We can make our lives sublime (Longfellow)

Prior to coming to Denver, one of my finds from our time in California was a biography of Harry Truman (Truman by David McCullough). Ryan Holiday wrote eloquently about Truman in one of his books and I've been keen to read more about his early life before he became President.

It's a big book! Heavy! And over 1000 pages, but it's worth finding a spot for it in our luggage.

I'm drawn to it because, as Longfellow wrote:

Lives of great men all remind us

We can make our lives sublime, 

And, departing, leave behind us

Footprints on the sands of time.

Travel and change of place impart new vigor to the mind (Seneca)

When you're traveling, every day brings fresh sensory impressions that can be overwhelming.

For me, it's about sifting and sorting all those sensory impressions to gain some sense of my surroundings, which I love to do.

I think that's why I love going into supermarkets on my travels. So much to look at and learn. 

These days, many of the products are available in New Zealand, so the wow factor is diminished a bit. Just a bit though, because packaging and variety is still a thing.

In the early sixties, my family once stayed in King's Cross in Sydney and mum would buy Grissini breadsticks for us. Ross and I marveled at these exotic things from outer space. When I saw them in a Capitola supermarket, I was reminded of this and sent him a picture. 

Of course, what was exotic then is now freely available in NZ. Maybe the tariffs will have a beneficial aspect and things like this will become exotic again.

It's fascinating watching people as they shop, as well.

You can learn a lot from supermarkets. 

Dog, dog - dog eat dog (Ted Nugent)

While travelling in California it is obvious how persuasive the persuaders are. They are everywhere we go.

Maybe it's because we are watching more American broadcasting this week and we are walking around having different shopping experiences (San Francisco and Waipukarau aren't that comparable yunnerstan), but the hard sell for medicines (with long lists of possible side effects) and medical treatments is in-yer-face obvious.

I noticed that sign outside a new-agey therapy place (my brain is wired to notice such things) and did a double take.

The pseudo-scientific Nano-microchanneling technique sounds an interesting/weird/daft/enticing process (delete what doesn't apply) that fits right into the anti-aging urge/craze/dream/quackery.

It's non-invasive - so whatever nano-microchanneling is, it doesn't penetrate the skin (of course not), and they've slashed the price for you!

Good grief!

Great things are not done by impulse, but by a series of small things brought together (Vincent Van Gogh)

 

At the top there are no easy choices (Dean Acheson)

He's Homer Simpson, one of the drones in section 7G

At the top there are no easy choices. All are between evils, the consequences of which are hard to judge (Dean Acheson).

Dean has something there. The thing is, you still have to make those choices, if you are a leader. You can't not act - paralysis by analysis is a real thing.

As a leader, I liked to have time to weigh up pros and cons but I learned that you have to make that decision and you have to live with the consequences. You also, often, don't have much time. So, I did get quicker at it back in the day.

Same thing now I'm back full time in the classroom. Every day - instant decisions and no easy choices.

That's why teachers (drones in section 7G) are so tired at the end of a shift in the brick factory.

Success is achieved by developing our strengths, not by eliminating our weaknesses (Marilyn vos Savant)

Photo by Vicky Sim on Unsplash

That quote caused me to do a double take. When I mulled it over, I could see the truth in Marilyn's statement.

In past interviews, in a former life, I've asked that question. You know the one - adapted to the more modern buzz-speak, "What are your work-ons?", but the intent is the same. In my defense it was designed to gauge self-awareness, more than it was about an applicant's weakness. But it remains a horrible question.

Savant is right - too much is put on eliminating weakness, and not enough in developing strengths!