud their accomplishments for others.


April 26, 2020

And the Days Dwindle Down…

Like a 'precious few' in the song, September.


Today is Saturday as you read this, but I wrote it on Friday. Thirty-six days of quarantine. Another Friday, another Saturday. Once they were very special in our busy schedules. A chance to pause and relax; share pizza with friends, catch up on chores; take a nap; put files in order, especially after filing taxes; make a list of projects around the house that will need to be done in the coming months. Maybe thinking about a vacation trip? Or maybe simply reading the books and magazines we’ve set aside for so long?


Well, the Fridays and Saturdays keep appearing. They are still days we can task with some things when times were normal. The cadence, though, is off. The tempo of daily living is a continuum of household stuff – cooking meals, cleaning the kitchen, washing dishes, doing laundry, reading the newspaper (most likely the on-line edition), and a host of other daily activities. Only now the tempo is not out of the home, into the office or plant, or even down the street to visit good friends and neighbors.


Fridays and Saturdays are still available to do the reading, napping and projects. Most importantly they are there for our futures. What will we do with the time ahead when this quarantine thing is over and done with? What have we learned from this experience? Have we changed? Will we change? What will we do differently when ‘normal’ returns?


I think we will be a changed nation. I certainly hope so.


I watched the State of Illinois COVID-19 press briefing on TV Thursday afternoon. I was impressed with the language used in informing the public. I was impressed how honest and forthright the speakers were. They told us the facts, helped us understand what they mean, and then introduced some of the experts behind all the data shared. Experts like multiple PhD researches and scientists; many of them with more than one PhD. People who form sentences carefully and report what they know in context with the problem being worked on. And the elected leaders who are smart enough to tap these experts on the shoulder and ask them to help us all.


The speakers were concise, expert and understandable. They were pleasant human beings. They were and are transparent in the work they do for the common good. These are the people who make up our experts in universities, research institutions, libraries, courts, law schools and so much more. They are there doing important work. For us. For our society.


We take this for granted I think. We don’t remember the army of dedicated people working to know and understand how our world functions. Nature or man- made, the world is a complex place. Cool minds disciplined by research and study help us make sense of things. Their advice and expertise is folded into the management of our government units, corporations, businesses and social institutions.

Not all states are endowed equally. Illinois, however, is a treasure trove of academic strength. And governments and leaders who are intelligently using these treasures.


Arkansas has not shut down for the plague. Georgia is opening early with highly personal service businesses and threat of COVID’s spread. Florida beaches are open along with many other venues. Other states similarly deal loosely with the plague.


Not Illinois. Not Chicago. We are serious that the public powers protect and serve the people for their long-term health and prosperity. No guarantees. Just dedication and honest application of what is known. To make sense of all this.


And to invest in the future of all our lives. Like we need to do in public education, higher education, and professional development of government officials. It wouldn't hurt to nurture careers in these fields, either!

After all, this is our investment in the future. And adaptation to whatever change beckons.


April 25, 2020

Armageddon?

Perhaps that’s too strong a term? Maybe. Maybe not. You be the judge.


First, Earth Day was shadowed by the release of a new documentary by Michael Moore, Planet of the Humans. It is a frank and honest presentation of alternative energy sources and renewable energy projects. Neither accomplish the aim to remove America from the oil standard, or fossil fuel energy addiction. If anything, the addiction is fed and funded by the oil industry itself. Even the Green Energy scions are failing us, according to the documentary. This includes the Sierra Club and many of its scientists. The conclusion is disappointing; hell, it is damning. See it for yourself and share your thoughts here. I hope it isn't true.


Second, the decision makers in our nation are no longer its people but its influencers. Mostly these are wealthy capitalists who continue to invest in what makes them money, not what makes America whole and healthy in the long term. It is not about America; it is about them and their greed. And you will be surprised who is included in this coterie of ‘good people’, generous contributors to Green Energy nonprofits.


Third, elections are skewed by the Electoral College, a grossly out of date discriminatory public policy designed by our founding fathers. They were wrong then; they are wrong now. It is time to eliminate the EC. Democracy needs to be in the hands of you and I and every single person in this land. It is we, the people, who should have the power via the ballot box. And that is people, only. No corporations. They are not citizens. The travesty that has allowed corporations to own and influence elections and public policy must be overturned once and for all.


Fourth, COVID-19 is a serious modern day plague. We are learning more about it and how to manage its damage. We may be lucky and find a vaccine to save countless millions of potential victims in the near future, but that future is not tomorrow. It is perhaps a year or more away. Meanwhile, we will have to change how we live to survive. Reopening the nation’s economy en masse is wrong. Let the healthcare experts and scientists inform us on how to do this safely and intelligently. Dead citizens by the hundreds of thousands is too high a price to pay for what some simple minded folk call ‘liberty.’ It isn’t liberty if you are lying in a casket.


Fifth, living standards are at an unsustainable level throughout much of America. It is time we downsized our tastes and our expectations. Live within our means. Focus on what is important. Get in touch with the real you and your family. Then, give the planet a break and reduce growth in consumption of our natural resources. Our greed is spoiling our planet’s soil, water, air and climate. Soon the planet could be uninhabitable. I don’t have to worry about that; you younger people do. I’m just sorry that I couldn’t do a better job at handing over a healthier planet and social order to you. This will always be a great source of sorrow to me.


If we let any of these five issues continue unabated, the end is near. That is the Armageddon. There is, however, a bright side. If we are aware of the above five issues, and take them seriously, we have the chance to turn things around. But half measures will not work. At all.


We must be committed to changing things or Armageddon is certainly ours to face.


April 24, 2020

Power and Liberty

Of course, people are chaffing at limits to personal liberty. But we do it anyway. Deep down we know this is for our own good. It isn’t natural for Americans to limit liberty; their entire way of life is based on doing what comes to mind and following personal dreams.


There are limits of course. Order is necessary for life to function well; order comes from self-limiting our activities. We don’t like washing clothes or dishes, or vacuuming the rungs, but we do it because not doing it leads to an intolerable mess.


Same with food. We feel hunger and find food to satisfy. Finding the food and preparing it are two important steps necessary for satisfying hunger, but in our society finding food is easy for most of us, and preparing it depends on the products we buy. Some products are ready to go; just zap it in the microwave, stir, and eat.


Buying the food in whatever convenience standard requires paying for it with earnings from our labor. We give up our time and self interest to work for someone else to earn an income with which to buy products that satisfy our personal needs. The limit on personal liberty is obvious in this example.


