Judging a person's character is not always easy to do. Sometimes it takes a long time and you really need to spend a long time getting to know someone in order to actually get a bearing on what they're all about. Some are more up front about the type of person they are, but who knows if they are just saying all this? You see, good person or not, true humility is not about doing good deeds specifically to be noticed. Good deeds are good deeds, true values exist regardless of whose eyes are upon you.
And I think that is where the difference quite clearly lays. In order to prove this point, you may have to be a little creepy. Because the people with the purest and truest hearts are those who are inherently good people, always helping and consoling and offering their love to others, when no one is even looking. In a society so often immersed with performance-based rewards, we sometimes think that we should always be recognized and congratulated on our efforts towards a good deed.
Instead, you should try to make them less noticeable. You may not get a medal, you may not get a pat on the back, you may be the only one in the whole universe who actually knows. But whoever you went out of your way to help, whoever you affected by your actions, they will remember it for the rest of their lives.
Having complete and total humility is one of my biggest goals in life. To be able to honestly want to offer myself where I am needed, to whomever is in need of a prayer. I think that I don't really do that enough. I do try to reach out, and the few who I think I have touched have really been so appreciative.
Having been on the receiving end of that, it's such an awesome feeling. To know that people out there truly give a shit. That they truly want to be there for you no matter how long it's been since you last chatted, to get your back, to help you back up off the ground, and all of the other wonderful things friends do. Sometimes they come out of the woodwork just in the nick of time. But even more amazing? Those who are strangers. The person who stops on the side of the road when your car breaks down. The person who helps put groceries in your car. There are some truly amazing people out there.
Keep your eyes and ears open today. Stop the busy highway of thoughts running through your brain of things you need to do, food you need to buy, and errands you need to run, and just watch the people around you. See if you can spot these secret little knights in shining armor, doing their great work in the shadows, without anyone else even noticing.
Showing posts with label wisdom. Show all posts
Showing posts with label wisdom. Show all posts
Sunday, July 28, 2013
Saturday, June 22, 2013
Backstories .
Being young, it's always interesting to ask those who have more years under their belt how they got to where they are. Because in reality it's not really about where they are now, so much as how they ended up there.
Unfortunately, quite often the answer you'll hear is "well, I never really intended to be here. It happened by accident." Is the economy today so poor that what we want to do rarely aligns with our working reality? Or is it that the average person refuses to press on to achieve dreams? Are we lacking in motivation? Sometimes it's hard to sit down at the end of the day, after a full 8 hours of a job you're working because you need the money, not because you enjoy it, and try to tackle a "dream."
Back when I was a park ranger, I used to work summers at a place down the road from me. Being that it's a bit of a behind the scenes job and also not something where you sit at a desk with a shirt and tie on, it attracts an interesting crowd. But all the senior park rangers and principals that were there, at one point or another in time, shared their previous life plans, and none of them aligned with the fact that they currently were a park ranger. In fact, many had intended it to just be a job to help them get some money and get on their feet -- and ended up getting stuck.
Just yesterday I was talking with the electrician who comes to do a lot of the big deal electrical work we need at the club, and asked him how he became an electrician. Turns out, it was never something he had intended to do in the first place, either. Rather, he started working for his cousin when he was 14 years old during the summers, and began to slowly learn the trade. The first summer all he did was carry around the bags and containers of materials and learned all the parts, and has since progressed to what I gather to be a vast understanding of the necessities of electrical wiring. Like architecture, if it's not done right, there could be serious consequences. People depend on you to know your shit.
As I begin to reflect on these stories from other people, at times I question whether I will end up like them -- with a plan to work in architecture, but instead working something else just to pay the bills. It's no secret that architecture is not the most reliable field. When times are good, times are really good, and firms will hire lavishly to make sure that their work gets done on time and on budget. But when times are bad, you can just as easily be cut from projects, or worse, laid off. As a student, the stress of getting your foot in the door early and making connections are not mentioned nearly enough at the universities around the country (in my opinion, anyway).
While in the past, people often chose one career path and followed that for the entirety of their lives, it seems that today many get bored, or decide that they initially chose wrong, and often people have multiple careers that they pursue and undertake over the course of a lifetime. Maybe I'll be one of those people, or maybe I won't. In the end, I guess it doesn't really matter so long as you're happy. Lord knows I'm certainly not happy at the job I'm currently at. So maybe it's time to finally get off my ass and really pursue something else with vigor.
Unfortunately, quite often the answer you'll hear is "well, I never really intended to be here. It happened by accident." Is the economy today so poor that what we want to do rarely aligns with our working reality? Or is it that the average person refuses to press on to achieve dreams? Are we lacking in motivation? Sometimes it's hard to sit down at the end of the day, after a full 8 hours of a job you're working because you need the money, not because you enjoy it, and try to tackle a "dream."
Back when I was a park ranger, I used to work summers at a place down the road from me. Being that it's a bit of a behind the scenes job and also not something where you sit at a desk with a shirt and tie on, it attracts an interesting crowd. But all the senior park rangers and principals that were there, at one point or another in time, shared their previous life plans, and none of them aligned with the fact that they currently were a park ranger. In fact, many had intended it to just be a job to help them get some money and get on their feet -- and ended up getting stuck.
Just yesterday I was talking with the electrician who comes to do a lot of the big deal electrical work we need at the club, and asked him how he became an electrician. Turns out, it was never something he had intended to do in the first place, either. Rather, he started working for his cousin when he was 14 years old during the summers, and began to slowly learn the trade. The first summer all he did was carry around the bags and containers of materials and learned all the parts, and has since progressed to what I gather to be a vast understanding of the necessities of electrical wiring. Like architecture, if it's not done right, there could be serious consequences. People depend on you to know your shit.
As I begin to reflect on these stories from other people, at times I question whether I will end up like them -- with a plan to work in architecture, but instead working something else just to pay the bills. It's no secret that architecture is not the most reliable field. When times are good, times are really good, and firms will hire lavishly to make sure that their work gets done on time and on budget. But when times are bad, you can just as easily be cut from projects, or worse, laid off. As a student, the stress of getting your foot in the door early and making connections are not mentioned nearly enough at the universities around the country (in my opinion, anyway).
While in the past, people often chose one career path and followed that for the entirety of their lives, it seems that today many get bored, or decide that they initially chose wrong, and often people have multiple careers that they pursue and undertake over the course of a lifetime. Maybe I'll be one of those people, or maybe I won't. In the end, I guess it doesn't really matter so long as you're happy. Lord knows I'm certainly not happy at the job I'm currently at. So maybe it's time to finally get off my ass and really pursue something else with vigor.
Wednesday, May 1, 2013
At the end of day...
...all that really matters is that you did your best, gave it your all, left it all on the court, and are happy with the person you are.
Friday, July 6, 2012
simple words of wisdom .
There are two quotes I want to talk about today. The first is from one of the daily devotionals I get in my email. The other is from something I saw on a friend's blog. They're simple, yet profound, as is often the case.
Wednesday, February 22, 2012
down the road .
It's always great to think about the future. Life down the road, you know? It's great to review where you've been, and where you're going. It's even great to take a step back and look at the big picture of the present. I had the pleasure of having a good talk with one of my roommates about all of this... and being that he is a few years ahead of me and thus a bit farther down the road of life, it's always interesting to hear about a different perspective on various things, mainly related to occupation, career, and other things of that nature.
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