Entitlement
Few human behaviors rile me up more than entitlement. I didn’t tolerate it within organizations that I ran and it drives me crazy when I see it in other places.
Entitlement is the attitude that the world/society/company owes me something simply because I exist.
Bowie
Growing up a middle-class, white kid in the suburbs of Buffalo, New York with parents 40 years older than me and siblings nearly half that much, the majority of the music in our house flowed from the ‘40s and ‘50s. One of the first songs I remember hearing that woke me up was Revolution. I was too young to understand why that song impacted me so very much when it first came out, but it created a hunger in me for new music.
Sacred
There are moments in life that we ignore, that we rush past, that we take for granted. So many of these are sacred.
It’s easy to complain. There are plenty of reasons to bemoan the moments that don’t seem to go according to our plan. In that moment, our minds wander and drift to the future and stir up worry. The future is a ghost that distracts our attention. It’s a thief.
Hunger
I’m hungry. This is nothing new or unique; I’m hungry several times each day. Food is essential for my body and the sensation of hunger is the way my brain communicates that something is missing and I need to eat and fuel up. Unfortunately, hunger is often misappropriated—that sensation is hijacked for other purposes.
Hunger suggests that there is a void to be filled, nutrients that need to be absorbed. This void is calling to me, begging for something—anything—because nature abhors a vacuum. Fill me. Feed me. Satisfy my craving. Don’t leave me empty like this. The void is painful and the pain is not to be ignored.
Coping
After driving to the hospital and delivering him to his room, I told him that I was very disappointed in him for giving up like this. I said that he used to be a fighter and this was so unlike him. The look on his face as he replied, “I'm trying, Kev,” broke my heart, but I thought he needed tough love to push through this setback.
Later that night Judy answered the phone, turned to me with tears in her eyes, and broke the news that my father was dead.
Enough
Playing it safe isn’t an option if I want to be able to look back on this time and know that I did enough. Judy and I have been given so many opportunities with our new careers, our new city, and our new lifestyle—we can’t afford to squander this time. For me, doing enough means not letting fear drive decisions. I can’t be afraid to take on new challenges at work or try new experiences in my personal life. Keep growing and continue evolving is the plan.
Gone
What? The two paragraphs on the screen are what I wrote last night and my newest six or seven are nowhere in sight. No worries; I’ll just go back a page in the browser and copy the text from history. No history. No extra text. Just those two stupid paragraphs from last night. After a few frantic minutes of useless recovery techniques, I had to admit that I screwed up. There was no way out of this one. My bag of technical tricks was empty and my words were gone. Just. Gone.
Writing
I was watching Almost Famous for not the first time and I saw the movie from a completely different perspective—the perspective of a writer. Normally I’m watching William, the main character, deal with the rock and roll lifestyle and his love interest while touring with the band—the fact that he has a writing assignment is just how he gets into this situation. This time, the process of his article being published as a cover story in Rolling Stone magazine struck me. I was so happy for his success that it made me think about why I write.