So, now comes a public health crisis in which we are all in danger of being contaminated by a powerful virus. We don’t know much about this enemy and we are hard pressed to medically care for it let alone avoid its tragic arc among the population. All we do know are precautions that we can take to avoid infection and what to do about it if we get it. Experience is building within the medical and scientific community on how to handle the crisis.


Those good folks advise governing authorities and they in turn make decisions that hopefully protect the public. Protection is for our common health, and defense of scarce medical services, supplies and personnel.


We give up personal liberty at times such as these. In return we receive an improved opportunity for life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness in the future. Pretty basic transaction.


We give up something to get something. When it comes down to life and death, the exchange rate has nothing much to do with value. We do what we have to do to survive and live for another day.


Why are we explaining this? Because there are 35% of our fellow citizens who believe they have given up enough liberty. With guns (AK 47s, no less!) they parade around in protest to the COVID-19 quarantine. Some of these protestors are in full protective medical masks and gloves; others are totally unprotected. The obvious is too hilarious to mention.


Power is provided by the people of a nation to their leaders, however selected or empowered. Those leaders make decisions to serve and protect the commonweal. We follow those decisions for our own good. It is a quid pro quo of the first order.


It is the basis upon which our nation was founded and continues to function. By the way, most of us do not rely on guns to make our point. We live in trust and order.


Not chaos and fear.


April 23, 2020

Time Suspension

OK, we’ve been in quarantine about 33 days. The beat goes on and we will pass 40 days for sure.

What to do about the expenses we encounter? What to do about rent, mortgage, car payment, and that sort of thing? There are some possible answers.


One is a suspension of time. Look at 90 days as a suspension period. During that span no rents or mortgages are payable or due. No penalty for nonpayment accrues. Just a silent nonpayment and suspension of consequences. That’s for the end users.


For the owners of rental property or mortgaged homes – the banks, corporations and individual investors, halt any penalties on them for the payments skipped. They get a hiatus, too.


I know, it is more complicated than that, but let the experts in the rest of the details work out a plan that allows a simple suspension of time from most contracts. End result? We all get through the worst of the Covid19 quarantine and exit with a fighting chance to resume our lives.


Now, there are those who have a ready income to pay their obligations on a timely basis. Those are most likely retired or disabled folks who are living within their benefit income stream. Life goes on for them pretty much as normal. For those who are working, let them pay the ongoing costs of living – food, utilities, services, etc. – out of the income or savings they have available. They exit their quarantine without the headache and crushing debt of three months of rent or mortgage plus penalties.


Now, property taxes will need a different payment structure; whatever is required, invent it and implement it to save both the taxpayers and the taxing bodies who are serving residents throughout this tough period. We need each other; don’t bankrupt either or hamstring them.


Making time stand still for major financial contracts is temporary and digestible in our large economy. Try this solution to buy time until we have a better handle on managing the virus and its aftermath.


While we are at it, why not shutter the stock market for a period until calmer minds are at the helm?


April 22, 2020

Unreality

Every now and then I get this pang of recognition – things are not normal and isn’t this weird?


The reality of quarantining settles into my consciousness. Other times I’m doing fine writing, reading, doing minor chores, planning the next online grocery buy and arrange delivery. Other times we watch TV but getting to the dregs, now. Not much worth viewing. At least many premium channels are now free on cable for a short time for us to preview. This has added content for us to peruse.


Volunteer work continues at a slower pace via Zoom or email meetups. That works OK, but not great. The immediacy of personal contact is missed. Thinking and the cues to spontaneous conversations that have impact are weakened. At least the work progresses.


Still there is time to do…what, nap? Yep. Nap. At least twice daily plus 8 hours or more through the night. Yes, we are getting plenty of rest.


All of the above wards off recognizing the reality of quarantining. It just does. But then, just when unexpected, pop! Suddenly I’m thinking about the isolation and enforced discipline of having plenty of time at hand to do whatever I’ve been putting off. Well, not everything, I can’t go for rides in the country, go out to a restaurant for breakfast or lunch, and I can’t even plan a summer vacation at this point.


My daughter, granddaughter and I zoomed on Saturday morning for the first time. We normally visit every Saturday morning for a couple of hours. Quarantine changed that. Zoom has opened a door to a new reality we are trying out. Not bad.


Spring is busting out now. Outside my home office window are green lawns, budding trees and a few flowers blooming. The stage is set for a full unveiling of mother nature by the end of April. That’s worth watching from our fourth floor window. The neighborhood (suburban downtown) is eerily quiet and very little traffic. The commuter trains still run across the street but with nary a soul on them. The parking lot is nearly empty (2 cars out of 250 spaces).


Still there are urges to do more. But we can’t. not without breaking quarantine. And that would be selfish.


The reality turns unreal. The solution is hope to an end of the Covid-19 virus and its rampage. We await broad-scaled testing before witnessing any major change. And that is the smart thing to do.

Meanwhile we keep our minds busy and engaged. That starts with avoiding national news programs. Local ones are fine. We have great mayors and governor who speak truth and make sound decisions. That helps a lot.


I hope it does for you as well.


April 21, 2020

Survival of the Fittest

Evidently there are many who dislike quarantine. That’s to be expected. I don’t like it either, but I do it for my own good and for others who I would likely infect were I to get Covid-19. The order to quarantine was a public policy made in good faith to protect health and life of all of us. We follow such orders voluntarily in solidarity with our fellow citizens.


Some quarantine measures were involuntary. Those come with fines or imprisonment if you violate the terms of the public order. That’s as it should be. Please note that no ones want to imprison anyone else; that would only enlarge the threat to the person and the inmates of the prison; and the public employees charged with enforcing the law in the first place.


No; no one likes being quarantined.


On the other hand, there are benefits: family time; personal time to think and meditate; time to chill out; time to read, sleep, exercise, organize, clean and tidy up personal spaces. Some will write poems. Others will write books. Most of us will discover new talents and ideas.


Quarantine does have advantages.


Those who have struggled with sheltering in place, may be feeling trapped or suffocated. They may begin to feel oppressed by others. They may protest being quarantined and find fault with the public order that enforced the quarantine in the first place. These are folks who will assert their right for assembly, free speech, freedom of religion and a host of other personal privileges guaranteed to them by the US Constitution.


They’d be foolish, though. The Constitution specifically grants power to authorities rightfully elected who will protect and defend citizens’ right to life and liberty. Protecting citizens from an uncontrolled plague is a proper duty placed on our civil servants.


If my posture on this is wrong, then I will stand corrected. However, be forewarned, if the plague is as dangerous as reported, Darwin’s Law will still be in force. I’d rather be safe in my home than out and about testing the survival of the fittest.


