Making America Great

… again!

It’s the perpetual siren call of politicians … or would-be politicians … especially during election years!  

But I caught myself wondering:  Back to WHEN, exactly? 

… to when all the roads were dirt roads?

… to when there was no FDA and one had to rely on snake oil salesmen for pharmaceuticals and on the integrity of the run-amok Chicago meat markets for sustenance?

… to when all the states had their own currencies – and they were all different?

… to when slavery, child labor and “unnaturalized citizens” were what powered major industry?

… to when monopoly wasn’t just a board game?

… to when everyone had at least one gun and arguments were settled by duels?

… to when Al Capone and his “corporate elite” ruled the streets?

… to before the EPA, when chemical plants, mining industries and oil refining operations simply dumped their toxic waste directly into air and water supplies?

… to before the safety nets of Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security existed?

… to when aspirin, alcohol, opioids and crude surgical devices were the only medical interventions – besides leeches and blood-letting – available? 

And I thought it worth wondering exactly what it was that made America great – whenever that might have been? 

But, first, there’s a lot more history in the universe to consider than just the past 250 years of American identity.  Can we get any clues from what made OTHER great civilization great – like China, Mongolia, Japan, Greece, Egypt, Great Britain, Babylon, the Roman Empire, or the Aztecs, Mayans or Incas?    

[At some point, we’re going to have to ask how we define “Greatness” ... stay tuned.]

From the sheer volume of historical record and archeologic data, we have some clues about “What it was … ” that may help us acquire some perspective.  Actually, that part of our quest turns out to be fairly simple: Whoever had the biggest armies, best technology in weaponry and most efficient and effective supply, communication and transportation systems ruled the world.  From the spoils of war, these civilizations gained both wealth and worker-bee slaves, permitting the ruling classes to display opulence of extravagant proportions.  Thus, we see huge and intricate architectural wonders, exquisitely woven and dyed fabrics, and ingenious works of art and science – all cultivated and commissioned by the ruling class.    

“Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart [1756-1791] showed prodigious ability from his earliest childhood. Already competent on keyboard and violin, he composed from the age of five and performed before European royalty.  At 17, Mozart was engaged as a musician at the Salzburg court …”  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wolfgang_Amadeus_Mozart

In a somewhat sobering sense, one could say that what made each of these civilizations “GREAT” was the degree of distance the wealthiest classes became removed from the poorest classes … as well as from external threats.  The more insulation they had from discombobulation, the more aspirational – both inspirational and hedonic – they became.  As the wealthiest classes gained confidence/security, associated financial resources and leisure, they went about figuring how much more lavishly they could live.  And by commissioning the lower classes/slaves and artisans/craftspersons to do the work, they created “trickle-down” economics – emphasis on “trickle”.    

Early American “Greatness” was not much different.  Although child labor was not as prevalent, slavery and the “indenturing” of immigrants and the poor were prevalent.  Natural resources were abundant.  Opportunities for both the wealthy and ambitious were essentially unlimited ... attracting both intellectual and venture capital, as well as ardent flesh and blood aspirants.  America was a virtual tabula rasa with only itinerant and loosely enfranchised inhabitants.  Barriers to advancement, and interference with even incommodious opportunism, were minimal.  And a constitutional framework protecting individual rights to life, liberty and property, and encouraging “the pursuit of happiness”, provided an irresistible enticement for both individual and societal actualization.  [Should we underscore the impact of immigrants?]

Here we take a moment to reflect on measures of GREATNESS.  Someone said that the true measure of greatness in a civilization is the way it treats its most vulnerable citizens.  It’s worth some consideration.  More commonly, we think of greatness as including the size of armies, the amount of land they control, the number of citizens enrolled, the status of arts and education, benchmark advances in science and technology, the sophistication of their infrastructure (water, energy, communications, transportation and supply lines), health and wellbeing of the population, and the impact of goods and services, as measured by world-wide trade.  Importantly, and increasingly so, greatness may also be measured by alliances – by how much positive influence a country has and can maintain in the affairs of the world.  NOTE: The degree of positive world influence OTHER than a military presence might be dubbed a defining attribute of GREATNESS.   

