What class of people has been more glorified or vilified than Mothers? On the one hand, we are frequently confronted with an idealized image of the sainted, angel mother, often with white hair and hands callused from work. She is the embodiment of the most beneficent human qualities: nurturing, loving, devoted and wise. And she is the favorite subject of …
SOMETHING TO THINK ABOUT FOR TEENS: Trust, Promises, and Good Friends
Hi, this is Michael Josephson with Something to Think About. Sarah was 16 and when her mom saw that her grades were slipping she said “No parties until you get your grades up.” This led to a nasty fight with Sarah calling her mom unfair and her mom calling Sarah irresponsible. Later Sara tried a different approach. “You’re right,” she …
COMMENTARY 774.5: Justin’s Introduction to Candor
When my son Justin was in high school, I went to an open house to meet his teachers. I was taken aback when one teacher casually mentioned that she had disciplined my son for cheating on a homework assignment. I asked my son why he hadn’t told me about this incident. “You didn’t ask,” he said. To say the least, …
COMMENTARY 774.4: The Dangers of Absolutism
The world of ethics spreads from the borders of the absolutists, who think every moral question has a clear and single answer, to the coast of the relativists, who believe ethics is a matter of personal opinion or regional custom. In distinguishing right from wrong, absolutists don’t see much of a difference between mathematical calculation and moral reasoning. They’re extraordinarily …
COMMENTARY 774.3: Accountability in the Workplace
Lately I’ve been spending a lot of time consulting with large companies concerned with strengthening their ethical culture. Although I’m sure the leaders I work with care about ethics and virtue for their own sake, I know the driving force to seek outside assistance is self-interest. The risk of reputation-damaging and resource-draining charges resulting from improper conduct is so high …
SOMETHING TO THINK ABOUT FOR TEENS: Building Cathedrals — How Your Attitudes Shape Your Life
Hi, this is Michael Josephson with Something to Think About. A long time ago a reporter visited a rock quarry where three men were cutting granite out of the walls. He asked the first what he was doing and the man grunted, “I’m making bricks.” The second man grinned and said, “I’m making the foundation for a building.” The third …
COMMENTARY 774.2: He Made You
As Lily Tomlin said, “No matter how cynical I get, I can’t keep up.” Our economy has been shattered by widespread corporate fraud; kids lie, steal, and cheat at unprecedented rates; and their parents beat up each other or referees at youth sports events or supply alcohol to fuel organized hazing. Our confidence in the integrity of journalistic institutions, the …
COMMENTARY 774.1: Acting on Principle and Good Intentions
I once heard a story about an emergency medical technician I’ll call Jake who was summoned to help an unconscious woman. When he arrived, she had no pulse. From her color and dilated eyes, he could tell she’d suffered serious brain damage. Still, he did his job exceptionally well, trying over and over to restart her heart. She finally regained …
COMMENTARY 773.5 & STTA #6: The Master Carpenter and His Crumbling Integrity
Hi, this is Michael Josephson with something to think about. Joe was a master carpenter who worked for Martin, a very successful builder of fine homes for 40 years. When he told Martin he wanted to retire, Martin thanked him graciously and gave him a $10,000 check for Joe’s years of service. Martin owned a magnificent lot with a spectacular …
Who We Hurt The Most
Who We Hurt The Most “There’s one sad truth in life I’ve found while journeying east and west. The only folks we really wound are those we love best. We flatter those we scarcely know. We please the fleeting guest, and deal full many a thoughtless blow to those who love us best.” – Ella Wheeler Wilcox Subscribe to a weekly …
COMMENTARY 773.4: Grocery Store Ethics
You can tell a lot about people’s character by how they act at the grocery store. I remember being in a crowded store when there was a shortage of shopping carts. A prosperous-looking fellow was pushing a cart when another man stopped him. “Excuse me,” the second man said, “but this is my cart.”
Virtue Does Not Provide Immunity
Expecting the world to treat you fairly because you are good is like expecting a bull not to charge because you are a vegetarian. Lots of good things come to good people, but virtue does not provide immunity to misfortune, which strikes everyone at random times in unanticipated ways. When your turn comes, don’t take it personally.