If I’m right, the herd shall be culled. Survivors will enjoy the fruits of those who foolishly sacrificed their lives.


April 20, 2020

Pondering New Normal

Some thoughts on these areas:


Higher Education: with campuses closed, college students are learning at home via remote technology. That same technology provides research outlets and resource materials to study. Instruction creates the manner in which to learn. Deep dives into class material is provided by faculty. Classrooms and lectures are scaled to size of attendance. Individual attention is readily available, too.


So how much of this methodology will be kept going forward? A lot? How will this affect the shape and presence of college campuses. Group learning and team research projects surely will be handled on campus, but still these are capable of remote positioning, too. Laboratory research is different. Shoulder to shoulder tasking by students and faculty will be required from time to time, but not always.


Campuses are expensive places. To acquire, build and maintain, universities and colleges have untold trillions invested in physical plant alone. Might a lot of this become unnecessary? To what use can the idle facilities be put? If the students are remote, what about faculty? Might they also be remote? What will require both faculty and students to be present at the campus site in the future?


And what cost for an education in the future? Today’s private tuition and fees regularly tops $55,000 annually. Might this be brought down to $12,000 to encourage everyone who needs educational support to get it? Might education in some form be free for many?


Churches: what is church, and why? Social media has witnessed a huge increase in church reach during the pandemic. Where 100 attended church before the pandemic, now 500 connect with the church during worship times. And the business of the church and its many programs continue remotely and electronically. The connection and engagement of church members has grown in this time of challenge. What then does this portend for the future?


Church facilities will not disappear, but their size will likely be frozen or scaled back. Virtual space is much cheaper than brick and mortar. As well, thinking, worshipping, teaching and learning spiritual matters is virtually unlimited. An Idaho family ‘attends’ church in Illinois just as easily as another family a block away attends remotely.


The focus on church should be on its why, its purpose and function in the lives of those engaged. This has always been true, but often we are distracted by other things that take us off track.


Time to redesign church.


Public education: teaching and learning is a cooperative and collaborative process. One on one models are helpful in some instances, small groups are another. Large lecture groups work in some settings for specific material. Mostly large lectures are guides to reading broader materials. Smaller discussion groups help cement the key concepts. Self-guided reading is yet another method. Still out there is programmed learning pods either in printed material or digitally shared over computer screens. Interactive steps challenge the student to work through materials in a logical sequence.


All of these learning methods can be adapted to home study with both computer, video and audio connections. Tailoring the learning model to the student and material to be covered is being done currently. It can be expanded and studied for results. The current pandemic provides the opportunity to study the process and learn from it for future teaching gains.


My hunch is public education will not likely return to the old methods. Time will be needed to train faculty, students and families to new processes. It likely will help to include family involvement in the process as well. Imagine the strength of nurturing at home when parents and siblings are engaged in the overall education process. We may be on the cusp of something fabulous!

On the other hand, what about social learning of kids through all of their stages of maturation?


Career architecture: telecommuting is one element we have learned to do en masse in the pandemic. A few years ago, this was a new concept. It took a few years to trust the results. Telecommuting works in specific instances. Expanding that to more jobs and processes followed. Then the pandemic. A huge expansion in telecommuting was forced on the world of work and commerce.


Understanding how well this practice has worked will take time. Early indications suggest personal motivation, creativity and discipline supports valuable gains in productivity. Telecommunication skillsets and support systems will need improvement  and training of personnel. Human Resource management methods will be challenged to prepare the way for training, development and supervision of remote work sites. Measuring productivity and quality of work will be another challenge.


Saving employers from investing in physical plant will constitute a major benefit. Saving employees expense and time of commuting rewards the labor pool. Both employer and employee benefit from telecommuting.


Flexibility of work hours and response times will improve customer support.


Of course, telecommuting works best with service industries as opposed to manufacturing. However, manufacturing requires service departments for selling, advertising, planning, researching, and managing the enterprise from A to Z. Some employees can telecommute profitably for manufacturers.


With a turn to technology in huge measures, careers will require skill training and adaptation. Younger workers already know this intuitively; they have been exposed to technology their entire generation. Older workers have not. Training older workers may require tasking them with career functions that do not rely on a personal engagement with technology.


How individuals identify with a career and prepare for it will change greatly. Life-long learning will become the standard for all of us. And that feeds back to the topic of education innovation.  


Conclusion: the new normal is squarely focused on the individual; and our society’s investment in nurturing and educating each person to engage a deep understanding of life, the world and the personal contribution each of us can and should make to the common good.


Sounds a lot like what we learned in Kindergarten and Sunday School, doesn’t it?


April 19, 2020

What is the Big Picture?

If we claim to be big picture people, what are the focal points? What big picture is there? Or might this be several? I think there are several, but they are so large, they might as well be THE big picture item. Some examples:

a.      Purpose of life – yours, mine, ours

b.      Spirituality – role, practice, diversity

c.      Education – how much, when, for whom?

d.      Healthcare – for whom? All?

e.      Common Defense – what is too much?

f.       Governance – consent or conscription?

g.      Commerce – for who’s good?

Books have been written on each of these. Entire careers have focused on them as well. And industries. I suppose it can be argued that nations and nation-states have been formed over these, too.


I think it is important to keep these in mind, each of them. I also think the order is important. Purpose of life, after all is said and done, is the primary issue, the big picture. All other issues are subordinate to this one big picture focus. Do you agree? If not, please share your thoughts.


Why on earth am I alive? For what purpose am I here? I didn’t ask to be born, yet I have to deal with the reality that I exist. What will I do with this life? Why choose what I do or will? Is there a larger force or element that directs my choices? What ought I do? What elements form the ‘should’ as opposed to ‘want’?


This inevitably calls spirituality to the fore. You may call it history of mankind – the what humankind did in the earliest days of the inhabited planet, or perhaps you call it religion, God theories, and whatnot. Mankind’s thirst for understanding itself inevitably led to the exploration of spiritual matters. Answers to age-old questions reside in this realm. How that spirituality was routinized into common practices is a story unto itself. Thus, differing belief systems came into existence.

Mythologies grew. Competing theories and stories happened, too. Judaism is one mindset. Another is Christianity. Yet another is Islam. Taoism, Buddhism, Hinduism, and a host of others populated spiritual discussions over millennia.


Rituals followed. Practices, rules, laws, hierarchies, and authorities accumulated around each belief system. Cultures surrounded some, or systems of spirituality formed the cultures. Either way, identity emerged over centuries. Anthropology is a field that helps us understand these mechanisms of human life in social settings.


