Today I turned 60 plus one day.  Honestly I have been looking forward to this day for ten years.  Now, that I have made it I am looking forward to 70+ 1.  Why?  I don’t dread living and feel it is great time to look at what I have yet to learn about:  myself, the world, life, etc., you know that small stuff many try to avoid looking at throughout their lives.  So here I go into the next decade of living.   Stay tune for it promises to be quite interesting from here out.  Mike

“Lesson one, The world owes you nothing!”

“Lesson two, The country owes you nothing!”

“Lesson three, What do you owe yourself?  A Great Life!”

The little girl looked up at her grandparents.  Into their eyes she searched for more, but their eyes kept repeating the same messages, over and over.

Those three lessons would continue echoing in her ears, heart, mind and soul for the rest of her life.  The souls’ of her family will hear those same words repeated again and again for generations to come.  She, like her grandparents, made it so.  And like them, none of a great life came easily.  That was the unspoken fourth lesson.

To reach for anything is a mighty task.  To aspire for a great life is to inspire life itself.  At five the trusting little girl faced her future with the courage of an explorer, undaunted by unknowns, fears, and ever present naysayers.  From the perspective of her young life, she looked up to her grandparents, whose lives were great and wonderful to her.  She owed her grandparents nothing more than to have a great life.

What do you owe yourself?  Is a great life beyond your personal expectation of a future?  Have you sat down and let your dreams diminish around you; dissolving your aspirations into a puddle of self-doubt at your feet?  Yes, only you can assess your present status on this and other matters, without remorse or staged regret.
In the interim of life, between that moment of birth and our last token breadth at death, we are constant captives of an event where we create who we are to become.  Consequently and without hesitation, we cannot afford to stand still and let things find us or happen to us. We just make them so.
Life and living are imperatives. Thus, we must create great things in our lives, as we compete with time for the attention of opportunities.

A five year old has decades ahead of her to mastermind a super life.  Also, the same can be said for someone fifty or even seventy years of age.  Yet, time doesn’t change, but the attention of opportunities becomes more focused and less generous as we grow older.  Not surprisingly with additional years behind us, we become keenly aware of what qualities inhabit and inhibit a living dream.  In understanding those attributes we are left free to discard the superfluous, in exchange for what we already have—A Great Life, nothing more and nothing less.

To clarify, age brings us to a point when we can realize how much space in our lives has been taken up by “stuff.”  It is then that we finally discover how badly we have cluttered our lives and our minds with meaningless material worth nothing.  At that point we simply push the filter button and purge all that is not needed. Simultaneously, we filter-out future foolish acquisitions of items, which lose value a second after we think about them.  Therefore, a great life requires constant vigilance and self-regulation, in order to keep itself healthy in all things deemed important.

A final comment:  A person who has a great life has lived an unusual experience in today’s world.  She has practiced living honestly, genuinely, and with a style that walks in the footsteps of a rare specimen of humanity:  the unselfish.   Look around inside your life.  Are you on the path of a great life?
Please share with friends, family and colleagues.Michael Mason Norman, ED.D.  (Doc)

Handwritten note to Bill, December 24, 2010

Bill it was great working with you and we truly appreciated all the fantastic work you did for the organization.

Best of luck in your new endeavors that you are pursuing.  Thanks, CEO and Chair

Company wide newsletter

January 2, 2011

Back page, bottom of column three

We wish to inform everyone that Bill_____ has decided to pursue new adventures with another

organization.  Given our recent reorganizations after Christmas, the Executive Team has decided to discontinue

the position titled Chief Humility Officer and spread its responsibilities among the following departments:

Legal, Marketing, HR and Risk Management.  If you have any questions, please contact the CEO’s secretary, Jonathan

________.

The theme of our next newsletter will be:  Hiring Etiquette Practices

December, 2010

I feel awful.  No one wants to meet with me and no one is returning my phone calls.  Perhaps Nancy’s message had been shared with others and talking with me may place them in harms way?  Just thinking too myself; it is an old and invaluable habit.  Boy I could use some Key Lime Pie right about now.