WORTH READING: How to Give Kind Criticism and Avoid Being Critical by Leo Babuta for Zen Habits
Why We Give Criticism Excerpted from Zen Habits To help someone improve. Sometimes criticism is actual honest feedback, meant to help the person we’re criticizing. We want to help them get better. To see a change that we would like. If we regularly read a magazine or blog, for example, there might be something that often bothers us that we’d …
WORTH READING: Ten Tips for Giving Constructive Feedback in the Workplace by Dr. Barton Goldsmith
10 Tips for Delivering (Constructive) Criticism by By Dr. Barton Goldsmith for Bankers Online Take an honest look at where you’re coming from. If there’s some anger or resentment toward the team member, then you’re probably not the best person to offer them advice. Start and end with a compliment. Find something good to say about your team member, this will help him …
OBSERVATION: One of the objectives of the Founding Fathers is captured in the expression of John Adams that the new American political system was to be based on “a government of laws, and not of men.”
In his 7th “Novanglus” letter, published in the Boston Gazette in 1774, John Adams introduced this phrase to the American discourse. According to Quotes and Counter Quotes, the concept of “a government of laws, and not of men” reflects a political philosophy that dates back to the ancient Greeks. But the phrase itself was enshrined in history and quotation books by John Adams prior …
COMMENTARY 773.3: What’s So Important About the Law?
Did you know today is Law Day? In 1958 President Eisenhower declared May 1st Law Day to honor the critical role of law in our unique constitutional democracy. It may seem peculiar to some to celebrate the concept and reality of law, but the truth is that most of us vastly under-appreciate the significance of law to our way of thinking …
OBSERVATION: Authentic constructive criticism must be motivated by a sincere desire to help, and delivered in a way that engenders gratitude rather than defensiveness or resentment.
If you want to be a positive force in someone’s life, it’s wise to remember that few people are truly open to criticism of any sort from any source. If you want to grow, understand more, and get better at whatever you do, it’s wise to be open to learn from every sort of criticism from any source. Implicit in …
WORTH READING: What is Constructive Criticism?
An excerpt from WiseGeek.com: Constructive criticism is criticism kindly meant that has a goal of improving some area of another’s person’s life or work. Often constructive criticism refers specifically to the critique of someone else’s written or artistic work, in perhaps a teacher/student setting, that would allow that person to further improve the work or to improve their approach to …
COMMENTARY 773.2 & SOMETHING TO THINK ABOUT #5: Will, Fern, and the Power of Encouragement
Two frogs named Will and Fern fell into a deep pit together. At first, they thought it would be easy to jump out. But after lots of failed attempts they cried for help and a crowd of animals gathered around the pit. Everyone agreed it was hopeless so they urged Will and Fern to accept their fate. The harder the …
QUOTATION: “Take time to deliberate; but when the time for action arrives, stop thinking and go in”. — Andrew Jackson.
Contemplation and planning are important, but your life and its significance is shaped by action. Begin to do what you need to do. Begin to do what you want to do. Paint your future with the bold strokes of action.
WORTH SEEING: Poster – “You will never know how strong you are or how strong you can be until you lose something you really care about.”
Adversity will come and it will bring out the best or worst in you. Be ready. Be strong. Be better.
COMMENTARY 773.1: Good Ethics Make Better Relationships
While I believe that good things tend to happen to people who consistently choose the high road, the correlation between ethics and success is a loose one at best. Thus, it’s pretty hard to sincerely promote ethics by appeals to self-interest. What’s more, when self-interest is the controlling justification for moral behavior, moral reasoning is replaced by a pragmatic cost-benefit …
OBSERVATION: Life is difficult
M. Scott Peck said: “Once we truly know that life is difficult — once we truly understand and accept it — then life is no longer difficult. Because once it is accepted, the fact that life is difficult no longer matters.” His point is that we have a much better chance of finding happiness and contentment if we abandon our …
Strength, Courage & Confidence
You gain strength, courage, and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face. You are able to say to yourself, ‘I have lived through this horror. I can take the next thing that comes along.’ You must do the thing you think you cannot do. – Eleanor Roosevelt More images and quotes about …