is it possible?

Is it possible to truly love your neighbor as yourself
and have 10, 20, 30 times the amount of resources as your neighbor? 

100 times? 

At what point is it no longer possible? 

of course he doesn't have to.

Getting off a plane recently it was the pilot who had put on some gloves and was cleaning garbage from the aisles, saying goodbye to everyone. He had just landed the plane and was taking out the trash moments later. 

What? 

Were the flight attendants going to fly? 

I asked. He was the Captain, just helping out. Judging from the comments and looks everyone appreciated it. 

Why? 

Because we couldn't imagine why he was doing it. Had he lost a bet? Was he showing off? Maybe he just cared about doing things he didn't have to do because he wanted to.

Today there all kinds of things you don't have to do. It's a long list.  

But, there is also a list of things you don't have to do, that you might do anyway, because you care, because you want to, because you are that person.  

And it will affect those around you.  

you confuse...

"I think you guys confuse helping people and worrying about people."

That was from my 12 year old.

Wise words.

is that a sink?

I was in a bathroom recently and noticed water all over the floor. A leak? Something worse?

Then I washed my hands in the "sink". The sink was more of a slab of granite with a faucet - it was really cool. I'd never seen anything like it. Only problem was that water spilled everywhere when I used it.

It was as though the sink was trying so hard, it forgot it was there to be a sink.

Like we do sometimes.  

Bible Belt.

I'm in Arkansas. In a dry county.

I asked a server about being in a dry county and why it was - and he explained to me that we were in the middle of the Bible Belt with a lot of Conservative Baby Boomers.

I understand.

One man. One opinion.

But if you are a generation known for being Conservative, Biblical and, thus, dry... well... 

There is one man I met who I assume has little desire to be a Baby Boomer, Conservative, or Biblical. 

Not because he can't drink but because they can't evolve.  

it all

No one gets it all.

So what do you want to get?

And what are you okay without?

I know how to make eggs

The other morning my daughter was complaining that we were making eggs because she had to leave. 

My wife said, "Do you not know how to make eggs?" 

"I know how to make eggs" she shouted back.

"But do you know how to make them when you don't want to make them?" I responded. 

That's very different. 

And then we all laughed at my fake zen wisdom. And then we thought about it how true it was. 

go with the flow?

It always sounds good.

Just go with the flow, man.

And, often, it is good. 

As long as you're in the flow you want to be in.

Are you? 

buy experiences .

Buy more experiences and less things. 

Some things create experiences, those are better things. 

Some experiences become about things. Those are not as good of experiences.

If money is finite, which it is for 99.9% of the world, when confronted with where to spend it, spend it on what leaves you with with more experience and less stuff by the time it all shakes down. 

welcome to love's!

I was just in Ritzville to fill up on gas. Ritzville's population is about 1,500.

Ritzville was settled in 1880 but, today, Ritzville is primarily known for having a Starbucks, some gas stations, and a McDonald's on I-90 between Seattle and Spokane. 

It's pretty much the middle of nowhere. 

But, today, after filling up I went into the truck stop "Love's" to get some water and the woman working the cash register said "Welcome to Love's" with a massive smile. She said it to every single person that walked in while I stopped in line. She asked everyone how they were doing and she left every interaction with a genuine "Have a wonderful day!" 

Most people ignored her. Some seemed surprised. One out of the 25 I saw smiled and said something back. 

Most people didn't care. 

But she did. 

And I did. And I thanked her for it. 

Because, sometimes you're just that genuine, that nice, that welcoming, that joyful and no one seems to care. But you keep doing it anyway, because you care. Because it matters. Because it makes your world better. 

And, even if they don't smile back, it makes their world better too. 

we might agree.

The other day my wife was shaking her head yes and I was giving her a disgusted no face. Obviously, we disagreed.

Then we said to each other - wait are you thinking we should buy or we should sell? Maybe we agree?

It ended up that we did.

So before you move on, and start prepping all the ways to convince the other person how wrong they are, make sure you are both asking the same question. You might actually agree.

health care.

In your opinion, what does someone need to do to deserve health care? It's been interesting to watch Jimmy Kimmel and then the negative reaction to Jimmy Kimmel which can basically be summed up like this: 

Jimmy: every child deserves health care. 

