What Does God Expect from Us?

   From 911 to the war in Iraq to the various high profile shootings of a young military woman or that of an innocent black bridegroom in New York City, I often wonder what is it that God expects from us. 

High gas prices, credit cards pushed to the limits, and the cascade affect upon all segments of our lifestyle at present our maddening.  With such tensions we are still asked to love our neighbors as we would love ourselves.  While I have always said we do love others as we love ourselves…its just not all that great at times,  I still do ask “What does God expect from us?”  What great expectations does he hold?

Recently, I decided to escape the madness of what I described above.  In fact, it was a marvelous day, on Sunday, up here in the Rocky Mountain West.  For the last week or so, I have been on vacation.  My wife and I have a wonderful retreat we escape to that sits about fifteen minutes from one of the best German brown and rainbow trout fishing lakes in our state.  BUT, last week my wife was on a business trip and I spent most of the week basquing in the quiet and calm of this home’s mountain surroundings.

One of the really nice things about the community into which we escape to are the very intimate settings of the community churches that are available to us. We have one that carries all the character of a log cabin we have all become acquainted with from all those “out west” movies.  And, the other…well the other is just a simple modern structure you pass along the major highway that leads most of its travelers to our world reknown ski country.   

This past Sunday, I had a wonderful conversation with the pastor of that highway church.  I told him how impressed I was with the new building they constructed at the foot of some of the best views in the little hamlet of a town. 

You should see it!  

The building seems simple, yet modern, from the front.  BUT, when you enter the chapel area they choose to use as a beautiful backdrop to the pulpit and the altar area; accenting through large plate glass windows the natural mountain views that lie beyond the chapel as if it were a virtual living landscape painting.  Large glass windows frame in the mighty rock formations out of which Ponderosa and Colorado Blue Spruce find just enough strength to rise sure and sturdy to reach for the sky. 

 A road just behind the chapel and just beyond it tends to help you visualize the spiritual journey all must make to know God better. 

Anyways, you get the feeling you are looking at a great masterpiece by a great artist and sculture.  It is not long after you think of such and idea you have one of those DUH moments where you come to recognize….the work WAS completed by just such a person. And then….you smile resting in the notion and understanding that all about you IS quite a work of art ready for our appreciation and use. 

When anybody….and I do mean anybody….rests in this understanding and learns to appreciate such beauty…it is not hard to be absorbed by it, loved by it, and accepted by it.  Soon…and I do mean very soon after such a epiphany takes place….you know….you are loved and loved RIGHT NOW…by a God whose sense of honesty, goodness, and beauty is not only impeccable….but real…and unconditional.

When I see such beauty, I often feel small.  I wonder why.  I tend to ask of my Self…What does God expect from me–a simple person who appears powerless in the presence of such majesty.

Well…this past Sunday I had one of those moments when the reply is heard loud and clear with that soft loving voice from The One (God) within. 

TheOneNU:  I suspect…and  expect you will eventually come around

TheOneNU:  …to appreciate the enormous value and perfect pleasure my love…

TheOneNU:  …that is designed within U. 

TheOneNU:  While it would be great if every body all made the same amount of progress toward such an end.

TheOneNU:  ….the complexity of your family histories and issues seems to prepare you for taking on just the right amount of love you feel you need to discover. 

TheOneNU:  Eventually, every body, women and men,  will come to know they are some one part of The One that loves you…..

TheOneNU:  For instance, some body who would enter the chapel area of the church may only simply notice the comfortable chairs but hate their color. 

TheOneNU:  Some body may enter and notice only the cross that makes up the wood frame for the huge glass windows. 

TheOneNU:  Some body would walk in and not notice a single thing about the chapels material furnishings,…

TheOneNU:  …. but, another one would take particular notice of a woman who is praying quietly down in front.

TheOneNU:  Yes Angl …this IS what I expect….

TheOneNU:  ….that every body eventually WILL discover they are some one part of the The One (God) that loves them deeply, honestly and well.

 It is a good thing we are blessed with a God who watches us and expects us to eventually understand and appreciate how it is…..

We are loved and loved RIGHT NOW!

Abe Lincoln: “I have failed…I failed…!”

In the first day of the battle alone some 17,000 Americans lay dead on the battlefield.  “Piles of strewn corpses (were) amassed–often limbless, headless,  and shattered beyond recognition.”  After the conflict had ended volunteers were sought to sort the sordid mess out so that the victim’s bodies of this battle could be crated and shipped back home.

As I sit comfortable, staring out at the lake just beyond the reaches of my simple mountain retreat, I ponder the deep and deadly divisions of the Civil War which often created outcomes as that of above.  In ear shot of CNN playing on my TV, I hear talk of “deep personal divisions” between Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton being healed with some exchanges of checks and “Unity Tour.” 

I chuckled at the drama of such description of division, for it pales in comparison to the desperate efforts by loyal men of war who played out deep personal divisions on the otherwise peaceful Pennsylvania fields at Gettysburg.

In fact, because of weeks of exposure to the summer sun,  the stench of death poured so great over this one time peaceful place in Gettysburg, efforts to ship the bodies had ceased and new efforts were made to bury the bodies beneath the field of their conflict.  From this decision would rise our present concept of a  National Cemetery.

For $2,475.87, chief burial volunteer David Wills purchased 17 acres of the land for burying the dead sons of this divided country’s two army’s.  The area for the cemetary would later be expanded to 21 acres for appropriate memorials.  Afterwards, a national commemorative service had been put into motion.  Someone would have to deliver a eulogy for the fallen.

Welcome to Gettysburg in the 1860s!

As we discovered, in the wake of 9-11, a national tragedy can be devastating to the spirit of a nation always reaching for new levels of success.  Like the war in Iraq and Afghanistan, the Civil War involved some son or daughter we would know or be a friend to someone who knew of a soldier who had been engaged in the war effort.  They may have been even among the 17,000.  In these times of great suffering and pain, we rarely are able to capture the meaning of it all…let alone have to deliver a speech to accomplish the same.

Please remember, the sickening sight of death that dotted the Pennsylvania landscape over those few days did not go unnoticed.  New methods of photography allowed for news reporters to capture the ugly results and return their finds to their newspapers.  Within days..if not a week… Americans, in several large cities had viewed what had happened.

It must be noted, Abraham Lincoln was not the keynote speaker of the commemoration ceremony.  He had only been present because he had accepted an invitation from the memorial service committee.   In the 1860s Presidents and politicians were not greatly sought after speakers.  The impression of most political figures at the time was low….Go figure!  No…the most sought after speaker for the event was Dr Edward Everett. 

Dr Everett was a man of great knowledge and stature.  “His public (persona) as a congressman, senator, governor, minister to Britian, and secretary of state glowed with the eminence of a statesman.”  His loss of an attempt to become the Vice-President of the United States affected him little.  It would appear to the organizers of the memorial service, Dr Everett would be best suited to capture the meaning of what had occured, in a stately manner, at Gettysburg.

David Wills, the lead organizer, managed to navigate the delicate task of explaining to Lincoln he would have time to make “a few appropriate remarks.”  He gingerly expressed the remarks would have to be completely serious in tone to “kindle anew in the breasts of the comrades of these brave dead” a confidence that their sacrifices “are not forgotten by those in the highest in authority.”

With two weeks to prepare his remarks, Lincoln would be placed in a position to express feelings he had long (since as a child) wanted to make public about the bravery of those willing to fight for this new nation. 

If you are…or are not…a student of history, you might want to remember that Abe Lincoln was a veracious reader.  Because he had but a few books as a child that he would read over and over, he developed a keen talent to set into memory the experiences with the lessons he would learn from his reads.  Unlike Everett whose vast catalog of academic experiences would fill and become a fascinating resume, Lincoln was born in humble estate and would be selling groceries right around the time Everett would be preaching a sermon as a guest chaplain in the House of Representatives.