In the big picture arena surely is education. Questioning existence, delving into spirituality and getting along (or not) with other people different than ourselves, raises even more questions. A quest for knowledge clamored for understanding our world. Education, teaching, students and methodology soon followed. And research – to accumulate facts of what was and is and likely will be.


After struggling with basic issues surrounding education, the social decision quickly became who was to participate in schooling and research. To what end was education? Why should it be constricted to few, or opened to many? How did the role of education affect and effect mankind’s life on this planet?


The basic hierarchy of needs are woven into all of our discussions – food, shelter, safety, clothing, partnering & procreation, and family. Socialization follows. Health is part of safety. Organizing and building community leads to governance. Safety leads to common defenses of the community. Eventually we grow into the need for towns and cities and nation-states. Then there is the intercommunication between such social entities, and statecraft.


Commerce came later, but exchanging things of value was a natural process that provided needed things in exchange for things produced in abundance. I grow food and consume part of it, but exchange overproduction to others for clothing, building materials or labor. Knowhow becomes an element of exchange as well – shamans, healthcare providers, hunting and gathering of game, and much more. Commerce was basic at the start, then more complex models followed. Always an outward expansion to larger numbers and greater regions.


I don’t think it is odd that all these things begin with wondering about our purpose, each of ours. I suspect spirituality followed very closely. Then all the rest came into being.


During this pandemic, might we benefit greatly from pondering these issues? Might we find that the great problems of mankind are made of simpler scale and can be improved upon more easily than we imagined? Have we overcomplicated our lives? Have we lost our footing, our identity, our humanness?


It is time we went back to basics. That is where lost souls can find themselves.


April 18, 2020

Leaders Lead

A team needs a leader. The leader prioritizes issues and tasks to handle those issues. A leader motiviates team members to glimpse the future and the value of today’s task to attain the future. A leader urges, nurtures and congratulates team members. The team is curried and supported by the leader. The leader is invisible to the greater public. It is the team that achieves. Not the leader.


Now, compare this paradigm with the current White House.


See the differences?


America is great because of its people. What they do matters. The organization and structure of human effort is critically important, but it can only work if the people are there to be led. The people have to want to be there, have the need to show up, and the energy to do the work. Together they make  a difference. Together they achieve.


Leaders are best when invisible. They are responsible for the structure, resources, place and time.

And the vision. Communicating the mission and vision is their job. Helping others see the mission and vision is their job.


Once done, get out of the way. Monitor results. Praise the doers. Reward them.


Someone in Washington DC doesn’t understand this.


April 17, 2020

Missing the Big Picture

We are drenched in a sea of detail. Opinions on those details drown us daily from every direction. Cohorts form for  various points of view. They work to address a detail or two. A problem here, a problem there.


During this period emotions build, and tongues loosen. Soon a blame game appears. The details multiply. They get confused with facts.  Clouds of misinformation soon follow. Public discourse becomes vitriolic melee.


No one gets anything good from this. The problems remain. Definitions of problems are not even attempted, just the anger. The mob heats up. Actions spill over and nothing gets done about the very things they are upset with.


This is how details get in the way of understanding the big picture.


What do we really think should be the outcomes of our living together on this planet? What should we all strive toward? Can we at least agree on that? or will we perpetually look for blame and scapegoats?


The big picture gets lost in all this confusion. It happens without our realizing it.


To get back to a more helpful stance, I suggest we list problems and then prioritize them. Which are the more important ones? Choose three of them. Then envision what outcome you would rather want for each of those three problems. If we were successfully managing them, what outcomes would be readily available?


If we can agree on the outcomes, all that’s left is figuring out what to do about making it happen.


That is not impossible. We can figure out solutions to common problems, even huge ones. But first we have to choose which few to work on at the same time. Leave the rest of the listed problems for later. Choose the building block issues that, when solved, provide sustainable resources to solve the other issues. Do this over time in priority order.


Eventually the entire list will be handled. With the larger issues behind us, we may even find some of the later problems not problems at all. They may have even disappeared. Imagine that!


Each generation handles their own lives. They learn, experience, and adapt. They invent their own. They thrive and survive. This is the way of life in the real world since the dawn of time. It is no different now than it was back then.


As older generations fade from view, younger generations live their struggle. This develops their survival skills, their inventiveness. It is not handed to them. They have to do this for themselves.


Each generation feels the previous generation doesn’t hear them, see them, or understand them. Bosh! That is part of the process. Generations understand each other pretty well, but then, they don’t have to forever. It is the way of the world and will remain so.


An important consideration is to allow each generation to be themselves. Just let them be. It will work out in the end.

April 16, 2020

Wondering

With time abundant I think of many things. Some are very focused; others are general and philosophical. You as well? Here are some ideas I have been mulling:

1.      When the pandemic is over and we go back to whatever will be the new normal, will we experience another round of virus infection? Will this be measured and monitored? By whom?

2.      A return to normal will witness changed attitudes, or will it? Among them:

a.      Vast appreciation of teachers and what they do

b.      Acute appreciation for the healthcare industry and all its many people

c.      Freedom of choice at the supermarket; how accustomed we are to having anything we want, and in abundance

d.      Camaraderie of fellow diners in restaurants, diners

e.      Family gatherings

f.       Colleagues at work

g.      Simpler lifestyle, fewer luxuries and frivolous ‘things’?

3.      Will we revise our careers? Will we step into the high risk, ‘always wanted to do’ thing?

4.      How inventive will we be post pandemic? 

5.      Will the world of art play a larger role in our lives? (music, dance, visual 2 and 3 dimensional art forms, etc.)

6.      Will we become avid readers or return to the boob tube?

7.      Will we care for one another or become engrossed and buried in wild, political competition?

8.      What role will religion play in our daily lives post pandemic?

That’s enough for now. Plenty of ideas listed to keep us busy for another 2 or 3 pandemics. Let’s hope we are not so tested.


Your thoughts on this post?


April 15, 2020

Team Building

Long ago I learned that no one in my office had all the answers to any problem. However, each of us had part of the answer. If we worked together intelligently, we could piece the parts together in ways that often worked. We called this collaboration.


That’s collaboration.


One of the best examples of this process is America’s race to the moon. Alone, no one had the answer on how to get to the moon, return, with no loss of life. Together, various teams worked together to produce the final outcomes. We did get to the moon before the decade (1960) was done. We built on that success to produce an exhilarating space program of long-standing success. We continue to build on that to this day.


Collaboration has been successfully employed in countless projects to solve problems and mysteries for hundreds of years. The Scientific Method is an example. In medicine, science found a solution to polio, yellow fever, smallpox and countless other diseases. Over the years, this method has discovered a treasure trove of products we now take for granted. The space program alone created many advancements we live with daily. Cell phones, computers and their speed, software, cloud computing, GPS technology, to name just a few.