A lot of questions are running through my head about next steps.  There are too many to think about as my head is pounding and my stomach is feeling like it wants to cramp up, like the kinds of cramps you get with a colonoscopy.  I think I better see a doctor.

At the doctor’s office the diagnosis: Nothing!  But I am obviously feeling a little “stressed out” about something.  “Yep!” was my response.  I went home.  I called in sick for four straight days. I was depressed beyond anything I had ever felt before.  My wife was truly concerned but I couldn’t tell her what was going on, even when I didn’t fully know what was going on.  Christmas was coming soon and I had to do some shopping, finish some reports at work and buy a tree for the living room.  Getting back to normal was my first and last objective for the week.

November, 2010

I closed the door behind me as I left the CEO’s office.  I felt great as I was told that my work was exceptional and it was important that the publicity office write an article about me for the newsletter and the local newspaper.  No other companies in town had a CHO and it was important for the company to herald its guy at the head of his class.

I went back to my office and sat down, a little drained from the experience, for I was expecting a smack against the head by a 2 x 4 board.  Somehow my fears were in error and I was now becoming part of the inner circle within an inner circle.  After taking a deep breadth I returned to my work and then noticed it was time for lunch.  Suddenly, I received call from an old friend in legal, who asked if I would join her for an “off site” lunch across town from our offices.  I said yes, but wondered why so far away from the offices?  Oh well, the place has fantastic food,  and a change from the normal bland sandwiches would go well with my raised spirits.

Nancy picked me up in the parking lot and she drove five miles across town. We chatted all the way as she was my wife’s best friend from as far back as kindergarten.  Although she had no children, she treated our children as her nephews and nieces and the kids just love her.  Once we sat down and ordered our lunch, she looked around the room for a third time, leaned across the table on her elbows and stared straight into my eyes.  She nodded as if she were saying “it’s ok” to herself.  Sitting back in her chair, she took a sip of water and stared at me again.  Finally, just before the food arrived she dumped the news on me.

She told me a little story about  receiving an email by mistake, which had something to do with me.    It was an ugly message, full of hissing, snarling and dirt.  As I listened I could feel my face wrinkling with sorrow and trepidation.  People I thought liked me, actually loathed me to the point I should probably expect to see my picture burning on my desk someday.  I had images of graffiti splattering my office walls.    Apparently, someone pushed the email out to too wide a crowd, so others beyond the intended recipients had received it as well.  Nancy wasn’t sure what was about to happen, but it was clear to her that an orchestrated attack was being set on my position.  All she was doing was providing me with a little friendly informant-like heads-up.

I looked down at the huge bowl of award winning soup.  I couldn’t eat it. Then came the ribeye, I couldn’t eat it.  Finally, the Key Lime Pie, I at that!  There is food and there is food, but Key Lime Pie is my form of drug for when I feel down. What timing!   Nancy looked across and asked if she should share the information with my wife?  I said no, it was better left totally confidential.

Back in the office, I just sat there for hours, even when the lights when out automatically.  I drove home, said good night to the kids and the wife and went to bed, begging forgiveness for an oncoming illness.  On my pillow was an envelope from my buddy Jerry.  My wife had placed it there earlier in the day.  I wondered what Jerry had to say?

Hand written note from Bill’s friend Jerry, received

November, 2010

Expect them to start pushing you out by micromanaging your operation. They will overload you with work and start criticizing the quality and timeliness of your reports, etc.

Eventually they will openly challenge your personality, your value system, even your integrity.  Don’t take it personal, it is just the nature of a beast called:  Passive-Aggressive Behavior.

You will experience it in its most classic form, as it will be fueled by insecurities, suddenly exposed vulnerabilities, fears turning into phobias, and the  usual suspects bordering on the exploitation of sociopathic licenses.