Now, having accepted an invitation to make a few choice remarks at Gettysburg, Lincoln would need to find the quiet time amidst managing the results from the war zones not too far from The White House, his legislative agenda responsibilities, and a few family issues of his own to say succinctly what he had wanted at Gettysburg.

Lincoln developed a speaking style that was principled, poiinted, and pragmatic.  It was just this manner of speaking that would move him from the Illinois State House to the White House.  He would learn he would be speaking after the eloquent Dr Everett delivered his presentation.  With sparse moments available to complete the speech, Lincoln was NOT confident the words he had chosen would work.  In fact, he tells a close associate moments before he would speak “It’s a failure and they won’t like it!”

For close to two hours Dr Everett filled the cool chilled fall air with all warmth of his oratorical prowess.  The response to his presentation, while not robust because of the circumstances, was still somewhat thunderous.  Lincoln, after a short chorale sang, would be next to speak.

From what I have been able to understand of these times, the description people read of Lincoln’s appearance fell well short of the presence he brought to the moment.  Standing tall, presenting the somber look of a father who’d truly had just lost a son, Lincoln began what would be the most eloquent two minute speech in American history:

“Fourscore and seven years ago, our fathers brought forth upon this continent a new nation concieved in liberty.  Now, we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation–or any nation so concieved and so dedicated–can long endure.

“We are met on a great battlefield of that war.  We have come to dedicate a portion of it as a final resting place of those who gave their lives that this nation might live.

“But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate, we can not consecrate, we can not hallow this ground.  The brave men living and dead have consecrated it, far above our power to add or detract.

“The world will little not, nor long remember what we say here, but, it can never forget what they did here.

“It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work that they have thus far so nobly carried on.  It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us. 

“—That from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they have gave the last full measure of devotion.

“—That we here highly resolve that those dead shall not have died in vain.

“—That this nation shall, under God,  have a new birth of freedom,

“—(and) that this government of the people, by the people, and for the people shall not perish from the earth. 

The reaction from the audience was silence.  The speech surprised the many in attentance by its previty.  The President left the stage that day feeling himself a failure.  His spokesman would even admit as much.   Many would miss the message at its first telling. Or stand in silence by its pure precision, perfection, and competency.

BUT, because the speech was only 270 words, it would  be printed in the nationwide press and around the world and digested for its greatness and magnificense.  Speechwriters, even today, marvel at its efficiency of word use and manner of the way the words roll with comfort from the tongue.

Even prominent speaker Dr Edward Everett approached Lincoln later to request a copy of his speech admitting “I should be glad if I could flatter myself that I came as near to the central idea of the occasion in two hours as you did in two minutes.” 

It is not really clear to me whether Lincoln would have ever had the time to appreciate his accomplishment in the fields of Gettysburg. It is not clear whether he would ever have understood his belief that “where there is no vision, the people perish” would be embraced by a constant procession of new generations of leaders.   

BUT, it is clear to many of us who have taken the time have done so with no regret.  Because despite what Lincoln thought he might have said….we heard quite clearly the truth about how genuinely great we really are if we but choose to have the vision and willingness to do so. 

Thanks for allowing me to share what I am learning about how life and love works with you…..

You are loved…and loved right NOW!

 

Is He a Lion….Or is He A-Lyin?

Recently, my daughter of 22 years had made a statement that sounded like she would need for me to stay in town for my vacation.  Her concerns seemed to center around the need to have another vehicle available for her possible use. 

At first blush, I was under the impression an attempt was being made to hijack my escape to the mountains for a few days if not weeks.  So, at a moment where I thought I heard she will need my transport to the hills, I said “When?” in a manner I thought would have sent a signal of surprise and upset.  BUT, she stated “Thursday!” in a manner that sounded more like “I expect your truck will be available?” 

When I emphatically (but lovingly) stated how I would NOT be in town “up at the cabin” for a week or so my daughter quickly (but gingerly) retreated to another short topic and left the room seemingly unphased.  I quickly look to my wife to see how it was she heard in my voice a sense of the volunteering my truck for my daughter’s use.  She stated, “When you ask ‘When?’ you are indicating to somebody that you might make something available to them at some point in time.”

Upon hearing her response, I shook my head as if I had just woke up from a dream.  What my wife and daughter heard and what I had thought I had stated emotionally was completely different.  IT is a times like these where I believe I truly AM in another world.  Even when I re-explain to my wife, in the same voice what I had meant to communicate, she still insisted her meaning to be what I had intended to say.

Welcome to the first in a series of postings related to how we seem to choose the Chief Executives who run our country.  What  you just read above was a simple experience I recently had with trying to communicate a point of view to one person with another listening to what I had attempted to communicate. 

As you can see, while it may have seemed I thought I was making my point clear through the inflection of emotion in my voice through one four letter word “When?,” apparently there was something blocking the message from hitting its target.  What that may have been….well, I will never know for sure.

What has this to do with Presidential politics?  That’s easy!  When one person communicates to another through medium of language something (while we might not ever know…or do)…something very unique takes place not found in any other form of nature here on earth.  While we would like to THINK we are the only creatures on the planet that communicates, we know for sure we are the only creatures on the planet that seems to communicate through reason and logic.

“Man’s supreme achievement in the world” Karl Jaspers claims, “..is communication from one personality to another personality.”

Today, we (as a nation) embark on another national festival of learning how to communicate.  Sometimes called “the presidential election cycle.” This is where we will be challenged to decypher the messages expressed to us from John McCain (the Republican) and Barack Obama (the Democrat) to see if they fit into our version or vision of how life is supposed to work for the next four years in this country and abroad.  Close to 40 percent are convinced already Obama has it.  40 percent are convinced McCain has it.  If you are standing quietly listening with folks like me, we are the ones they need to say “I win!”  We are the swing votes!

This much,  we swing voters know for sure about political campaigns.  For one of the candidates the message will be heard clearly.  For another, their message many not get “traction” as they say.  For McCain, as well as Obama, they will discover various moments when it would seem they are completely understood by us….and at other times they may find their self making no sense at all….BUT make-believing they are!

Our rules, as swing voters seem quite clear, the candidate most adept to pulling in to the pits to hone their message and pull there self back into the race on the track with their “message” still clear will score points.  The candidate who changes to a retread tire, to change things up altogether and starts “fly fishing” his message to the American people will sink and ultimately lose.

In the end, the candidate who manages more successfully to melt “his vision” for where the country should “boldly go where no man has ever gone” will be standing on the steps of The Capital in the winter months of 2009 taking the oath of office.  He will then be tasked to convert from spiritual leader to politician; forming coalitions (based on the size of his voting mandate) to move in the direction of his vision.  Some, as Denver talk show host Mike Rosen suggests will swing toward party concerns as “party always trumps politics.”

I have heard it said, “the first rule of politics is ‘getting elected.”  So, if this be true, the use of language to reach such an achievement must involve a colorful and well-balanced illusion for the electorate not to throw the bum out of office in the first 100 days.  Politics is fraught with illusion.  The arguments made by party leaders are hellbent on proving their point of view or version for how they see life is supposed to work is always tempered by the American voting public and the soap boxes upon which they take stands.  It is sometimes a most delightful dynamic that wreaks of broken promises and stolen dreams.

So, in order to determine whether one candidate be a lion….and the other to “be a lyin!” we must carefully listen to how our past leaders have chosen to maintain this most interesting of constitutional republics through the words they have chosen. 

Former Senator Sam Nunn once wrote, “Today’s lion maybe characterized less by an eloquent evocation of American ideal than by an ability to explain issues in a manner that strikes the right chord of public understanding and response.”  He goes on later to explain how Ronald Reagan  was able to comfortably and remarkably accomplish this feat through his speeches.