Some collaboration remains in the public sector – universities, academia in general, and medical research via National Institutes of Health, and the CDC. Over the years private research spiked to discover products and processes that could be owned and sold for profit. The energy sector remains mired in for-profit research and thus avoids collaboration to quickly discover new energy sources other than fossil fuels. Collaboration is stunted. Results are also stunted.


The race to find medical cures is also somewhat stunted by private motivation for wealth. The outstanding example is the pharmaceutical industry. Medical procedures, however, are collaboratively researched and tested in academia. Thus, medicine advances quickly for maximum benefit for public good.


I don’t fault the profit motive, but I do fault leadership and greed that hampers progress of the human condition. Increasing potable water supplies to underserved populations is a huge problem. Treating sewerage and polluting wastes is another long-term human problem. Expanding education to all the world’s masses continues to be a challenge left unsolved. Clean, renewable energy is a problem already mentioned here.


We have the problems. We have the brains and know-how. What we lack is leadership to tackle the problems intelligently and in a timely manner. Perhaps we also lack the will to strive for solutions?


Collaboration recognizes the genius of group, not individual. Maybe that is another reason we fail to work for solutions?


Building productive teams is a skill we need. Now.


Let’s do this!


April 14, 2020

Haunting Lure

I live in a railroad town. Founded in the 1830’s, one railroad ran through town. Actually, the railroad was here first, then settlers and workers gathered. A town soon formed. Two towns, then three. Over the years they merged into one and became West Chicago, Illinois. We are located 30 miles due west of downtown Chicago. As the crow flies, not roadway miles; that would entail 38 miles.


OK, so now you have the setting.


I went to college in a railroad town. That was Galesburg, Illinois, about 150 miles southwest of Chicago. The home of Knox College. The Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad ran through town. Their railyards were immediately behind the men’s dorms. Those yards are still there.


Also running through Galesburg is the Santa Fe railroad. Two national RR’s. A lot of freight, but much passenger traffic, too, before Amtrack. We students had competitive choice for rail travel to Chicago and points east and north.


So, clickety-clack was a backdrop sound in Galesburg. That’s the context.


The feeling added to context was my freshman status in Illinois while home was in New York. Home sickness at first, then simply yearning for a way back east. Every rail bed beckoned such travel. Each train horn lured me to travel.


It was haunting then. It is haunting today. Clickety-clack of freight cars crossing a track junction; distant horn signals, too. The roar of locomotives pulling and pushing two-mile-long trains. They come from somewhere and they go somewhere. Yet I sit on the sidelines and witness only the movement.


What is there at the end of their journey? In either direction, where is there? And what does that mean here is?


I’ve traveled a lot in my life. I don’t need to wonder about any destination, really. If that is not the lure, what is? Motion? Movement to another place as change to the now of existence?


Hmmm. Haunting is but one word for it. Perhaps another is boredom? Or maybe hope.


April 13, 2020

And the Beat Goes On

Day 23 of quarantine. Before then, we were being careful and very restrictive in our activities out and about. So, our household has been pretty much under wraps for close to a month, now. Looking back, what has it been like?


I write this for kicks. I’m not sure anyone will be interested in my meanderings on this topic. But maybe someone will. After all, this is a once in a lifetime event. Not just odd, but eerie with a cloud of doubt hanging over our heads that maybe we won’t get out of this emergency alive. Just maybe.

That might sound melodramatic, but it truly isn’t.


Rocky is 76 and a recent cancer survivor. He is a laryngectomy survivor, too, meaning he has no voice box and breathes through the front of his neck, permanently. He is also diabetic. Age and underlying medical conditions matter in the age of Covid-19. He remains healthy but is taking extraordinary precautions for obvious reasons.


I’m almost 77 and am overweight, have emphysema, apnea and A-Fib. I’m on oxygen and CPAP equipment at night and a lot of pills. I’m in good health basically but compromised in several ways. So, I take precautions, too.

We pretty much stay in the apartment. Very occasionally we drive to the drug store, grocery store and restaurants for pick-up orders. Most of the time we order our groceries on-line and they deliver them. Some take-out food orders we have delivered as well.


We keep our bathrooms clean, and our laundry. The kitchen gets attention, but it is not pristine. And tidiness is not a thing with one of us, so the place looks like a hurricane visited!


The car is fairly clean inside and out. It gets driven about 30 miles a week. Maybe less. Gas tank is half full. Keeping an eye on gas prices to catch the lowest price!  You, too?


Work routines are variable. Blog posting before 6 am, usually by 5:30. Internet and email processing and scan done by 7. Writing future blog posts off and on during the day. I post them seven days per week now since time is much available.

SCORE client business continues but interaction is very slow. Still getting new clients but they are slow to respond to follow up action. We continue training in SCORE for all sorts of things, mostly new communication technology so we can keep in touch with clients and colleagues remotely. The SBA and banks are on the front line for helping with Covid-19 relief programs for small business. We learn more on the programs daily. Zoom meetings and webinars are  frequent at times like this.

Church duties continue but remotely and mostly via Zoom. We write our assignments, share via email and Dropbox, and then discuss all via Zoom meetings. And church services are remote via Facebook streaming live.


That leaves a lot of time for small personal tasks and reading. I have rekindled reading a broad range of literature. This hones the vocabulary, especially among young writers. New terms and words; new thoughts in new language morphs. Finding the younger generations are dealing with the same things we did at the same age, only they are dealing with them at a faster pace. The pandemic heightens the drama and emotions on top of all that angst.


The sun shines more in recent days. The sky is a bluer blue. Recent thunderstorms have greatly greened lawns. The hint of budding trees and shrubs adds an ever so slight hint of color. The view out my office window has gone from gray, to sepia, to washed out technicolor, to a budding color. Another week may encounter full on spring.


One can hope! Not just for spring, but an end to the isolation. And then some hugs!

Happy Easter, everyone.


April 13, 2020

Nasty Set the Tone

Now that the 2020 party nominees are likely to be Biden for Democrats, and trump for republicans, the choice is between only the two. Of course, diehards will insist they can cast no vote, or write in another’s name.


Diehards? Maybe that is too strong a label, but the effect of stubbornness will skew the election results just the same. Vote, don’t vote, or waste a vote. The math is affected just the same. 2016’s election proved that: upset with Hilary’s nomination, her opponents wrote in their favorite candidate or stayed home on election day. This allowed the Electoral College mechanism to work its weird function.


The result was the top vote getter lost the election and the least capable one took the reins of American political power.