You just got to love it for what it is worth.  Give a call when you have a chance.  A buddy of mine is looking for a new president for one of  his companies in town.  It is a perfect fit for you.  They need someone who doesn’t fit into their culture;which needs an extreme organizational makeover to move them into the 21st Century.   Jerry

Caller:  Sir, I sent in my resume and app two weeks ago and then had  a phone interview last Thursday.  But, even though I was told someone would call me on Monday, I thought it was best, since today is Friday, to call back and find out what was your decision?

HR:  Uh, well I haven’t heard back from the hiring manager, so I don’t know what to say.  Please, we will call you next week to let you know. Thanks for calling.

Two weeks later.

Caller:  Sir, I talked with you two Friday’s ago and you mentioned you thought a decision would be made the following week, but I haven’t heard from anyone.

HR:  Well, we are still thinking through what we want to do.  Thanks for calling.

Three weeks later, the Caller notices an announcement about the job he interviewed for.  It was found on the website:  www……

It notifies job searchers that the job posted three months earlier for so and so type company, had been pulled.  It doesn’t say if it were filled, nothing.

Two days later, the same job is reposted, inviting interested parties to submit resumes and applications.

The Caller (Dumb-founded and frustrated): Sir, Why didn’t someone have the professional decency to call me and let me know what was happening.  Click on the other end of the line.  Such is life in the hiring lane these days.

Is it fear of engagement or is it just not wanting to have to explain why someone was not hired.  Time or lack of it could be a culprit, too.  Should organizations call people or email them to let them know they were not under further consideration after interviewing them, especially if they were softly lead to believe they were still in the running for a position or possible further interviews?

What are your thoughts on this kind of situation for job seekers?  Do organizations have any kind of responsibility to inform potential employees of hiring decisions or is that a legal taboo?  What does this do to the hiring process in the future and who is going to believe HR people or their surrogate 3rd party vendors?  Are there any hidden costs for organizations who run soft deceptions during the hiring process?

Bill is writing an email on the Monday following a national holiday weekend.  It is a memo to his “peers” on the alley.

September, 2010

To:  The Executive Team

From :  Bill, CHO

Subject:  A few observations and a cautionary tale

I was working late last Friday night , as my family took a trip without me.  So I started working through some of the terabytes of  emails burdening the speed of my hard drives.  It was a surprise for me to come upon a note from a field manager, who was questioning the etiquette of our hiring practices.  Etiquette was his term not mine.  It became clear after reading his statement that we have a problem in the company with how we treat people applying for jobs.  I only suggest this for it was not the first time I had heard about a hiring practice, which seems embedded deep within the organization.  It is a sad tale I tell you now and one full of risks for the company.  It deals with the special people who seem to know how to override our 3rd party vendor, who is responsible for vetting potential candidates for supervisory and lower level managerial positions.

At first I thought all of this was a fluke, but it isn’t.  Let me be non-midwestern blunt:  we are giving select outsiders permission to pass-go without proper vetting.  I grant you many of these individuals work well, but many long time employees are watching “outsiders” move ahead of them, even though the outsiders lack experience, knowledge and understanding of the industry.  Also, as you may recognize, field managers feel restricted from supervising these new, special hires  with the same level of diligence as would normally be served to new supervisors and managers.

But on Saturday I attended a picnic with a few employees I have known for over a decade and without prompting they unloaded their frustrations on me about this practice.  They reminded me that when I worked  with them, none of this kind of behavior ever reached our operation.  Now, I see that was probably due to the two decades of leadership provided by our  late director, Galen Stronson.  Just so you know, I modeled all of my work values after those he exemplified.  He tolerated no forms of arrogance, pretentiousness, ego-mania, etc. whatsoever.  He was the most straight-forward and honest person I have ever known in my life.  Probably more honest than any of us have ever known in our lives.

My former colleagues told me that after I was promoted and Galen succumbed to his sudden illness, his replacement started placing new people into positions specifically created for them.  My friends then said they were instructed to  “teach” their jobs to these new people.  Obviously, only fools would have done so without first questioning the motivations behind these requests and actions.  No explanations were given.  By then the director’s door had a sign on it, indicating he would see people only by appointment made through the central scheduling office of the corporation.