So how are we doing?   Unquestionably, America has had brilliant moments of greatness – as measured by all but a few of the above – during its relatively brief history.  But 1) we do have to own up to the fact that many of those moments have been tainted by disenfranchisement of its most vulnerable citizens, and 2) the formula for greatness has been silently but inexorably changing.  Opportunity is no longer as unlimited as it was.  Yes, there is still unlimited opportunity for some, but for far fewer individuals over time.  Only one person in the US can become President every 4 years – that’s 8 chances out of 320 million in a lifetime in 2016 versus 8 chances out of 76 million in 1900.  Meanwhile, technology is displacing mainstream employment opportunities and corporate organizational structures are collapsing, cutting out the middle, which, historically, provided stepping stones for advancement.  And while America remains a mecca for higher education, we’re educating the world’s elite and letting site-based primary and secondary school systems for our own citizens degenerate into meccas for self-esteem development, athletics and tribal inbreeding. 

Bottom line: There is only one direction we can go if we aspire to “take America to GREATNESS … again”.  And it’s not BACK!  America has to become intensely engaged in the business of reinventing itself for a new day and for collective challenges, not only for free-reign “Rugged Individualism” … including finding better ways to take care of its most vulnerable citizens.  Quartermaster

Benchmarking

This week’s question is: How are you doing … and compared to who(m) or what?

Everything is relative, right?   No less than Einstein, his own self, said so!

However, what’s dangerous about benchmarking is that we can always identify someone less “special”, less “good”, less worthy, less “balanced”, less intelligent – however nuanced we want or need to define the comparisons field – than we are.  It doesn’t change the field of play or any associated reality.  It merely changes how big or small the box is in which we choose to confine ourselves. 

We’ll even make things up – or dress them down – or even go to the bottom of the barrel for comparisons, insofar as necessary to make us feel comparatively more special/entitled/worthy or enfranchised for certain privileges. 

This is “elitism” at its worst.  Tribal tenets are often elitism based: “My tribe is better than your tribe [and we’re even going to build a HUGE wall to keep you out of our territory – HUGE!”]

Another subtle trap of “virtual benchmarking” is adopting the conjecture that “Everybody is doing it!”  … never mind that this takes us DOWN to everyone else’s level rather than elevating us.  Just for the record, here’s a brief reality check on exactly what “everyone else” is NOT doing:

Everyone else” is NOT …

… drinking a case of beer – or two – every weekend

… “drugging out” on opiates or sports

… using tobacco

… watching 6 hours of TV per day / bingeing on YouTube, movies and sit-coms

… having a frappuccino and 3 donuts every day / dessert every meal

… connected to social media 24 hours a day

… getting by on “credit”, excuses and explanations

… using mood-altering/mind-altering drugs just to cope with reality

… surviving on burgers, fries, soda and milkshakes

… “getting away” with everything we might want for ourselves

… as “stress-free” as they would like us to believe or as we would like to think they are

The select few who are, by most reasonable accounts, “Making It” ARE …

… doing regular “Reality Checks”

…fighting to stay organized and solvent

… fortified by effective life mastery routines and systems in place

… totally intentional about their nutrition, physiology and pharmacology

… getting at least 6 hours of sleep a night

… totally intentional about how they use their unscheduled time

… getting at least a modicum of exercise

… setting and strictly following boundaries

… doing “unpleasantries” first

… delaying gratification and sacrificing indulgences

… investing in the future / planning and preparing for sustainable wellbeing

… continuing their personal and professional development

… maintaining positively reinforcing networks of personal and business associates

… generously supporting benevolent causes

… well-grounded emotionally, psychologically and spiritually

… getting recommended medical checkups & screenings

… “bullish” on regeneration/recharging/recreation

Point to Ponder

If we’re serious about benchmarking,

we should legitimize the process

via independent, objective assessments …

such as …

What do our friends really think of us?   Are you the “Go To” person of first resort when your friends need something of value?  [Perhaps, first of all, we might define “who our friends are” and how legitimate their assessment might be for who we are and where we could or should be.] 

How about our professional colleagues?  Are you the “Go To” person of first resort when professional associates need leadership, specialized skills or services?  Are you at the “leading edge”, the following edge, or merely on the fringe and only “on call” in an emergency? 

How about family?  Do family members look to you for any “enlifenment” at all – other than for constant drama, making sure there are no leftovers at mealtime, being the “life of the party”, or pontification about the latest political or religious controversy?  How much are you contributing, personally, to the overall advancement and ascendency of family values and wellbeing?

Finally, what does my boss really think of me?   Jack and Suzy Welch [referenced in Costco Connection, April 2015, p. 25] suggest asking ourselves the following:

Am I aligned with the team’s mission and values? Alignment takes the grind out of the game of business. 