The results of that are clear for all to see. Our democracy, republic and heritage have been upturned.

All through his campaign for 2016, trump sounded his nasty rant against everyone and everything. Once inaugurated, he kept up the nasty tone. Daily. Vindictive. Dysfunctional. Untrue. Nonfactual. Personal. As I said, nasty.


And that’s what we got for national leadership – nasty.


This is not how I live or work. Perhaps you too?


So, the 2020 presidential election is not between blue or red, or D or R; it is between nasty or nice.


I prefer nice. It gains cooperation from others. It sweetens the day. With nice, the blue skies seem bluer, and the sun brighter. Fact and fiction become more discernable with nice.


So, let’s rid our nation of nasty.


And return to nice.


April 11, 2020

Friday, Ahhhh!

Old habits die slowly. Yes, Fridays have been longed for by many for generations. It was the end of the work week for most, and a weekend of liberty. To do chores around the home that we kept putting off, or simply take the time to read a book, take a nap whenever one felt like it, or escape on a short trip or ride.


Pandemic Fridays are different. No freedom weekend beckons. Work continues daily regardless of the calendar. If you have work, you do it and bless the paycheck once it hits the checking account. If unemployed or retired, ennui is the reward of idleness. Nothing during the week to do; nothing over the weekend either. Each day is the same. Boring. Retired or unemployed, every day is Saturday. Or Sunday.


Of course, if you are old enough, Sundays were in a class alone. Sundays everything was closed with the exception of gas stations and the corner store. Oh, and churches of course.


Six years of my youth were spent in Massachusetts, in the 50’s. the Blue Laws were in full force then. No commerce to be conducted other than gas, emergency services, and minor food purchases like bread and milk. And the newspapers. As I recall, drug stores weren’t open then, either. I might be wrong about that.


Today, everything is open seven days a week. Some stores and services are available 24/7/365. Today, Sundays and Saturdays are the same. Identical. In the 50’s, uh-uh. Saturday was filled with the promise of visiting all kinds of stores, even the lumber yard! But on Sunday, it was church, homework, and sitting. Or outdoor sports – skiing, hiking, swimming, walking, biking, etc.


Of course, pandemic weekends are slow, boring, and of limited options. Just like the 50’s.


I’m wondering what other memories are stirred by the pandemic. Suggestions?

Meanwhile, today is Good Friday in Christian homes. Make the most of it.


April 10, 2020

Trust

I trust my doctor. He studied his specialty and practiced it for years. He has learned more and expanded medical knowledge in his routine of healing patients. He can make judgments that matter given complex medical circumstances, patient by patient.


I trust my credit union executives. They have learned through study and service what financial transactions work and which don’t given each circumstance. They make judgments daily to fit the circumstances of individual members. They take risks with members when making loans. Members fulfil their obligations and loan terms mostly; some don’t; but that’s the cost of risk taking.


I trust scientists in their work toward fuller understanding of our universe and how it works. I know they do not know everything, that knowledge is always expanding through study, testing, and purposeful research. They know more about their area of expertise than I.


I trust academics, too. They study and research topics continually. They connect some topics with others and take note of cause/effect/results, if any. Their jobs produce more understanding of our world in the social sciences, history and arts. They know more than I do. They share what they know. We are fully able to connect with their work to the best of our understanding and curiosity.


I trust expertise. I trust logic. I trust facts.


I rely on the press to report on all of the above. Factually, logically, and with attention to details and expertise of those providing the information, the data. Making sense of all of this is a difficult task. It takes discipline, fact checking, editorial oversight, and hard work. It doesn’t always come out right; that’s when self-reporting corrections enters the picture. For the most part, the American Press does an excellent job. With proper resources it will continue to do an excellent job.


In recent years, though, financial stability of publishers in the institutional press, has faltered. Advertising revenues have sought other avenues to communicate with the public. Without ad revenue, the press is underfunded and may fall prey to pandering to their advertisers, their supporters. Might their opinions enter their press reporting? Not only is this possible, but a growing ideological reporting shift has taken place. For all to see. Fox Network comes to mind. Conservative versus liberal mindsets become part of the brand of specific networks and newspapers, and news magazines as well.


When the experts among us are misquoted, misreported, and churned through the opinion machine, what we read becomes unreliable.


Disinformation runs rife. So does dysfunction in our governing institutions.


How we repair this to a true standard of objectivity is a huge challenge. But we must try.


Similar challenges exist in controlling safe communication and transactions via technology so we can maintain our trust in voting, financial markets and medical care. Our lives depend on this.


Serious times require serious effort. Zealots and ideologues need not apply. But always we must discern who and what is true. No one said democracy was easy.

But it is worth our effort.


April 9, 2020

Normal?

Right on time we are beginning to question our current plight. “When will we return to normal?”  Will normal look like the ‘old normal’ or something else? What are we learning about ourselves and our social norms from the Covid-19 quarantine?


I have noticed the following good points from my experience:

1.      Meeting connections are done digitally. The sessions are effective when planned well and attendees cooperate with the ‘rules’

2.      Digital meetings free up time: travel; scheduling on time or early arrivals to allow for traffic and weather conditions; focal points in agenda pinpoint prep time to just those topics

3.      Church is digital and saves not only time, but flexibly fits into my calendar. If I am late tuning in, I can see the whole service later as a whole

4.      Church is seven days a week with various programs, projects and work assignments. It is not just about Sunday morning anymore. Shouldn’t have been before, either!

5.      Written communications spread digitally are more often, timely, and on point. Might we be learning how to communicate more effectively in this experience?

6.      Takeaways from digital meetings provide me hours of consideration, and meditation. Better ideas and conclusions come from this thoughtful approach

7.      With a better thinking process, I think more broadly and creatively. Inclusivity and diversity of people and ideas is engendered

8.      Google searches and internet research has been improved. I’m learning to ask better questions and discern useful resources

9.      Focus on individuals is heightened. I try to think into the person. Less superficiality. Richness of context.

10.   Appreciation of institutions and their unique functions grows. The credit union or bank is about the functionality of money and how to move it in support of human needs. The library is not about books, but information sharing – and finding! Park districts are about engaging minds as well as bodies in healthy, community support. Businesses are about services and products, not profits and prestige

I could go on and on. Each of these points cause more ideas to spring forth!


Of course, pandemic sheltering has raised these negative points:

1.      I miss seeing and feeling the presence of family and friends; this is far more important than I had thought before quarantine

2.      Worshipping at church is all about sharing the experience with others in their presence. It can be done digitally but it sorely lacks the immediacy of others

3.      Dining in restaurants is not about the food. It is about camaraderie and social participation

4.      Communication brevity on Facebook turns negative quickly. It requires better manners to maintain positivity

5.      Hair length is getting out of hand

6.      Sloppy dressing is now attractive!

7.      Snacking on junk food is mighty tempting; weight gain is unseemly

8.      TV programming is much worse than I had previously thought. Lowest common denominator audience attraction is on full display. Surely, we are better than this?