As I stated in my last posting, I recently finished reading “My Fellow Americans” by James C. Hume.   I am researching the connection my book, IM with God, The Journey to the Center of The One in You has with many of our greatest historic events.  Humes’ book carefully and judiciously walks the reader through the halls of a few great leaders mindset (as presidents) toward constructing a message (an address) for a country that had placed into their care the job of moving it forward to places unknown. 

Hume pieces together the historic times of which we are well aware with behind the scene events; clarifying the focus and meaning behind the moments.  In many ways, as IM tends to express, Hume is clearing the haze of what we thought might have been said to discover what was truly meant.

At the conclusion of Humes book, you truly understand why many young men, and now young women strive to serve at the highest office as president….but, you also come to recognize how  that field of dreamers will be winnowed down by the ugly prospects of having to become a politician or tactician while on the road to getting there.

In the next post, I hope to take you back in time a bit to a time when our nation was truly torn in two, The Civil War….This was the occasion of Abraham Lincoln’s delivering of The Gettysburg Address….sometimes referred to as The Great American Poem.

My Fellow Americans……It’s PARTY Time!

Now that Barack and Hillary have made nice at a fundraising get-to-know-you arranged by Hillary, it is safe to say the national election season is in full swing.  Barack is running his re-introduction ads and McCain is running his as well.  So, in a very different way my fellow americans…It’s time for the Democrats and Republicans to literally “Party.”

It is hard to believe that after what seems three years of campaigning anyone would need a re-introduction to any of the candidates….BUT, heck..what do I know. 

For those few who do visit regularly, I’ve been pretty quiet over the last week with any new postings.  I am on a couple of weeks hiatus from work; spending time in the quiet of the mountains near a lake doing some touch up painting on a fixer upper home my wife and I love to visit often. 

There is another reason why I have not posted, I have been trying to finish up a book written by James C. Hume,   My Fellow Americans: Presidential Addresses that Shaped History.  I have been wanting to finish the book, in part, to re-visit the history that has shaped this country.  BUT, also to gather more information as to how my new book IM with God applies to the events that have shaped our lives in America and around the world.

IM tries to communicate how it is we are keenly attached to the beliefs we have for how life is supposed to work.  For instance, even though we instinctively know the right thing to do (grant blacks and women the right to vote), we often do things the hard way (riot, protest, and attack others for who they are) because of our commitment to “the way things have always been done.”  I was certain, by reading James Humes’ book, I would indeed find great examples of how we seek to choose those who will occupy the White House for four or eight years using such a practice.  I was not disappointed.

My goal over the next couple of posts is to try and clarify (for myself mostly) what is real and unreal about how we choose the President of the United States. I want to be able to illuminate how various presidents from George Washinton through Ronald Reagan came to find their self in the unenviable position of being selected as this country’s Chief Executive. 

You might be surprised…or not…to read something different about how we have come to a place where a young black man named Obama…and a distinguished senior senator named McCain are our choices in 2008.

First, it would be impolite of me to not let you know where I sit (political history wise) before you hear anything about where I might stand on interpreting history.  I promise to be succinct!

My learning about politics originates in working class neighborhoods of Western Pennsylvania.  My father, a steelworker.  My mother, a registered nurse.  If expressing one’s feelings was infrequent, there was very little said on the political front at home as well.  What information I gathered about politics came in the bits and pieces of information I would gleen in the long and passionate conversations my parents would have with my uncles and aunts, neighbors and friends at family gatherings, church functions, or chance meetings.

I guess you could say I was blessed in this regard.  There was an interesting balance of conservative business interests from some of my relatives and a working class conservative focus from my parents and other uncles and aunts, friends and neighbors.  For the most part, listening to these people rant about jobs and taxes, was no more different than my dad’s frequent and seemingly religious Sunday visits to “Meet the Press” or “Face the Nation.”

What I came to understand about how we elect our presidents and local officials was simple; politics, like family issues, is local.  A president is chosen on the illusion of how he/or she might pose to symbolically be the answer for local problems.  He becomes the answer when a local candidate rides his coattail to a state or federal congressional seat.  As such, I have come to notice, there seems a pendullum affect of presidents who are seen to represent what would be called more liberal issues…or more conservative issues. 

Over the years, I have come to make note the presidency (by its very nature) is where one is forced to decide upon issues in The Oval Office from the Center.  Only a few times in American history has there been a president granted the full mandate of the people to conduct his business as he sees fit (Franklin D. Roosevelt and Ronald Reagan).  The other occupant’s agenda were often hijacked by a Congress hellbent on keeping its powers intact.

In summary, I believe our choosing an occupant for office, is no different than two lawyers in court fighting to convince we the jury of their peers, their version or vision of the truth is real and will prove to solve “the world’s problems.”  Each candidate follows the number one rule of politics… GET ELECTED!  

Rarely, is genuine truth recognized as a goal for the country because rarely are our goals, as a nation,  truly focused and defined.  Such is the nature of a huge country born to be free and willing to act that way.  The usual goal is the advancement of a deluded message as far as it will go before the ill-defined “hard working American”  wills to have none of it. 

In the end, the balance seems to work where the fool who thinks he is wise is defeated and the wise who knows he makes foolish mistakes is forgiven (as long as he brings home the bacon).

 

 

Tiger Woods: A Wise Man’s Foolish Decision

    I sat reading the sports page today in The Gazette.  I came across a sportswriter commenting on Tiger Woods. The writer had attended the US Open.  He was making a point that because Tiger Woods is an “elite athlete” he is naturally driven toward competition and inherent moments of “playing with pain.” 

The writer is trying to give a fair assessment of Woods as an elite golfer…BUT, falls into the trap of  unwittingly saying, it is okay to make foolish decisions to play with a torn ACL, stress fractures in his leg, and other wounds unhealed from surgery if you are an elite athlete.  Because you are only acting on your NEED to compete and win.

In previous postings I have stated Tigers focus and discipline are key aspects of his life and game.  If you watched the US Open you witnessed specific moments of Tigers will to focus and succeed….and his lack of discipline to properly use his focus to be more sensible about his life decision to play in the tournament….a wise man’s foolish decision.

What follows is a response I left for the Sportswriter on his blog. 

Tiger, no doubt, will be considered an historical sports figure alongside the likes of Ruth, Williams, Mohammed Ali, Jordan, Gretzki, and Nicklaus long after our departure from this great life we live. How history will define him and his accomplishments will be cataloged and recorded far greater than each of the above; leaving up to the viewer and or reader to reach their own conclusions as to HOW great he is or was. After the viewer wades through the mud and the muck of all the hysteria surrounding his play, they will see a very deep and long list of accomplishments. How long a list that will be only time…and the story of one foolish act will tell.

More importantly though, along with the recorded history of his performances will be the detailed path he took to enjoy the ride he would have made to get there. It is there, in the home that Earl and Tida built and created for Tiger, where the difference is truly made between his performance on the course of his life and the rest of the field.

With that said, your point…”All athletes want to win. All will say they want to be the best. But it’s the elite athletes whose histories are saturated with sacrifice: missed childhoods, miniscule or detached social lives, failed romantic relationships, lost friends and bruised, battered and beaten bodies” simply DOES NOT apply to Tiger Woods.

From all of what I have gleened from Tiger himself in interviews and articles, his home life was a great balance of self-affirmations from his father and firm direction and wise discipline from his mother. We should all be so blessed. It is the foundation for what makes for a strength of will we have not seen since the likes of Mohammed Ali.

While his childhood was guided into a single occupational direction by his father’s willingness to help foster his son’s giftedness and talent in golf, Tiger’s sense of spiritual intimacy, purpose and intellectual prowess was gently molded by two parents who loved and appreciated their son deeply. Tiger is great….because Tiger was not taught as most of us were instructed to feel; less and lacking in ability and trust for our own giftedness.

I believe you are, in part, correct all athletes want to win. Competition is about winning and losing. WE are all about winning and losing. Life, as we THINK it to be, is all about winning and losing.