Am I contributing to an atmosphere of truth and trust?  Ultimately, bosses value employees who show integrity by seeking and speaking the truth, and always acting in ways that enhance transparency and confidence.  [NOTE: TRUSTWORTHINESS is a key Life Mastery characteristic.]

Am I delivering expected/average results, or over-delivering s-t-r-e-t-c-h results?  Competition is fierce, requiring companies to sell more with different products through new channels sooner.  Think about your job in ways that make it bigger, smarter and more successful.  That’s over-delivering. 

Final Point to Ponder

While benchmarking can be a helpful exercise, it does not tell all.  What really matters is being the best YOU, no matter what others say, do, think or feel!  Set the highest benchmark for yourself that you can muster, and let it be a standard for OTHERS to measure themselves against.    Quartermaster   

Breaking Better

I reflexively wince when seeing or hearing reference to the Kentucky State Motto: “Unbridled Spirit”.  Of course, there’s the superficial first inclination – at least in Kentucky – to conjure images of “unbridled” horses galloping idyllically through open meadows, running with the wind.  How liberating! 

One also might picture the unbridled, unsaddled horses of Assateague Island, unrestrained by outside forces … except for the forces of nature, which include changing of the seasons and the reluctant yield of forageable vegetation.

On the flip side, one of Kentucky’s main sources of revenue and prime tourism enticements is horse racing, a sport in which the horses are not only “bridled” – something that can happen only after their “Spirits” have been broken, but are subjected to constitution-draining workouts hauling 120 lb. jockeys around race tracks beginning at 5 am and getting whipped with a riding crop to push them to their ultimate limit!  Some liberation!

However, in the purest, most abstract sense – like in the Kentucky State Motto – I’ve found it tough to reconcile “Breaking one’s Spirit” with anything positive: Taking the “heart and soul” out of a creature seems a most onerous and despicable act … and anything BUT liberating. 

Except that … (and this is the “reflexive” part) … being driven by a completely “Unbridled Spirit” hardly ever moves one forward, inevitably gets one into trouble (I’m thinking particularly of my fifth graders), and misses the mark on “Quality of Life” by a fairly wide margin. 

“Given infinite choice, we will … almost without fail … choose poorly,

choosing that which pleases us over that which is ‘Good’ for us.”

Quartermaster

Fundamentally, an untamed beast is a detriment both to himself and to his kind and kindred.  Even animals in the wild develop a pack code of conduct.

So how does one “Break the Spirit” of a creature or a person and, at the same time, declare …

“Everything you deserve is going to take everything you’ve got!”
?

The solution I suggest is CHANNELING – a purpose-driven funneling/transformation of the innate “Wild-Animal Spirit” into a formidable “Force of Destiny”. 

Importantly, “Everything you can be” is a completely different playing field from “Everything you WANT”.  It has rules.  It has structure.  But, once you know the rules (and accept them) and can navigate the structure, one can go great distances unimpeded ... with “Unbridled [Channeled] Spirit”.  (See “Finding Flow” by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi)

The example of horses above is perhaps most illustrative, but I can’t help think of dog-training school.  How many perfectly wonderful animals are completely out-of-control and unmanageable until they learn, understand, accept and respect the rules and structure of domestication?  And how FEW of them willingly return to the wild!   

“…  recently …  a dog walked 11 miles from its new home to return to a former … owner. The feat was especially remarkable because the dog had been taken to its new location by car and had to find its way back on foot … Even more impressive was the 2013 tale of the geolocating cat that had been lost and found its way home after a journey of two months and 200 miles.”

http://time.com/4104980/animal-navigation-pets/

In simpler terms, one can think of harnessing and channeling the power of a raging river (Colorado) with the building of a massive dam (Hoover) to provide power for millions of households and businesses across three states.

 Or one can use the example of natural gas oozing out of the ground and being ignited to a conflagration by a wayward cigarette versus being captured and channeled into a locomotive pulling a megaton train. 

Point to Ponder

A kite can only soar with the wind when it is firmly anchored.

The more complicated question, of course, is HOW do we make the channeling transition / transformation?  In particular, how do we SELF-actuate / SELF-actualize the “Channeling” process? 

Mechanistically, it may not matter.  Many approaches combining both positive and negative motivational forces may be applied.  However, the surest way to make the channeling transformation happen is to get the Spirit “Hooked” upon – and firmly anchored to – a grand and meritorious Dream or Destiny; it will find its own way.  Dream BIG!  Quartermaster

Driving Forces

“Anything not underway tends never to get there

unless or until imposed upon

by a force of sufficient magnitude to get it moving.”