9.      Voting is much more difficult and dangerous from a health perspective. We need easy, fast, digital voting once security problems are solved

10.   I miss my rides in the country

I’ll stop there. Too much thinking on this will produce a blue funk not easily overcome.


Mixing the good and bad points above gives opportunity to do the future better. Normal will and should morph into better, don’t you think? I’m hopeful this will happen.


For now, I pat my rotund belly, pull myself away from the computer, and prepare for a shave and shower. Then breakfast and a nap. I’ve been at this since 5:30 am. Nap time at 10 beckons!

Oh, and who cares about the weather? I'm indoors; it's outdoors.


April 8, 2020

CT-Scan

Annually, my pulmonologist insists I have a CT-Scan of my lungs. I quit smoking 14 years ago, have COPD and now full blown emphysema. The scan is to check for lung cancer and the medical protocol is to check annually for 15 years after quitting smoking.  I smoked 4 packs a day for 44 years, with one period of abstention for 7 years.


I fully expected the scan to be canceled, but no, they reminded me of the date and said the test was on.  So, scheduled at 8:05 am on Monday, I showed up 20 minutes early.

The building had a waiting line of several people. The floor was marked for 6-foot intervals to keep us spaced properly. Two checkpoints were staffed. One person took my temperature (96.8 degrees), the other checked I had an appointment to be in the building and asked several questions about possible exposure to Covid-19 via travel, fraternization, and whatnot. I passed!


I advanced to the elevator and descended to the radiology department. They checked me in and I waited for 20 minutes for the 5-minute scan. Of course I wore an N-95 face mask in my apartment building exiting to the car in the garage. Then again I donned the mask for the medical facility.


The scan was over in mere minutes, and I traipsed back to the car rubbing hand sanitizer on my hands before returning to public spaces.


Back in the car, the commute home was quick. Light traffic, although I thought it much more heavy than it should have been. Surely all those people are not in sensitive jobs? I will say some of the traffic ended up at my medical facility, but, what about the others?


Mask back on, I exited the car in the garage and made my way back to the apartment via the elevator and hallways. Home safe and sound. Mask doffed. Computer beckoned me to write this account.

I keep thinking that our grandkids should be taking photos of what’s going on right now and writing a daily journal. Decades later they will have their own personal account of a pandemic. This surely is my first time. I find it fascinating to be living history that will be in the books long after I’m gone.


So, I await the results of the scan. I’m not the least bit worried. After all, if I survive the pandemic, the cancer should be easy peasy!


April 7, 2020

Time

On our hands. In our sleep. In the recliner or sofa. In front of the computer. TV. Book.


Time to see, read, think and ponder. Ponder. To put ideas together and create new ones. Wondering how to use the new ideas. To what end will the idea be placed?


What should be? What are we working toward? Is this moment the only thing we have to live for? Or is it a piece of life’s puzzle we feed on to live the next moment, and the next and so on?


Existential or not, what is the value that carries forward? Into the future we walk. Looking at what is there, feeling that which is available to feel, the people we encounter on the way while living in a succession of moments.


We can think on the past, but it creates the present. The future can only happen if we continue stepping forward. Whether we do or not, means little to the person who remains in present and past. It is the future that beckons. We build it as we will.


Build it on what? Good intentions? Logic and values carried with us? What will make the future more valuable than what we have already lived?


How do we improve the future? Can we? Ought we?


I play around with this thinking a lot. I’m a homegrown futurist. A strategic planner by profession, I have spent many years untangling organizations tied into knots. So many opinions from team members on what should be done, but poor decision making that orchestrates a collaborative team’s energy. Or in the end doesn't.


The primary need is simple: What would you like to see as an end result 10 or 15 years from now?  If our work was spot on, and we were good at it, what would be happening in 10 or 15 years?  If the team agrees with one articulate vision, then all that needs to be done is figuring out what needs to happen to get there from here. Work the problem backward.

What’s the role of your church? Or business? Or association, organization, etc.? Why are we struggling? Figure out what you wish it to be like or known for in 10 to 15 years, then work backward. All of a sudden, things we chatter about now are not in focus but what really matters. The team gets organized quickly thereafter.


Furthermore, this kind of thinking is fun. Rewarding.


Try it. I think you’ll like it!


April 6, 2020

 

What, How & Why

I’ve been working with the what, how and why for years. For me, this is a logical sequence. Let me tell you why.


In most endeavors – work, family discussions, school, friends, church, associations – we talk among ourselves. The purpose of the ‘talk’ is to share meaning between others in life. Meaning is not always fully known at a given moment. The sharing is a means of ferreting out better understandings among us. “I mean to say, or I meant to say.” We struggle to articulate constantly. Don’t we?


Arranging the words to adequately reflect what we mean is a process that takes work. I like to think of it as a struggle – never complete, always in process.


This is important to note. We don’t know perfectly what we know at the moment. We think we do; but we don’t. Finding the exact words that best express what we think or mean, is the result of a process.


So, let us review: the What is the core meaning we hope to express and share; the How is the process we struggle through to find that core meaning expressed in the best manner for common understanding among our group.


Left out of this is the Why.


What earthly purpose or value do we serve by expressing clearly what we have on our mind? Why is this such a big deal?


The What, the How and the Why. Expressed or not, these three elements are common to our communication behavior. Pretty basic, huh? Yes, it is. But it is not intuitively present in our minds when we engage this behavior.


The Why is the motive or purpose we engage in the sharing. To what end do we do this?


Each of us has to answer that for ourselves. I prefer to think I work toward better understanding among all of us. Understanding is the basis for knowing each of us as best we can. Understanding is the basis, too, of knowing how things work, what is logical, what is scientifically correct, factual. What is historically fact and truth. What facts are building blocks to knowing and understanding other, more complex thought structures?


This is the basis of education. How did we each learn how to add, subtract, divide and multiply? How then did we learn higher functions of math, like algebra, geometry, trigonometry, calculus? What historical understanding do I have of our nation, community, world or passage of time through the ages? How did I come to know this ‘story’ of time?


And religion? Theology? The ‘why are we here’ question of existence?


All of these why’s are really the what. The process is the how we come to know the what. But the why we do all of this, remains a core matter of our lives.


I am who I am. That is true of you as well. Explaining that to others clarifies identity. It builds common bonds to engage in exploring and discovering what surrounds us in life.