IF we get a great night of sleep, we get to work on time and feel good….we win. IF the party last night was filled with too much beer and late night conversation and we arrive late to work feeling dragged across the parking lot several times over….we lose. That seems to be the way we like for life to be lived out. Each and everyone of us WISH we could be the best.

BUT, those who WILL to be the best experience moments of success, it seems, with greater ease and enjoyment. We look at them and we wonder why and how. We see Jordan on the court scoring 40 and 50 points per game in the pre-Championship years and we are in awe…We see Tiger overcome 19 holes of mis-cues and still win and we cheer loudly. We see Rocco Mediate, at 45, going toe to toe with (what we call) the greatest and scream “Yesss!” when he sinks a much needed putt. How do they do it? Before they act on the drive, they believe THEY WILL do what they know they can accomplish…greatness. For them, winning is never about proving to others their greatness or totally about being recognized as the best…winning is about saying “I did it! I conquered the mountain! I AM GREAT.” Winning is a statement of life.

As for Tiger’s decision to play with his injuries, Socrates once said, “There are two kinds of people in this world…”Fools who think they are wise…and the wise who know they can be foolish.” Today, Tiger is wise to the fact he can do some pretty foolish things while winning a game he plays well. How well will he have learned this lesson? We will just have to wait and see. I would presume his future strategies will be based on the lessons his father and mother left with him to secure his desire and love to play long the game for which he carries a torch…a passion.

This brings to mind your assertion, “elite athletes need to compete like they need to breathe….the victories are the sweetest breaths of all. Pursuing them, and in many cases (in) dominance, is encompassing.”

Winning is a drug of choice for most elite athletes. Why else does Barry Bonds and Mark McGwire threaten the stories of the greatness with enhancements. “The elite” especially, like winning THE BIG ONES.

BUT, like all mind altering experiences there can be the hazard of not knowing the forest from the trees. It is clear, in the days leading up to last weekend, Tiger could not see the difference. The passion to win The Big One now, could very well have changed his method of play in 2009,10, 11, and so on. Will the onset of arthritis in the knee in the years ahead be a hurdle? We will just have to see.

From Tiger’s own words, it is clear today he is much wiser to the notion he can be quite foolish.

Seven Deadly Lessons in Life (We NEVER Should Have Learned…)

    One child, one mother, one father, in one house.  When a family is described like this, life sounds so simple.  How or what could possibly complicate matters?  All a house needs is love….right?

For the most part, yes would be the correct answer to that last question.  All we really do need is for us to recognize the real beauty, the real honesty, the real strengths, and true giftedness of the life inherent with our creation in order to feel happy and peaceful in the places where we might find ourselves.  That is, until the seven deadly lessons we never should have learned came along.

Most of us, because we have not been taught how love and intimacy with it works…we are left with a clutter of beliefs and misperceptions of our Self to dig through to find the love we long to experience.   It IS, for the most part, the single (and one thing) every body on this planet shares equally…..a journey toward understanding, appreciating and ultimately recognizing (knowing again) the love we are.

Each person has a deep-abiding love seemingly buried beneath years (and perhaps centuries) of lessons of lack.  We know this when we show a genuine love for our significant other, some (if not all) our family members and their friends.

When we tap into real love, honest love, genuing love we partner with an uncompromising selflessness; a love that knows no bounds. In such times, we  would do anything for those we love, including sacrificing our own comfort or desires. 

Some would say, this is what drives Jesus into a peaceful silence moments before he makes his long torturous journey through the city to the cross to the grave to the eternal and loving heart of every persons willingness to emulate the same.

What happens to us that seemingly prevents us from seeing a love so powerful it can actually move mountains of steel rebar, cement, glass, blood and tears (like that at Ground Zero in New York) is quite simple….We learn to be who we are from the closest most trusted individuals (adults) of our life. And, we trust implicitly the strength and the ”integrity” of these lessons.  In fact, we believe this form of living is the “happiest we will ever be.”   Primarily, our teachers were our parents, aunts and uncles, older siblings, neighbors and friends of each.

I want to introduce to you Dr Jones….no not Indiana Jones…..

Dr. R. Terry Jones, a psychiatrist and professor at Regis University of Denver, is the author of Listen with Your Heart.  The book is the outcome of the devasting affects his divorce caused him to experience personally.  

The event of having to end a nearly seventeen year marriage sent Dr Jones face first into trying to learn something much deeper about who he was…and why he did some of the things he had during his marriage.  If you have been through such journey’s, and I would image you have, you know trashing the past to feel loved in the present can be difficult. 

BUT, it must be done!

Like each and every person on this planet who involves their self in a relationship, Dr Jones took with him into his marriage a set of rules and definitions about love and intimacy laid out for him by the most influential individuals of his relationship…..his parents….especially his father.  

 What follows are seven of the deadliest relationship busting lessons Dr Jones learn while as a child and taught to himself through his young adulthood well into his mid-life.  They were lessons taught to him by very influential people who learned them well in their lives. 

Many of the lessons will be familiar to you (as they were for me)…..some may not….in fact you may know by the end of reading these lessons a measure of where you,  yourself,  may sit with regard to what you may have learned from your family of origin and repeat for developing your comfort zones today….that is, if you are honest enough with your Self.

Without further adieu…

THE SEVEN DEADLY LESSONS IN LIFE

(WE NEVER SHOULD HAVE LEARNED)

THE LESSON OF FORGIVENESS…..”The concept,”  Dr Jones starts to say, “of being able to let go, or to forgive someone or some situation was not part of my family of origin experience.  No one seemed to know what forgiveness was in our home.  It seemed that grudges could be held on to for years at a time.  This was a devastating pattern for me in my first marriage.”

THE LESSON OF HONESTY……”In my home of origin there was a tremendous lack of honesty about feelings, either in the form of no expression or extreme expression of anger.  Feelings like sadness and fear were for all practical purposes absent.  The error was one of omission, family members simply did not know what feelings were or how to express them appropriately.”

THE LESSON OF AFFECTION….”I remember very early in life running into my parents bedroom and seeing my mother push my father away when he tried to rub her back.  The message I recieved for years was that physical intimacy was bad or wrong and that you should never touch or be touched in front of other people.  Hence, I developed an air of aloofness which was deadly in my first marriage and to my early relationships with my children.”

THE LESSON OF FRIENDS…..”I noticed that my father preferred very wealth friends, the kind of people who are very much into establishing and maintaining images.  My mother’s friends were often those on the “wrong side of the tracks,” “the underdogs.” She would frequently do nice things for people, sacrificing herself and sticking up for others.  I remember there being alot of clashes over these differences. I took on both extremes of behaviors and have often found myself feeling empty from image making or feeling overwhelmed from trying to be everythings to everyone.”

THE LESSON OF PLEASURE TOGETHER….I do not recall my parents going out together to have a good time.  My father frequently left to do the things he enjoyed and  my mother usually stayed home.  This pattern created some unrealistic expectations for me that had to be balanced by setting aside more time for togetherness (in my marriage) and perhaps less time for being out playing (sports).”

LESSON OF PERSONAL SPACE…..”Even though my father made a good income, the house we lived in was extremely small.  My mother resented this tremendously, but I never heard any discussion of moving to a bigger home.  I wonder how mother would have reacted with a little more space for herself, both in the home we lived and in the relationship.  Of course, equally powerful patterns of enmeshment can go on in a twenty-room mansion, but, I am talking about personal and emotional space, not just physical space.”

LESSON OF HOUSEHOLD DUTIES…”My father,”  Dr Jones writes, “had none, my mother had them all.  And she was expected to be home all the time for the children.  This created completely unrealistic expectations of her on his part.  She became isolated and depressed and never did realize her potential for being in the world. Fortunately, today the old stereotype of women as just mothers and wives is fast being replaced by an awareness of the emerging unique and powerful personality that now HAS to be matched by men.”

