Goals Vs. Tactics

I liked this saying from someone in the IDF. 

Be “flexible in tactics, but stay fixed on the goals!”

There are many ways to accomplish the same thing. 

And different people have their own approaches. 

As in the lyrics: “You take the high road and I’ll take the low road.”

That’s absolutely okay. 

In fact, that’s one of the strengths and benefits of diversity.

We bring different ways of looking at the world to the table.

Hence, we can bounce fresh ideas off each other and come to a great way forward. 

The main thing is that we focus on our goals and progress to achieve them. 

Be rigid on goals and flexible in tactics. 😉

(Credit Photo: Andy Blumenthal)

Upside Down Bird, Black Sheep–Same Thing

I thought this art was funny and accurate:

There’s always one in every family.

Really, it should be there is always one (or two) in every family, group, and organization. 

Whether it’s the upside down bird or the “black sheep”–I think we call it that person a troublemaker!

Is it the attention they crave? 

Is it a good fight or argument they are after?

Are they just different and that’s okay.

Listen, we are all the same, but we’re also all different. 

Imagine being completely the same and how boring that would be. 

So being the upside bird isn’t necessarily a bad thing. 

The other birds may look at this upside down bird as cuckoo.

But the bird may not be a cuckoo bird at all.

He may just be acting himself. 

To the upside down bird, he probably thinks of himself as being right side up bird, and that it’s the other birds that are the cuckoos.

From my experience, there is being different and then there is being cuckoo for real. 

There really are one or more cuckoos just about everywhere you look.

Worse yet, if the other 4 birds are sane, then watch out because you may be the cuckoo bird.

And then there was the movie, “One flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest.”  😉

(Source Photo: Andy Blumenthal) 

Perception Is Reality

Sometimes, one person’s clothing hook is another person’s elephant trunk.

Or maybe it’s the other way around that some creative person looked at an elephant and thought:

“Oh my that trunk of his would make a great clothing hook.”

Life mimics art and art imitates life.

And that is flattery both ways. 

Either way perception is reality. 😉

(Source Photo: Andy Blumenthal)

Purim Prayer

Tonight is Purim and it’s a holiday of joy and celebration. 

It commemorates when the Jews where saved from Destruction by the Persian Empire and the evil Haman as told in the Megillah Esther.

So on Purim, we dress up and make fun and it this vein of humor that I post this sign about religions of the world. 

– Taoism:  Sh*t happens.

– Buddhism: If sh*t happens, it really isn’t sh*t.

– Hinduism: This sh*t has happened before.

– Islam: If sh*t happens, it is the will of Allah. 

– Catholicism: Sh*t happens because you deserve it.

– Protestantism: Work harder or sh*t will happen.

– Judaism: Why does this sh*t always happen to us?

It’s funny how each religion of the world has a perspective on life. 

Are we all so really different?  

Maybe we have more in common than not.

The hope and prayer is that the true evil Hamans out there utterly perish, and that for all good and decent people–whatever your religion and perspective in this world–may we all get along as loving brothers and sisters, and let there be true peace for all of us! 😉

(Source Photo: here with attribution to RamblingsDC)

The Trouble With Communication

So I remember this old comedy skit showing the problem with communication.

There is a deaf guy trying to communicate with a blind guy.

Boy, this is a real conundrum.

The deaf guy communicates with sign language that the blind guy can’t see. 

And the blind guy communicates by talking which the deaf guy can’t hear. 

So neither are getting any messaging across. 

This is sort of like every day life, where people communicate talking past each other. 

Each may only be concerned with what they feel, think, and have to say. 

They don’t really care to listen or understand the other person. 

It like the blind and deaf guy communicating and neither can hear the other. 

Most importantly, we need to put ourselves in the other person’s shoes. 

To think from their perspectives, and to communicate having in mind to fulfill for the other person–what’s in it for me (WIIFM).

In Judaism, their is an important teaching that each person is an entire world unto themselves.

We need to be sensitive to their world and speak our mind, but definitely in their language. 😉

(Source Photo: Andy Blumenthal)

Eye To Eye

I took this photo from a sticker plastered on the street corner in Washington, D.C. 

What I like about it, aside from it’s cute, is that I see a message here about good communications and conflict management skills. 

Notice the eyes are different (one is green/yellow and the other is orange/blue)…like it’s two people. 

But there is one mouth open, speaking between them.

This speaks to that while we may be talking to each other and even think we are saying the same thing (“violently in agreement”), we need to make sure that we are listening, understanding, and working through our differences–so at the end, we are both really “seeing eye to eye.” 

While each of us is different, and we may never fully agree (and cabn “agree to disagree”), we can also negotiate and come to terms on a win-win course of action. 

Talk it out, bridge the gaps, and get to a place where we not only are able to see eye to eye, but can then go forward together and make it truly work. 😉

(Source Photo: Andy Blumenthal)

Looking At It From The Perspective Of Others

This was a funny sign hanging on a tree on one of the hiking trails.

It’s a deer and it says “Please Don’t Kill Me!”

With it was a notice about hunters sparing the deer population.

It’s interesting that often we don’t look at things from the perspective of others.

In this case, the deer just wants to be free and alive–and is begging for his life.

As people, we don’t really think of what the deer wants or for that matter often what other people want–we just care about what we want.

Good to remember that we all have our perspective on life and that we should respect diversity of thinking, feeling, and being.

Hey, and unless those deers are bothering you… 😉

(Source Photo: Andy Blumenthal)

Walking In All Shoes

Thinking about life and death and the concept of reincarnation.

While I have heard the belief of some that reincarnation is the ultimate justice machine–if you treat others well, you come back well off, while if you treat them badly, you come back in their situation.

So the classic example, would be if you have the opportunity to give charity, and do so, genoreously, then you are rewarded in a next life with riches, but if you are miserly, then you come back poor–to learn the lessons of charitable giving.

However, I wonder if this concept goes even much further.

Does our journey ultimately takes us not just to occupy some positions if life, but rather to every role and status, illustrative of all peoples–so that we learn from the eyes of everyone.

The world  is round and the number of perspectives around it are as varied as the people, races, cultures, and nations they come from.

As the saying goes, “don’t judge me until you walk a mile in my shoes,” perhaps we are indeed given the opportunity to walk in a large representative sample of those.

When the see the world not from where we sit today in life, but from where others are perched, we can get a whole new perspective on issues and ideas–we can learn true empathy, caring, respect, and justice.

Almost like having G-d’s vantage point, we can learn to see the world from a multi-cultural perspective, where each person, tribe, and nation is infinitely valuable–where each holds the key to a perspective and lesson that we must all learn before our journey comes to a conclusion.

Live life and learn well–there is much to see, hear, and experience, and no one has all the answers or is all righteous–like a large mosaic, we all have a piece. 😉

(Source Photo: here with attribution to Fernando Stankuns)