For each of us the why is our purpose in life. Large or small, it is a point toward which we strive. For each of us it is different.


It is important, though, isn’t it? The why is a private sort of thing. The core of who we are as individuals. It’s not the what or the how. It is always the why.


Ponder these things as we shelter in place. It’s a good way to pass the time.


And grow.


April 5, 2020

Viral Journal

I need a haircut. Do you?


The thought: how long before haircuts on a regular schedule are available?  Probably at least a month away, maybe longer.


I recall the early 70’s. I was 30. Hair styles were long. I let my hair grow for several reasons. First, I was then working on an urban university campus. Second, I was commuting by train and walking for a total of 4 hours per day (roundtrip). The cost was high and I saved pennies wherever I could. Third, I wanted to play around with my hairstyle and appearance a bit.


The result surprised me. First, my hair, although light as a feather and subject to any wind puff, grew long and a bit wavy. It flipped up in the back a little. I pushed the hair back on the sides as often as possible. It was not a bad look, and it certainly was more controlled than student hairstyles!  


In the summer, the style was hot on the neck. And the face. Eventually I trimmed it back until it was more of a Princeton cut. Still is. As much as I like that look, it needs to be kept in trim to be effective.


I’m discovering abilities of my electric razor I haven’t used. For one I can trim my sideburns and hair around the ears. I haven’t trimmed the back yet, although that is likely to be on my list within two weeks. Rocky refuses to help me; he claims his wife of long ago asked for the same help and she was forever angry with him for messing it up. He will not attempt it again! He is scarred.


Other than hair are the toenails. I’ve been ordered to never trim my own nails. The last two times resulted in slashed toes and lots of blood. However, I can’t very well visit a podiatrist to have them trimmed at a time of a pandemic. Such seems wasteful and petty at this time.


Well, there are more of these personal care issues we face in a locked down society. Knowing we can’t do much about them at this point is one thing to grasp. Letting it go so we can adapt to more important things is another matter to grasp.


Worth thinking about in the meanwhile.


Be safe. Be at peace. We are in this together.


April 4, 2020

ZOOM Goes Viral

A few months ago, volunteers in SCORE were introduced to ZOOM electronic meetings. It was a way for us to gather expertise among colleagues and meet with clients to discuss their needs and share ideas in solving them. Face to face without actually coordinating finding a physical site, and each of us traveling there to conduct the meeting.


Now all we do is select a common date and join on ZOOM. We can even share our computer desktop images to access pertinent documents to share, and websites and searches to access other resources. Pretty neat.


In the age of COVID-19, we can now meet new clients and conduct business without leaving our desk chairs. Suddenly we have more time to think, research and write our conclusions. Articulate our thinking, too. We have the time to articulate. ZOOM has also fixed the problem with gas, toll and mileage maintenance problems for volunteers living on fixed incomes. In the viral age it keeps us productive without leaving our homes.


Yesterday we conducted two ZOOM meetings for SCORE. One was a team meeting on learning new technology central to SCORE operations. The other was a town hall meeting of 42 volunteers to discuss our experience with the new SCORE technology. How is it working. What blips are we experiencing, and so forth. ZOOM worked in both settings beautifully.


Church leadership meetings graduated to ZOOM as well. At least two ZOOM gatherings per week are employed to continue our work on various projects. Church services are done via live Facebook streaming. Our website carries the recording of those services, too, but after the fact. This is Holy Week in the Christian world. Palm Sunday, Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, Easter Sunday, and all the special preparations for these rites. Living in a sheltered but viral world challenged us to keep the church message and heritage alive. We to do so electronically because of the talents of some of our members. Amazing what we can all do together when challenged.


I haven’t used ZOOM for family ‘gatherings’ yet. We will do that shortly. Meanwhile Facebook and texting has worked well. Our HOA board is thinking about using ZOOM. Maybe we can visit with neighbors via ZOOM, too?  Soon we will attempt that.


In quarantine we eat less, produce less laundry, avoid most car expenses, and keep our homes neater and cleaner. We are doing without a lot of things without even thinking about it. I am learning to live more simply and enjoying it. My mind continues to focus on what matters like it has most of my life. That’s just me, but others are likely now discovering this dimension of life for themselves.


The pandemic is scary. It has forced us to be more alone. More self-reliant. More inventive. And more thoughtful. Where there is a negative, positives appear.


It all depends on what we focus on. The positive or the negative?


I fervently hope you all are finding the inner peace and comfort that alone time can provide.

Meanwhile, know that ZOOM is available to lift our spirits by reconnecting us with loved ones and colleagues.


ZOOM. Check it out on the web.


April 3, 2020

Back to the Basics

Rise. Do computer work. Drink coffee. Shower. Shave. Dress. Eat breakfast. Check the internet and email traffic. Move to living room and read for a while. Take nap. Check internet and emails. Return to living room and watch TV. COVID-19 news first, local news second, then DVR shows awaiting to be viewed. Then streamed content. Dinner. More TV. Bed.


That’s it. That’s my day during this shelter order. The driving monitor thingy from the insurance company shows the mileage, idle time, hours of the clock the car was used, and hard braking or acceleration events. Last week’s report said I drove 23 miles. That’s about right. To and from the drug store, quick stop at a grocery store without lines, and then pick up food at curbside from restaurants still open for business. Most of the time we stay indoors. I don’t even go to the lobby to check the mail. Rocky does that!


The routine demonstrates little movement. A lot of down time. Motivation to do other things is lacking.


Meanwhile, the basic chores get done: laundry, dishwashing, tidying, clean the bathroom really well, clean the kitchen half-heartedly. Garbage and trash is a constant chore but easy to do in a building like ours. Thirty feet to the garbage chute room. No fuss, no muss. Easy peasy.


SCORE clients still call and email me. That keeps my brain active. New clients are pouring in as well; these are folks strung out by the shelter in place order that has closed down their business. So we talk and identify restorative actions available.


Church work is challenging. We are attempting to re-invent congregational life in a new age that witnesses generational separation, flagging values challenged by current events and social justice issues. Actually, it is not the values that are flagging, but the disconnect between values and problem issues. People see the same issues as totally different among the welter of opinions. The problem: opinions are not rooted in facts. Working with issues in this context is nearly impossible.


The brain is thus challenged. Reflection helps sort out what is important. Then the real work begins. How do we make good outcomes happen when people are afraid to engage in honest discussion?

Sometimes the brain hurts. A nap is good medicine for that. Also, a good crossword puzzle!


Speaking of which, what’s a good synonym for ‘patience?’


April 2, 2020