The good doctor goes on to mention other areas like how his family experienced Vacation Time, Diet (eating habits), and Relatives.  These everyday experiences we take for granted as ”things that happen” in our lives.  Regardless of how small they seem the moments are enormously powerful learning moments.

What we failed to understand it is here in these moment WHERE LIFE HAPPENS.  Life is lived and taught to us when we were young in these moments.  As children we thought we ignored them when they occured, but, today we live to recreated them in our most  intimate “loving moments” as adults.. We call their existence ”the happiest we will ever be.”..And, wonder how and why we suffer pain at the end of the day with them faithfully at our side.  

Ultimately, if we are willing to truly live “the good life.” we must CHOOSE to remove the lie about the importance of such lessons and our need to recreate them as essential for us to experience happiness.  And, if we (as couples in friendships, relationships, marriages,( or even corporate arrangements or contracts), are to meet with the successful aspects of our lives….we must dissolve these illusions as soon as possible.

So, get to know and heal the inner child within you.  There is a hungry loving heart waiting to hold you long deep and well.  You have a passion for life that will not be exterminated by the pressures of the failing lessons of the past. 

Your real self will begin to emerge when you diffuse the power of unmet demands of forgiveness, false definitions of feelings,  vaccuous displays of affection, image-driven friendships, the smothering affects of no personal space, and living a single life while married.

Willard F. Harley, in his book “His Needs Her Needs” states that “whether you have just started your life together, have had an average marriage for a number of years, have a bad marriage, or even had an affair, you can build or rebuild your marriage if you but do one thing….Become aware of each other’s needs and learn to meet them.” Choose to learn something each day about the you you see in the one you love.

And, remember….you are loved and loved RIGHT NOW!

Tiger Woods: Patience as Tool of Success

   On a Sunday in March, I introduced an idea of how there are four effective ways to beat Tiger Woods to the Fed Ex Cup.  I wanted to explain a tad bit more the concepts I introduced then now.  I began by offering these ways…

• patience
• discipline
• Love the game the way you love your Self.
• Vision

You might be asking yourself, why is this guy who wrote a book about spiritual intimacy, writing about the PGA tour professional named Tiger Woods?

My answer to that is simple.  Golf is the greatest best example of a spiritual journey.   Every person who has played the game of golf knows how demanding the walking of an 18-hole golf course, at times, can be.  Especially, if you’ve been “re-landscaping” the course as you go. And, every  person who has played the game of golf knows the critical part decision making plays in one’s golf game.   Ultimately, how you play the game (any game) is how you live or love your life.

We all can readily admit, our various forms of spiritual journeys can be quite demanding in and of theirselves.  We are always digging up old wounds, re-landscaping our own lives, and touching others with the good and bad lessons we’ve learned through it all.  “Life” as we like to define it, just seems to be this way.  We like learning from the mistakes we make and pain therein we create.

The Hebrews, for instance, of the old testament times (wandering about in the desert through their own choice…not God’s) would tell you their spiritual journey was quite demanding.  And, the part decision making would play in their travels WOULD re-shape their thoughts about their lives and the lives they would touch millions of times over as a result.  Life, as the Jews would experience it is about tearing down and rebirth.

I love the wonderful symbiotic relationship of our spiritual journey has with a simple game of chasing a little white ball to the most desperate parts of the course.  Just ask Tiger Woods when competing on the sixteenth hole at the US Open.   He would be the first to explain, while Life happens regardless of what game one plays, golf is the greatest best game to watch (or play) if you want to learn something about your Self and how you live your life one step at a time or one shot at a time—in the fairway or rough.

So, with that said, (I know you will agree ) patience is a tool of success in any thing you do.  If you run short of patience you’ll fall prey to your fears.  Once again, Phil Mickelson is the greatest best example of this.   Fear is the single most, if not THE GREATEST, obstacle Phil seems to foster toward enjoying Life and all the inherent gifts of BEING GREAT….and (like it or not)..we all have wanted to say to Phil, “Hey Bud, can’t you see.. ”YOU ARE GREAT?”

In order to enjoy great levels of patience, you must first enjoy, embrace, accept the very fact YOU ARE GREAT!  Seems easy, but, since for centuries we have all been taught we are sinners, idiots, infidels, and fools…success seems only destined for those “the god’s shine down upon.”  We look at the shot Tiger makes on 17 on Friday of the US Open and say…”What luck!”  BUT, we fail to reason….Tiger’s decision to play the ball the way he had was played from a standpoint of repetitive belief in success.  Tiger will say it was lucky…BUT, it was NOT.  It was unwittingly intentional because of prior practices to be patient within himself. 

We are taught only a few persons are truly great.  We are taught “No one is perfect!”  So, we end up striving to achieve at various ill-definded levels of excellence we believe fraught with impurities and imperfections.  It’s sort of like buying a new Corvette and driving it very little because it just might break down on us.  And so, we drive it so very little we eventually do cause the engine’s high performance to fail.  Eventually, we regret ever having thought buying a Corvette to be a smart idea. And, to top it all off, we blame ourselves for “being such an idiot!”

On the other hand, we are taught being great is all about some body’s egocentric version of being great.  In these cases, we hear various versions of the phrase, “I’m better than you!” or “I’m smarter than you” or “I’m faster than you!”  Life being great in this instance is about the lies and illusions of what we THINK is greatness.  We make comparisons between a Tiger Woods and Rocco Mediate and we want Tiger to win…Because as Johnny Miller absurdly said something to the affect, “Does a person with name like Rocco even get his name on a trophy?..He looks like he cleans Tiger’s pool” 

Eventually, as we have seen with Barry Bonds and Mark McGwire….”the great and mighty” do fall at the point of a needle filled with HGH (Human Growth Hormones=Steriods).  While these athletes had not the patience to understand what lessons pain held for them, they choose an avenue of physical enhancement that would eventually define the story of their lives.

Everyone is great!  In fact, I have had as many as four brothers fill my life.  All of them are great!  Their level of accomplishment and personal success is enormous.  While to some they might not agree, perhaps they have experienced a great sense of what is great, what I have experienced from my three living brothers is an unbridled sense of what greatness can become when you apply the tool of patience.

True patience, then,  is a choice we make to INTENTIONALLY pay closer attention to the presence of good and great (God) in our life within a world filled with possibilities ready to be experienced.  We have proven time and again  patience for the design of various illusions of what makes for a happier life can have vapid and violent results.  For example, a spouse methodically punishing the other physically and/mentally.  

Here, in this article, we are addressing true patience, true focus, and (what the Bhudda would call “right thinking).  With that said, once we accepted our part in being great (bringing our Self into thinking right about who we are) we fall immediately in love with the life in which we live.  Soon our attention turns toward all of the innovations and inspirations that make for a Life filled with accomplishment.  And, it is here where we come to understand how patience will be our tool for using our gifts to reach outcomes or goals we will to experience.  

The more we genuinely use true patience, the more we experience an unbridled happiness.   Since, because we our now on a journey to discover what is true about our Self,  we now know happiness is ours 24/7/365 and we are the sole source of all of what happiness offers, we will to convert our patience into a confidence, a certainty, an undeniable truth that we ARE in fact GREAT.  We know we ARE THE MOMENT…..and to be “in the moment” means we embrace expressing what IS great about who we are.

It is here where persons who have made the decision to see their part in BEING GREAT, like Tiger Woods, Brett Favre, Mohammed Ali, Jesus, Bhudda, Moses, Confucius, and the others who have a seeming glow about their presence.  And, it is in the glow of that light that attracts others in droves.  People, all people, yearn to touch or be around the light they express.  If they are interested in experiencing the light, they express a willingness to learn about how to love their Self.