Please tell me what I am missing in understanding why this practice exist and what we should expect as benefits for the organization down the road?  From my perspective, this kind of activity can only lead to lower morale and loss of extremely talented individuals to our competition.  I already know several people, whom we cannot afford to lose, are looking elsewhere and a few are seeking retirement counseling.    If you wish, I can share with you my projections on the cost of this type of hiring etiquette will have on our company within three years.

I hope you had a great weekend and I am looking forward to talking with you some more on this topic.

Bill

A letter between a business executive (Bill) and an old friend of his from high school days (Jerry.)  Bill is opening a chapter of his life, unfamiliar to his friend Jerry.

August, 2010

Jerry,  It has been too long since we last connected and had a chance to share a few personal thoughts about life.  Before I forget, many thanks to you and your wife for the kind note you sent after we lost our son Tad.  It was hard to say good bye to a little guy who was less than a day old, but we still have the other three children to comfort us.  It was very painful, yet Jennie is doing well and has recovered from the shock.

I also want to thank you for the congrats! message, after I was promoted to CHO at our company headquarters.  Wow!  Now I am on C level alley in the back of the building, where all the important stuff takes place.  I must admit I miss the gang I hung out with for years, but you know the game, now I have to hang out with those who breathe air in the stratosphere.  You know you actually have to wear oxygen masks up there as it gets a little thin.  Something pushes the oxygen out of the rooms for some reason.  Yet, you do feel you are on top of the world, like being on the top of Everest.

I am also writing this note  to vent a little frustration I am having with my title and the work I have to perform on daily basis.  It seems that as the CHO I am expected to make sure people do the up and up things correctly; then I am signaled to ignore a few less than up and up decisions made daily.  And I do mean daily!

Have you ever felt like you were a token creature in a zoo?  Here I sit with the nice office, where I can glance out at a very nice view of the country side and it smells like crap all around me. I think you know what I am talking about because we both grew up downwind of that old feedlot on the edge of town.  Smell or no smell, my job is to serve as the humility pro.

When I started I wasn’t quite clear on what they wanted me to do.  But, looking online, I discovered that all I had to do was make the company appear to be honest, straight-forward and  open to its “vulnerableness.” Ok, I have achieved all of that, yet I find myself competing with the publicity and marketing people as well.  Even the risk management and legal people get into the act.  So, here is my problem.  I want to do this job right and do the right job.  But, there is a strange feeling sitting in the back of my head, which will not stop!

Am I fooling myself into thinking that I am really a CHO, or is this an act I must offer to the public every day I walk into the office and attend those glad hand events?  I struggle with this, I truly do.  Often I tell my wife how I wish I had followed your path in life.  You are your own boss, granted it isn’t easy thinking about where your next check is going to come from, but you have taken great care of your family and it shows.  Your kids are doing well, you can go home at anytime.   OK, so you work out of your home.  That is still important as I don’t go home until 7 or 8 most nights.  That is just the way it is around here these days.  But, I do envy your life and lifestyle. The money is fantastic and they want to give me more for doing less.  (Off the record, that is a coded way of saying I am now part of the club.)  I am tired and need to go home.  More on this later on.  If you decided to respond please send the message to my home email address or do as I did here, send it USPS, they need the business and I don’t trust our IT admin guys.

I guess you have proven once again that you were and will always be the smarter between the two of us.     Again, I lose another bet from the past.

All right, that is enough belly aching. I just had to share those thoughts with someone outside of my corporate circle and who knows me better than anyone else on the planet.

Thanks for listening, Please send all my best to your family.  Take care, from your buddy on the fast track, Bill

Our American work ethic has normally been confined to thoughts about the Protestant work ethic.  Specifically, it suggests that hard work is the key to success.  Yes, work is a key to some forms of success, especially working hard to get what you are after.  It is particularly true when you are in control of what you want to go after.  Historically, people had a great idea of what they were after, it was a strong pastoral lifestyle of open air and open opportunities formed from living on the land.    In today’s post-industrial climate, the setting for work is quite different and at least equal in challenge to the times of the pre-World War Two American farming society.