Law of Inertia

“The human being is one of the most inertially refractory bodies in the universe;

When imposed upon by a force of sufficient magnitude to get it moving,

the human being reacts with more than equal force

in the opposite direction.”

Mac McMaster

How, then, are we to “Become all that we can BE” if we’re so strikingly and “possessively” engaged in “UNBECOMING”?

Some “transformative” process needs to take place – at some point – to make “Becoming” of any positive consequence possible.

An assessment of what DRIVES us to do what we do – both good AND bad – is instructive. 

Early in life, parents do all the driving.  Then teachers and coaches become prominent “Drivers”.  And then it gets both interesting and scary, with ancillary “Drivers” including:

                       

Hormones                                                            Drugs

Career                                                                  Dunkin’ Donuts

Mass Media                                                         Social Media

“Significant Other”                                            Religious Beliefs

Fetishes / Fixations                                            Ego

Starbucks / Caffeine                                           Fear / Insecurity

Hobby                                                                   DREAMS/GOALS

Impulses / Distractions / Diversions                Psychoses / Phobias

Myths                                                                   Money / Greed

Love / Affection / Affirmation                            Attainment of New Knowledge

Creative Engagement / Problem Solving         Soap Operas and Sensationalism

Driving forces may change with time and circumstance.  But NOT to be “driven” by some positive internal force toward an improved position or a better or more certain future is a disparaging place to find oneself. 

Defining our personal driving force(s) can be important.  Knowing what they are provides the best means of understanding ourselves, shaping our dreams, editing our behavior, and adjusting our expectations.  

One of my personal driving forces has always been fear of deprivation.  I’ve experienced modest levels of deprivation and don’t find it at all “enlifening”.  As a result, I hustle my butt to remain gainfully engaged, I don’t waste money on tobacco, alcohol, or candy bars, and I’m not an “early adopter” of new technology; I wait until the technology becomes standardized, until they work out the “bugs”, until prices bottom out … and, often, until the older technology doesn’t work anymore!

It also makes me a “hoarder”.  I acquire and squirrel away every potentially useful element, from cardboard boxes to screws and washers out of discarded appliances.  [But you ought to see the amazing number of holdings I’ve “repurposed” to a remarkable advantage since I retired!]  Of course, being aware of all this, I can restrict my holdings to what’s “fathomable”, and I’m getting better at assessing what’s “potentially useful”.

A lot of us are driven by an innate urge to “Beat the System”.   We want something for nothing and will cut any corners possible to get it.  Then we rationalize either the getting or not getting and look for more corners to cut.  This game becomes an exercise in diminishing returns: We eventually run out of corners and can get cut out of the very rewards we’re seeking.  One of my friends used to drive miles out of his way to get the best bargains on everything – even trivial stuff – and then justify it … or indemnify himself … by buying more than he needed! 

What’s most effective in moving you ahead, or are any of your “Driving Forces” holding you back? 

NOTE: Paralyzing insecurities, grief, guilt and depression can take us off-line, out-of-touch and into dark and miserable places.  Apathy is equally disengaging, dis-enlifening and “unbecoming”.  The twisted power of misplaced fear is chronicled in The Culture of Fear by Barry Glassner  http://www.delanceyplace.com/view-archives.php?p=2976

On the other hand, positively directed OUTRAGE is an extremely effective – though seriously double-edged – driving force.  Merely “venting” doesn’t help, and outrage simply for its own sake is abominable!  (Anyone up for joining the next political rally!?!)  But when the shower or garage gets so uninhabitable as to be a safety and/or health hazard, a justifiable amount of OUTRAGE can get the job done much more quickly and effectively than without it. 

In fact, if you’re not outraged against something, you should probably check your pulse! 

It makes one wonder:  What amazing advancements of civilization could be attained with sufficient outrage against poverty, unequal opportunity and mediocrity in education?  

[At this particular moment, I’m getting outraged that I can’t find stuff on my desk and my next blog post is overdue and I haven’t done due diligence in exercise and I haven’t done my taxes and am woefully behind in learning about 30 new songs for the five singing groups I’m in!  I may have to forego the SEC championship playoffs.]  