For those wishing to experience a higher level of their part in being successful in the sport they play or the life they want to live, accepting the very basic fact you are great and loved deeply and passionately by The One (God) in you is critical.  The secret to Tiger’s sucess is all based on the level of his understanding, appreciating, and loving the realities as stated above.  

Patience, then, is Tiger’s choice to intentionally pay close attention to what is good and great (God) in his life within a world of endless possibilties. This intrigues Tiger enough to go venturing out onto the golf courses of life to see where this spiritual journey of his will take him. 

The great thing is….YOU are invited to take the journey along with the many who travel this same road…..It’s a whole (life) in One!

You’re Loved….and Loved RIGHT NOW!

  

Four Ways to Effectively Beat Tiger Woods…

 The PGA Golf curcuit is in full swing. And, it would appear Tiger Woods game is stepping up.  If you are one of the top fifty major golfers in the world, you are no doubt well aware how the Fed-Ex Cup could well be The Tiger Woods Coronation each and every year. 

Author’s Note:  As the PGA Tour progresses, this posting will be updated to support the premises laid out herein.  As such, now that the US Open of 2008 has fallen into virtual tie and a Monday playoff between Rocco Mediate and Tiger Woods is scheduled to determine a champion…this post will be reposted and adjusted to meet the demand of its message.

So…….

How DOES one beat Tiger to the trophy in any championship?

• Patience
• Discipline
• Vision
• Love your game….the way you love your Self.

The 2008 US Open Monday playoff has all the ingredients of a great match-up.  Rocco Mediate is 45 playing in the one tournament he truly loves.  Rocco, over the years has learned a simple discipline that has served him well at Torry Pines.  “Keep it in the fairway…be yourself…and enjoy the ride.”  Anything else for Rocco is pure expected distraction.

Tiger Woods, on the other hand, while at the top of his game is off his center physically with a bum knee.  With all of his mental and spiritual strengths still intact, Tiger once more has the chance to add another exciting chapter to his golf lore with a victory. 

The question for Monday…Will Rocco’s simplicity and genuine love for life through competition  help him to maintain his game enough to raise the Open Cup he so would love to possess?   Will Tiger’s physical limitation define his game enough that he forgets the power of his will to win just about anything he attempts? 

 If you are spending your time reading this blog because you know (or struggle with ) the notion that the game of golf is not played from tee to green..RATHER from ear to ear…that is a good thing.  YOU KNOW that YOU are the only thing standing between your ball and the hole in the middle of that green: Tiger is just your excuse for not wanting to be great.   

I am here to tell you you will win or play better in the next match you play simply because you will have decided your patience and discipline is far more important than those with whom you play against.

Much like happiness itself, your life is YOUR ball to play as YOU choose to play it.  Whether you believe it or not, even Tiger suffers badly when he falls behind the leader by four or five strokes after 54 holes…especially when The Masters or The US Open is in play.  Notice how hard he wrestled this past Sunday with maintaining his focus while wrestling with a physical and mental challenges of his sport. 

From the  MetLife Snoopy II blimp hovering over a PGA Golf Tournament where Tiger Woods is playing it appears almost as if you are watching a local youth soccer game; a huge crowd running after this single solitary object.  In this case, the crowd (the gallery) is following after Tiger’s every shot.  He could be losing by eight shots.  Yet, still they come to watch him.  When he leaves, they leave.  If you are playing golf for the crowds your game will leave as well. 

If you want to beat Tiger to the Fed-Ex Cup, you have got to realize ( as I have said many times before)  you MUST not buy into Tiger being his generation’s version of Elvis Presley.  While Tiger’s golf game is precisely where he wants it to be, most of what the golf world says about him is said in homage, praise, BUT….mostly out of  hysteria.  The greatest best example was the sickening amount of times the NBC golf colorcaster Johnny Miller gushed over Tiger and belittled Mediate

“Mediate became an unfortunate verbal foil for Johnny Miller. It was hard to tell what came over Miller — had he ingested too much kikuyu grass? — when he chose his words badly to ostensibly praise Mediate’s everyman persona.  Early Sunday he said Mediate “looks like the guy who cleans Tiger’s swimming pool.” A stupid remark that would barely be remembered if he had not followed it with one after Dan Hicks, NBC’s host, said, “Rocco with a chance to put his name on the U.S. Open trophy.”

What should that have provoked? Something like, “Yes, Dan, quite unlikely for Mr. 158.”

Instead, Miller said, “Guys with the name Rocco don’t get on the trophy, do they?”

Miller, however, was not alone…On Monday, Dan Hicks, the NBC host, tried out a Rocco/Caddyshack bit during one of the breaks, Miller said, not sternly, “We are at the reverent point in the championship.”

Make no mistake, Tiger IS great…BUT, so are the those in the rest of the field.  Afterall, Tiger NEEDED a birdie to beat Mediate.  The problem with the other pros is they simply choose not believe or know how to be great.  For example, watch Phil Mickelson!  Phil is fraught with doubt about his greatness and what to do with it.  As was noted with his silly and almost comical carrying no driver in his bag.  Phil simply can not find enough ways to create worry and stress in his game.  Do you ever just want to yell at the TV, “Just go out and play the game Phil?” 

These ideas in no way are written to negate the enormous talent Tiger Woods chooses to possess and participate with during a tournament.  But, the level of attention other golfers choose to give him IS totally what this entry is about.  This entry is also about what one can do to reach for a tournament win, or play better (in any sport or activity)  when the likes of your version of  ”Tiger” is in play.

Below are the basics of Tiger’s attractiveness:

1. Tiger is  physically pleasing to watch. 
2. Tiger’s confidence is very sensual 
3. Tiger is spiritually and mentally  balanced.
4. In a very healthy way, Tiger loves his game the way he loves himself….(vision)

“Tiger is  smaller in person than what he appears to be on TV.” a young woman, who helps work PGA events, once said to me.  “BUT, there IS something about him that glows.”

Tiger, on the tube, cuts a very handsome figure.  HE, and Phil Mickeleson (the Tiger Antithesis)  makes for great TV theatre  and viewing.  He is dashing and buff, confident and determined.   To most, Tiger IS what all wish to become…a man willing himself into physical and spiritual perfection.   Tiger’s smile alone is a killer.  Especially, when the smile is set on “focused and serious.”   

Tiger uses his knowledge of his physical character traits on the opposition.  His walking onto the first tee of last year’s US Open wearing Nike’s version of “body armor” is a perfect example.  Looking taller, standing ready, and very physical, Tiger was sporting his agressiveness.  Were he a female tennis player, some would have accused him of flaunting “it.”  IT must be pointed out, this strategy alone did not (and will not ever)  bring him the US Open victory.  In fact, he would lose the Oakmont C.C PGA challenge of 2007. 

This brings to mind our second point, Woods’ mental methods of playing the game of golf.  Tiger’s intentions when he touches the golf course is to not only beat you…but…beat you badly.  Earl Woods’ lessons on confidence for Tiger leaves Mr Woods little  reason to have any  intent upon trying ”not to lose.” Winning is the only reason he wants to play the game of golf brilliantly.

As the first few tournaments of the new year have proven, Tiger has great intentions for this year to win every match he plays.  Like all of the golfers on the course, his opposition is not the golfers with whom he is playing, his opposition is reaching a level of performance where the outcomes are specific to the  life goals HE established in his early childhood.  It has always been Tiger’s intent to reach higher than anyone would expect of their Self.  So, when Tiger is four or five strokes behind the leader of let’s say The Masters after 54 holes….he IS right there at your side trying to overcome all his ghosts of “not being good enough.”

Let’s get this straight….Every competitor walks onto the golf course or baseball field to win the game.  BUT, the level of success each reaches is based solely on their capacity to do what they want to.  Every body has choice as to what level of patience or discipline they will unleash to reach their goals.  What they will they will do.  BUT, what they wish to do….they simply will not;  Sunday will become a massive attack of fear of there being someone named Tiger in the rear view mirror.