Many Americans, obviously not all, graduate from college and move into the ranks of normal working stiffs. Everyday, they jump into their cars, scramble aboard buses and trains, even a few ride bikes to work.  Once at predetermined workplaces life moves into the scripts of routines.  Work is now about doing things which may have consequences for the world, but more than likely the effort goes unnoticed.  Farmers grow things, raise animals and hopefully serve as stewards of the land.  When you are sitting in an office what are you are you doing that which resembles serving as a steward?  Perhaps you are a steward of paper or information!

When I was teaching graduate level business students some years ago, I often asked them who was responsible for their success at work?  A few said they were responsible, while others felt it was their supervisors’ responsibility to assure their success.  The latter was a very curious response, as it placed the individual’s success in the hands of their supervisors.  In so doing the respondents were also setting their own responsibilities for success outside of themselves.  Consequently, from their viewpoints, success or failure at work where not their collective responsibility.

I have thought about this paradox for sometime.  Unfortunately, I never asked my classes in who was responsible for the successes or failures in the rest of their lives?  I now wonder if they would blame their parents, their significant others or even their children?  It seems that both domains are now socially acceptable as status markers, they need origination from outside ourselves. Oddly, we seem to place our fates in the hands of those who shadow our lives.  Is this simply a practice of each younger generation?  Absolutely not!  Old and young today harbor senses of dependency on others.  Perhaps in a society where you clock in everyday, you sign a tacit agreement where you believe you relinquish your identity to others.  Yes, that is what I believe happens when you deed away your success and failures to others.  It is an odd work ethic worth exploring carefully and fully.

Let me suggest that if you know someone who is still in his or her twenties, that you sit down and have a heart to heart talk on who controls their lives at work and at home?

https://leadershipdesign.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/ld-blogtransiton-recession2.mp3When you are over fifty you begin speculating about what life could have been when you were young.  When you are young you speculate about what life will be like when you turn 35 and become old.  Neither are spared their delusions as they journey onward.  This is the second part of “Our Transition Recession.”

We begin with a comment on an interesting article by Reihan Salam (Time Magazine, March 22, 2010, pg.46, 47).  Its title foretells the life stories for many in future generations:  “The Dropout Economy, The future of work looks a lot like unemployment.”  Whether or not present spectators of our times believe we are witnessing a tectonic shift in how the economic, social and political landscape is being reconfigured, we are definitely feeling the ground move beneath our feet.  Incidentally, that big wall of water is not a mirage, it is a tsunami racing towards us to wash-away the doubters about change.  Salam’s view of the future is not grim, nor sci-fi in its conclusions.  He simply writes a picture board of images depicting what many of America’s tomorrow’s will look like.  If those tomorrow’s are for the better or for the worse, they will depend upon how we prepare ourselves for unknowns, countless challenges and in how we energize ourselves to live–with reduced governmental and institutional support.

Unlike the Boomers, who represent the last economic vestiges of World War II, Salam’s America post 2020 or so, will move quickly, where the slow to change will feel left behind in a  digital dust storm. If and when the dust settles, the digital refugees will live like orphans in a place where there are no parents to care for them. In fact, no one will care about them!  If you have grown up sheltered from life and unwilling to engage it, you are screwed!  We are not talking about Darwinism at play with lives, but about something more powerful, exacting and unforgiving.

From my observations Americans want to both regress and progress at the same time.  We want to go fast and yet not move from one spot, right now.  You can hear sounds of our capacities being shredded, torn skill by skill, brain cell by brain cell until the very qualities of life, as we prefer, are threatened for those who cannot move–mentally–into another place. It is an understandable consequence to find that their heads and hands have shrunken ten sizes too small to meet the challenges beyond today.  As Salam projects, there are 20 somethings who are expanding their minds and hands to create tomorrow for their generations and not for those of the past. That conclusion is as it should be.