Negative reaction: not if I have to pay for it. Some don't deserve it. 

Ignoring that we all pay for everything that happens to people in this country, in one way or another, it brings up an interesting question. 

Would you pay for health care for someone? What makes someone deserving of health care?

A family member?
A friend? 
A sad story? 
Never? 
Always? 
The innocent?
The smart?
The wise?

The answer to that question says a lot about how we see ourselves, especially compared to those around us. 

on the dole.

There are two fundamentally different ways to view our fellow humans. 

One is expressed this way by Senator Orin Hatch:

"The public wants every dime they can be given," he said. "Let's face it, once you get them on the dole, they'll take every dime they can."

Another is to believe that people want to belong, to be loved and to trust that will continue. 

How do you want to be seen? Why are you different from every other human? 

hidden permanence.

Tattoos. They can have lots of meaning but they are permanent and that's always a little scary. 

What's funny though - and the great thing about tattoos - is that many things are permanent - they just aren't as obviously permanent. They are more subtle and hidden. Maybe the best thing about tattoos is that they remind us of all kinds of things that are permanent and we pretend  aren't. 

Marriage is permanent. Of course, we can get a divorce, but we can't erase the experience. 
Kids are permanent. I hope we know that. 
Surgeries are permanent. 
Affairs are permanent.
Selling or throwing away something with meaning is permanent.  

Words are permanent. They can't be brought back. They can be covered but not returned. 
Actions are permanent. They initiate consequences that can be altered, but not retrieved. 

If words and actions are permanent, well, what else is there? 

It's all permanent in a sense. 

I'm not sure we're afraid of permanence. I think we're afraid of the permanence everyone knows. We are afraid of the vulnerability of our permanence on display. So, we tend to hide the permanence, keep it secret, and I think we hurt ourselves when we do.

(And ironically, if it were as easy as $1000 to get rid of some of what we've done we'd pay it almost instantly.)

But, it's not. There is no removal. So, we hide it. Pretend it's not there for people to see.

But, maybe acknowledge the permanence. Live it. Hold it. Own it.

Trend it toward the good, permanently. 

what would you say?

What if you had 30 seconds to tell the entire world something? 30 seconds of every human being listening to you?

What would you say? 

Would it matter? 

Would it affect change? 

It may not be the entire world, but there are humans all around us, every day, listening.  

inflict great love.

It's said that we only learn from great suffering or great love.

If true...

We don’t want to inflict pain on anyone but we can inflict great love, with the trust it will eventually do something… maybe if it’s only helping someone believe that it exists.

minimalism.

Just when you think you're getting close to being a minimalist, you stage your house for pictures. 

You then realize the clutter was everywhere even after multiple attempts to get rid of it.  

And the clutter still is. 

In the house, in your brain, in your relationships, in your passions. 

It's hard work, it's slow work, it's patient work but it's worth it. 

who cares?

Think about the people in your life who you know are going to love you no matter what you do. They are going to support you, be on your side, walk through it with you. They care. 

Now think of everyone else. They may be an enemy, they maybe a parent, they may be an enemy-parent, they may be a co-worker, a critic, the list is probably long. They care, in all the wrong ways, because they probably don't care. They always have a comment, a look, an email, or something else. 

What if your decision making was limited to thinking about the first group of people and not the second? How would it change what you do? 

And, who in your life would count you as a member of that first group? 

the old way.

Seth Godin has a new marketing course. In the introduction video he says this: "People don't like marketers. They don't like us because a lot of people do marketing the old way, the wrong way, the selfish way." 

He recounts telling someone he's an author and watching them get excited. He then tells them he's a marketer and they run. 

Not much different than telling someone you're a pastor. And for the exact same reasons. Pastors have acted like marketers, been seen as marketers. Bad marketers, marketing the old, wrong, and selfish way through fear and dehumanization of others. 

Godin also says this:

"Twenty years later, marketing is still taught backwards. It’s assumed that marketing is something we do TO our audience, for the sole purpose of meeting our own goals. But marketing is now something we do WITH our tribe, helping them reach their goals first."

We're all marketers. We're all pastors. The question is are we doing something TO people for ourselves or are we doing something WITH people for them? 

Preach Godin. Preach. 

okay.

You are going to be okay today. 

Sometimes that's the only thing you need to read.