Most golfers, as I watch and hear their comments on TV, seem to walk on the course when Tiger is playing, hoping Tiger has a bad day.  For them, Tiger is a large as they THINK him to be in their rear view mirror.   Instead of playing their game, they’re playing Tiger’s game as well! 

In golf, you’re either playing with them or they are playing with you.  Tiger walks on the course having almost completely convinced the vast majority of pros….they are playing with him. That kind of believability equates to more tournament wins than anyone else. 

How did he accomplish convincing all those golfers to step aside and let  Tiger play through?  The answer to that is easy; Earl and Tida Woods. From what I have come to understand, Earl was more the more intuitive and feeling of his marriage with Tida.  Tida, in Woods on words, “was the disciplinarian.”  She managed to keed Tiger focused on the guideposts along his physical and spiritually demanding journey. 

Earl Woods, on the other hand,  was The Bhuddist Monk handing down to his “grasshopper” the secrets of proper focus and “right” thinking.  Earl’s practiced behavior of talking through his young son’s downswing during a friendly golf match was purposeful.  The message to his son, ”if your intent is to hit the golf ball, my speaking to you should matter very little.  Do what is important in life.  Distractions simply do not matter.”  And then he would add, “I promise you son (if you listen to what I am teaching)  there will be no one more mentally prepared to meet life than you.

In Tiger’s mind, the golfer with whom he is playing (the performance) simply does not matter.  Tiger’s happiness is guided solely, in Tiger’s heart, as Tiger’s responsibility, purpose, and drive. 

Eventually, Tiger would understand the importance of being patient with his father’s behavior and focus on what he wanted most out of life;  to happy and whole.  That would take disciplining his Self about what is important.  What was important to Tiger was to first love being the “good man” his father taught him to be.  Second, play a game he passionately cares for.  And, the rest eventually would make Tiger happy.

Golfers if you are listening, ultimately, HAPPINESS is what keeps Tiger winning. This approach is not that much different that the rest of the field….except for one reason Tiger embraces his greatness.  He knows his greatness is about how gifted one can be if they but take notice.  As such, he is tempted to reach beyond himself to a place where error is a constant.  HE actually chooses NOT TO WANT TO BE HAPPY!  Where Tiger loves to seperate himself from what others may do….he quickly “thinks righly.”

As you might have noticed, Tiger did not play very well at the loss of his father, his teacher, his friend.   Some athletes, like Tom Weiskoff for instance, geared up and become extremely focused at a time of great loss.  Weiskoff would win the US Open on the heels of his father’s death.  

Tiger, however, was out of balance, out of sync with the loss of his father Earl….A quick retreat into his grief would settle his personal issues and herald a slow return to  his sense of what is good and great about Life and Tiger.

It is important to note, Tiger is into the second year after the death of his father Earl.  And, it would appear Tiger’s grieving period over the last year has waned into a performance comfort zone.   Tiger is now the father, literally.  And, the messages of Earl are now his responsibility to express to a child and world who will be yearning for its fruitfulness. 

Tiger is more than willing to share with those willing to accept what he might have to say.  If other golfers are willing to listen, they could win a great deal more than matches as a result of taking the time to listen….they could win out on seeing a happier life they only dreamed possible.  They will actually do as the will…not as they are simply wishing.

While I am the farthest from a professional in any sport, I am confident embracing greatness and claiming my share of being some one part of it is extremely important.  I was created to BE happy, BE loved, BE great. 

 So, my tip to the world’s greatest golfers playing Mr Woods:

When you are playing Mr Woods embrace the moment; you belong there.  Do not fight the illusion of what you THINK about his greatness and your trying to match it.  BE GREAT because you ARE great.

If I am a professional golfer playing Tiger, I am choosing to see how it is I am gifted enough to share the same pure  spotlight of happiness Tiger so willingly embraces as well.  I am saying to my Self and the world as Lee Westwood stated somewhat on Saturday night of the Open…. I belong here, because I am great, I love what I do and want to do this forever. I love who I am. To find yourself playing on the final day with Tiger Wood says alot about what you’ve accomplished”  And, then I turn to Mr Woods and say.“Tiger!  Let’s have some fun!”

In other words, Love your game the way you would love your Self….Have fun!  Like Rocco!

You are great….and you are great right now!

Two Dad’s and a Monument-al Story of Love!!!!

Paying close attention to the details of the project at hand, Nick assembled the bolt to his soap box derby racer with one thing in mind; building this racer in a neighbor’s garage while his dad dodged mortar shells in Baghdad that killed several of  his comrades.

The following posting is about “Dad’s” and the concept of how important fatherhood is to us….as a community of people in this great village we seem to share on this marble of a planet among many in the Universe.  This posting is about how genuine unconditional love can speak far louder than any deluted soul who might want to hurt another for “psuedo-spiritual-ecocentric” means.  This posting is about how truly great people are when they focus on the grand design of The One (God) to truly love their neighbor as they love their Self.

When I was young, people would line my little town’s hilly mainstreet three and four deep.  Each family member, neighbor, or relative knew of someone who would be passing by.  Bobby Luciani was driving a blue one.  David Mastroguiseppi was driving one that looked like a rainbow.  And Tom, my brother, he was driving a hot red one.  On this day, some 45 years ago, was the local time trails for those young boys and their fathers who built racers for The Soap Box Derby.

With all the complicated messages of the war’s in Iraq and Afghanistan, this year’s presidential election, the home mortgage crisis, soaring gas prices, and global warming argument, it is hard to hear the really heart warming stories with great messages for each of the above issues; we need to work together….as One to make it through our messes. 

So, having grown up in a small town in northwestern Pennsylvania, I came upon a truly great story for posting here on my blog.

For those who have been Boy Scouts, “Pinewood Derby” cars is a term with whom many can identify.  The small wittling project is an opportunity to feel some sense of accomplishment.  In the end, the scout has created a pinewood race car they offer in a friendly race competition with fellow scout members. Not a video game….but a simple effort to have fun.

Well, many of those same scouts (and their fathers) usually evolve to the next level of constructing a racer through the Soap Box Derby competition.  This is where the subject of this posting begins.

Picture, if you will, two boys of two seperate families whose fathers had been deployed to Afghanistan and Iraq.    The two boys wanted participate in the Soap Box Derby, but, without the father’s present the whole lesson of experiencing a sense of accomplishment with a father simply would not happen.  Needless to say, the two boys still wanted to compete.

Enter, the people of Momument, CO, a small town a few minutes south of Denver and just north of Colorado Springs.  In particular, a Sertoma Club member Tom Hughes who offers to sponsor a child of a deployed military parent.

Tom chose 12 year old Nick.  Nick told him about his friend Bradley.  The two boys are good friends.  And, like many small town neighbors, the families of the two young boys share great and adventurous moments of fun.  BUT, the sudden deployment of both fathers was one experience they did not quite expect.  Mr Hughes, along with the neighbors, would offer their support in a very special manner. 

Nick’s father, Colonel Rick was in Iraq commanding a 300 soldier garrison support unit from out of Fort Carson, CO.  It was his second deployment.  Brad’s dad, Lt Col Will, an Air Force pilot and AF Academy astronautical engineering teacher, was doing an unexpected tour of six months in Afghansitan. 

“It’s always the families that get the short end of the stick when deployments happen.” Said Will “So, it was nice to come back and have the whole neighborhood take it upon themselves to take care of these kids.”

And, that is exactly what happened. 

The families did not know Mr Hughes who took it upon himself to pay for the $750 for Nick’s car kit.  He also took on the responsibility of overseeing both boys construction of the racers.  HE would store the racers in his garage. 

Mr Hughes, a dentist, took the liberty of naming the cars “Miles of Smiles”  and “The Smile Machine.”  (Building the racer) was much more specific than I had thought.”  Hughes stated, “I did not think every little detail would be so critical.  Every little bolt HAD to go in a certain way.  It was quite fun and rewarding.”