Although his story does represent a somewhat extreme view of our world,  it is more than plausible.  And, it is the plausible, san wishful thinking and cosmic dreams, which will embed a different America, unlike any other, deep in to this century.

In reading his short article I am reminded of a book published in 1981, titled, The Nine Nations of North America, by Joel Garreau.  Garreau, who is also the author of Edge City, a must read and older volume on what we are living today in urban and  suburban environs; describes what is another plausible view of America’s places and spaces.  Obviously, when we think of nations we think of lands inhabited by a diversity of people.  Perhaps that is the case of America, but our evolving Internet is leading us away from far flung diversity.  Instead, we are cascading towards a long beach front, which is falling away at our feet.  We are, America in 2010, the tsunami.

In Transition Two I am asking one simple question:  Do we have the capacities to live in a vastly different world from what the Boomers adopted post World War Two?  Of course, capacities is the term we must focus upon to further explore our world’s beyond today.  Capacities include:  skills, knowledge, ambitions, attitudes, capabilities (emotional, physical, thoughtfulness, spirituality, etc.) Understandably, they do not support unlimited status quo.  They ultimately recycle ideas and weave new materials of possibilities into plausibilities, and thus into realities. The secret of our Transition Recession is that it will not end for several generations to come.  We are experiencing our Great Depression, World War II and post war years all at one time.  When we try to step back to see what is happening we are already within the mix of the Transition.  It will not let us retire like the Boomers.  Retirement, as a capacity, will be interspersed throughout the lives of future generations.  Work will not be work, but will resemble more of what we call lifestyles today.  Learning will be constant and continuous throughout life and not based on class seat time, nor on diplomas and degrees.  Learning will be about what you are able to do in life, what you contribute to an array of communities, and in what positive aspects of living you teach others.  Your status, for what is left of the concept, will be determined by who needs you as a human being and not just for your skills and knowledge.

At the end of the Transition Recession will come another Transition.  In the end, there is always another transition for future generations to ponder.  At that point they will have the responsibility to bury ours, along with all before in a tomb labelled history.

One last caveat to the Transition:  The Great Disaster

The hurricane called Katrina was predictable and long awaited by residents along the Louisiana coastline.  Radar reported its coming, but only the thoughtful where those who did not like to stare folly face-to-face, and where able to move, chose to remove themselves beyond harms way.  Katrina was a whispering wind compared to the The Master Earthquake, which hit simultaneously in several locations around the world. Collectively, all had epicenters close to the surface and all exceeded 9.8 on the Richter Scale–all were connected by time.  Cities were not destroyed, as they and their inhabitants simply vanished from the face of the earth. Imagine, plates of mass were reconfigured creating new structures of the earth’s surface. This will always be known as the transition of transitions.  We must also remember that earthquakes do not respect borders assigned on maps, as earthquakes have the power to draw new maps at will.

Yes, this is a prediction and I am not an alarmist.  It is just we have recently witnessed several large earthquakes around the world, many but not all in the Pacific Rim.  I just feel that the earth is moving from within and no movie can change this scenario for the better.  It is true, earth and time hold all the cards.  And the cards for America include:  New York City, Chicago, St. Louis, San Francisco, L.A. and The Valley, all of the rest of the California coast and inland, Portland, OR, Seattle and western Washington, to name just a few hot spots.

https://leadershipdesign.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/ld-norman-rockwell-tired-painting.mp3I am focusing on an imagined image, where the iconic American artist, the late Norman Rockwell is standing before a blank canvass pondering painting a scene, a collage of sorts of America.  Known for his realistic depictions of American life, Rockwell is constructing a self-portrait of his country, “from sea to shining sea.”  But, for a few minutes he stands quietly, reflecting on what needs to be placed in the images he captures on his stretched material.  I can see him thinking about what he must include, but more importantly, it must be honest, true and not fitting the emotional needs of those who want to see something other than truth. Fortunately for us his era preceded ours. Where today stark truth is eclipsed by empty opinions, as they are validated by commercial appeal and high entertainment values.  It is an era where opinions weigh more than facts.