Let’s take a close look at our Driving Forces and make sure we’re not getting driven into oblivion – or worse.  Break out of the conscriptive tyranny of habits, impulsiveness, immediate gratification, comfort zone fog, “impressionability”, cult/tribal customs/permissiveness, and rationalizations, and conscript a mobilizing apportionment of righteously indignant OUTRAGE toward making the world better and our own navigational powers stronger.   Become a formidable “Owner-Driver” and Drive ON!  Quartermaster

Be A Player

Ed Romond loved mathematics.  After high school, he got a BA in math, and started his career teaching high school math in Boston.  While his wife was matriculating through a Psychiatric Nursing program, she planted a seed of alternative interest, suggesting that Ed consider a more challenging career possibility in medicine.  He was intrigued: it was, indeed, a worthy challenge and it would offer expanded possibilities to be of service to humankind. 

But he needed some fundamental courses in biology and chemistry to give him any chance at all of entry into medical school.  For these, he enrolled at Harvard while continuing to teach math. 

PERSPECTIVE: Ed was a serious PLAYER.  He was engaged in learning, in teaching, in building, in becoming, in solving problems, in contributing, in overcoming barriers, in making life work … He was curious, a challenger of the status quo, a warrior against unfinished business …

While his GPA and MCAT scores following Harvard matriculation were not automatic door openers, they were respectable.  He applied to several medical schools, but wasn’t on anybody’s “short list”.  Meanwhile, his brother’s roommate at Yale just happened to be the son of a former Yale professor who had just taken a position as head of Internal Medicine at the University of Kentucky.  Ed was encouraged to apply, even though he was technically an out of state student with modest credentials.  He was offered a courtesy interview.  During a convoluted interview process, including an unscheduled special session, it became clear that Ed was, in fact, an unusually viable PLAYER … uniquely gifted and driven to become the best, even if his record wasn’t the strongest coming into this formidable field of endeavor.  Long story short, Ed was the first out-of-state student accepted for the next incoming class of medical students at UK! 

After graduation from UK College of Medicine, Dr. Ed did his Internal Medicine Residency at Michigan State University Clinical Center.  As he was completing his Residency, a new cancer center was just opening at his Alma Mater, UK, and they needed broadly based clinical leadership.  Dr. Ed had gained specialized strengths in both Hematology and Oncology – he was now a MAJOR PLAYER – and was one of the first three physicians hired for this new enterprise. 

Soon after establishing his professional roots at the Markey Cancer Center, Dr. Ed saw a particular need to provide more comprehensive services for breast cancer patients.  Together with a notable breast cancer surgeon, Dr. Pat McGrath, he helped develop a Comprehensive Breast Care Center – the first of its kind – which became a model for numerous other comprehensive breast care centers across the nation, as well as additional comprehensive cancer care practices at Markey – including gastrointestinal, lung, hematologic and urologic cancers. 

Dr. Romond sought and fought hard to bring nationally and internationally ground-breaking advances in breast cancer to his patients at Markey.  Toward this end, he participated actively in proceedings of the National Surgical Adjuvant Breast Cancer Project.  When a potential break-through treatment for particularly difficult breast cancer cases materialized from laboratory studies, Dr. Romond was asked to serve as the Principal Investigator for the study: He was the most active PLAYER in that area.  It turned out that this study – targeting the HER-2/neu receptor on breast cancer cells – yielded one of the most definitive advances in breast cancer research … ever!  

Dr. Ed Romond was a PLAYER.  He left an indelible legacy of accomplishment in his chosen field of endeavor. 

Summation:

A considerable number of serendipitous moments appeared along Dr. Romond’s career path, which, without question, helped power his advancement.  But there’s a curious element in serendipity:  It only happens to those who are PLAYERS … those who are prepared!   

“… chance favors only the prepared mind ...”

Louis Pasteur

In sports, there’s a consistent observation that only when a player is ready does a coach appear.  And, vice versa, only when a coach is ready does a STAR player appear. 

When these elements coincide, the result is phenomenal.  Wilma Rudolph was in high school running her heart out in track and basketball when Ed Temple, the track coach from East Tennessee State University, caught wind of her emerging talent.  Wilma was a PLAYER!  In 1960, in Rome, she was the first woman to win THREE Gold Medals in a single Olympic Games. 

 Be a PLAYER!  Get engaged in learning, in teaching, in building, in becoming, in solving problems, in contributing, in overcoming barriers, in making life work; be curious, a challenger of the status quo, a warrior against unfinished business … Quartermaster