The nice thing about the arrangement, the two boys (close friends) will not be competing against each other.   Brad will be in a different car class than Nick.

Both Dad’s, as you might have already surmised, returned a few weeks before the time trails would happen.  While they were too late to help in the construction of the cars, they were able to help put the finishing touches on them with their son’s approval. 

BUT, before their return would happen, Nick would come to realize his father was in a far desperate set of circumstances than his desire to finish his car for a race.  He knows how hard it is when his parent is gone.  Nick would be the first to admit constructing the car did not help him forget about  his dad and the danger he faces.  BUT, he also would admit that the nuts and bolts of the support he recieved from his community was great. 

“We’d like to thank them!” Brad said.

They call much of what the town of Monument provided “a random act of kindness.”  I would call their act an Monument-al Achievement of Love.  Their choice to support the fun of two sons of father’s deployed into danger nails in a serious commitment we all  have toward maintaining the right for children to know adults as great, good, and honest teachers.  Their decision to love these children will have such a huge…..monumental….ripple affect in the lives of those they have touched.

They prove once again……

You are loved….and Loved Right NOW!!!!

 

 

Tiger Woods: It’s all Between the Ears

   Every so often, I take a break from the heavy subjects of spiritual intimacy and concentrate on fun “real world” moments and people, like Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson. 

When I was a youngster, the movie El Cid, a highly romanticized expression of the life of a young 11th Century Spaniard–starring the recently deceased Charlton Heston and the lovely and talented Sophia Loren hit the silver screen.  This weekend, the 1961 movie bastardization of history for all intents and purposes seems to be coming to life with Tiger Woods returning to the PGA Tour. 

WARNING:  By reading through this if you feel as if you’re getting a soap opera update….well…as they seem to say….That’s life now…isn’t it.  So, here we go.  Oh…yes…try to remember this does have something to do with Tiger Woods….At least that is what I hope to accomplish.  

Here we go…time for some history.

Eleventh-century Spain is divided into Christian kingdoms and Moorish strongholds….Lord knows…they would never call something non-christian a kingdom.  Anyways,  each hold onto the usual delusion of their being the greater of the two.  Each want to prove it by eliminating the other.  The young Rodrigo Diaz de Bivar–dubbed El Cid (the lord) by his followers–vows to see his country at peace, free from the Moorish invader.

Vigorously brave and resourceful, the noble knight hates bloodshed and faces treason charges at court for the clemency he’d shown to some emirs.  For God sake, we can’t have people treating other people fairly.  Anyways, his accuser, Gomez, father of Cid’s fiancée (Chimene–Sophia Loren) dies in a resulting duel. Chimene’s avowed vengeance plot fails and Rodrigo (Cid) is given her hand; the marriage is not consummated and she enters a convent.  (And, they say all the great looking guys become priests) 

Anyways….

When the ruler Ferdinand dies, his kingdom is divided among his three children. Sancho, one of the children, challenges the decision and imprisons Alfonso, another of the children, who is released by the Cid.

Enter, The African war-lord, Ben Yassef.  Yassef wants to take advantage of the quarrel by having Sancho assassinated. Alfonso now claims that throne, too, and exiles the Cid. (Still hangin with me)  Chimene realizes the nobility of her husband and joins him, but returns to the convent with their two children, when he goes into battle against Ben Yussef.

As the years pass, El Cid becomes a revered warrior, but refuses to aid Alfonso, preferring his own strategy. He lays siege to Valencia, catapulting food into its starving garrison; when the Valencians kill their evil ruler, Al Kadir, they offer the crown to El Cid. He sends the crown to Alfonso, who rushes, hysterically gratified, to his side. But, in the meantime, the Cid has been hit by a stray arrow in battle. Attended by Chimene, he hides the wound from his men and prepares a final bid to drive the Moors from Spain.

At this point (pun intended), in the movie Charlton Heston is strapped dead to his saddle.  The strategy was to play on the Moors belief that El Cid was immortal and was riding once again into battle….even though he was slain by the fatal arrow.  In the movie, the Moors are frightened by the prospects of El Cid’s return.

Enter Tiger Woods!

Tiger Woods, perhaps the best known of the golfers these days on the tour (that was meant to be an understatement), returns after some work had been done on his knee.  This young man, in his thirties, return to center stage at the U.S. Open at Torrey Pines (for me at least) is getting a bit of an over dramatization.  Each and every article I have read reads like the promoters of El Cid’s illusion of that last gasp effort to stave off the Moors. 

By the end of this weekend, you will have had a chance to watch every angle of “how the knee of Tiger Woods works in his golf swing.”  Strangely enough, sorta….adding to the “brilliance” of every “magnificent shot.”  Poor Phil Mickelson,  who will play the first two rounds with Woods at the start of The Open,  no one will be looking at HIS knees.

The play of the professionals on the tour over the last few weeks have been sensational.  Phil is playing his usual game of t-r-o-u-b-l-e while the rest of the field is truly competing.  They have made watching the matches without Tiger entertaining.  I, for the most part, even had forgotten about Tiger until one of the tour pros, Sergio Garcia,  in an interview thanked Tiger for not playing the tournament in which Sergio had just won.

Once again, I have to emphasize my belief that Tiger is a great golfer.  BUT, not for the reasons all the other so called “experts” claim.  The talent pool of the field of golfers on the tour is far from vapid. 

The BIG question about Tiger’s game this time is “whether he can come back and be the same Tiger we know and love.”  As if making a comeback physically was somehow greater than making a comeback from the loss of his father, his teacher, his mentor, his friend was something to sneeze at.  The knee will  be a problem for Tiger.  If there will be a problem it will be what affect the the lack of play.   Tiger lives and breathes golf between the ears.  There are times when Tiger, like the rest of the field, becomes a real head case; blowing leads and making bad shots

One sportswriter I read claimed to have seen Tiger hit a practice shot onto a green only to have him and the gallery watch it sink into the water.  “Tiger’s caddy dropped another ball for Tiger.”  the sportswriter wrote.  “Tiger promptly hit the ball where it would land some five feet from the pin. Most veteran writers and observers of the game,” the sportswriter would conclude by saying, “thought that was unusual.”

Did the writer ever think Tiger was not so much playing to hit the ball nearest the pin, BUT, was trying to see how the green’s landing zones had been changed.  Probably not!  Sportwriters are not paid to think…they are paid to express to us how it is they live vicariously through great sports figures like Tiger, Kobe, Michael, and Barry Bonds.

In many ways, its sad at the myopic nature of those who closely observe the golf world when it comes to the likes of Tiger Woods.  I found it quite amazing during The Masters how mainstay Jim Nantz of CBS Sports would be heard less and less on the air as it had become apparent Tiger was not going to be there in the end.  Trevor Immelman simply was not as “flashy” (I guess) for Nantz to laud the praises of his play like he does when Tiger holds a lead.  Remember those words….”holds a lead”….because if Tiger is behind catching up is one hard puppy to overcome.

By now you are probably agreeing with me that Tiger is no El Cid.  He certainly, by no means is dead in the saddle.  While he has yet to test his knee against the long walk of Torrey Pines and the US Open….He is hardly a wounded leader scrapping and scratching his way to the top of the leader board.  And, the play of the pros on the tour over the last couple of tournaments will prove to show Tiger the field is coming closer to his mindset…Espeically, if they might have accidentally visited this blog and read about how it is one can beat Tiger.

While Tiger is extremely competitve, a loss at Torrey Pines (where he has won several times in the last few years) will be disappointing…BUT, no where near the feelings of disappointment during the failed attempt at playing golf a week or so after the death of his dad.  A memory….by the way…that will be thick on his mind and driving him forward on this particular weekend…..of  FATHER’S DAY. 

Screw the knee….Tiger’s problems will all be played out between the ears.