In his hand Rockwell holds his favorite brush. He twists it a few times and then closes his eyes to envision what he wants to say to America. No models are present to guide his thoughts, just memories about the past he has witnessed and ideas about the future.  One thing is for sure, he sees an America which has retired from the world.  Too many people have fallen prey to living in the past. No longer do they have to think about tomorrow, even for many too young to withdrawal, they seem content by simply being content.  Is this their entitlement as Americans?

Ever present in expanding screens TV angels wing their way into the hearts and minds of those in blissful repose.  The content is mentally non-caloric, deprived of all nutritional substance.  Not surprising Rockwell decides to depict an intellectually anemic audience, stationed center stage, with eyes bowed, but not in prayer.  Instead, they are just tired!  Most have worked all their lives, but not on  farms or factories, like generations before.   They have worked with their minds, not with their backs, nor letting their hands suffer wear and tear from manual labor.  Stress claimed many  of them, stranding their colleagues, friends and neighbors with only pictures of smiles on good days now gone.

I look up and see Norman Rockwell staring at me. He is lighting his pipe, but not for a second does he look away from my eyes.  For a moment I feel cold.  Asking myself, “Why is he looking at me?”  Thoughts streamed into a damp sweat, my mouth went dry with flashes of fear. A heavy internal dialogue pursued me while I watched the picture unfold.

“Perhaps he needs me in the picture?  Oh no!  I am not tired,  I am enjoying life.  Do I look like I have retired?  Please don’t think I look like those poor souls, whose lives were spent to reach the end, only to find they did not live, they merely existed 24/7 .  He is still staring at me.  Uh oh, he is turning to resume painting.”  Suddenly, I recognize that I am his model.

It is in that instant I see why he was looking at me.  I am thinking about the same things I have thought about for the past thirty years.  Even worse, I am doing the same things at work and in the rest of my life.  Why did I not try new things, why did I let my  life drift along expecting things to just take care of me?  I look up to see what he has done with this naive model?

He has done nothing, except, I can see he has left a space, which looks perfect for my profile.  Mr. Rockwell, you clever guy. The message is clear and it is my choice whether or not I want to place myself among the other tired specimen of past organizational life.  Then, the painter points to another canvass where he has already started a different painting.  On it I can see it shows a different America, with a background more futuristic than historic.  Unlike the dull scenery of the first painting, it is a bright scene with people clearly living with imagination, purpose, driving themselves into a diverse and demanding world.  It is obvious that it is a world were retiring does not happen.  Gone are the days of the Protestant work ethic. I can see you live to live and work is only part of the picture.  It is now the American Work Ethic, formed from an introduction of new realities about work, intellectual challenges and an ever present, inescapable drama of change.  It is a new, new, world.  Welcome America!

So, I can live in the past or I can help create an ever evolving America, with new traditions and new roots.  Why?  For these new beginnings will keep the society alive, energetic, creative and inspired to surpass all eras set before.  On this canvass each new generation paints its own tomorrow, by creating their own lives, which they build for the betterment of the future. Their reward will not be found in being worshiped in the future by the achievements of their day.  They know that their ideas, wisdom, and values, simply form blocks in a continuing restructuring of a society.  Embedded in their instructions to the future is a warning.

Look around and be not tempted by the fallacy of staying the same for eternity.  The future was formed by a willingness to change the future and not let the past tire them into submission and total loyalty to an unrecognizable era.  Forgotten by many today, wise people understand that when you change the world, as America has, it has changed America in turn.  The changing cannot be reset to a default.  Our option is to progress for future generations or regress into building monuments for them to worship us as we  worship ourselves today.

Youth and young at heart and mind, want to create their own tomorrows and it is their right to do so.   It is not our right to obstruct them, through: retired legislation, obese debt, emperial-like greed, unceasing entitlements, abuse of power, nor through aborting democracy with applause.

Copyright 2010 Michael Mason Norman, ED.D.