One of my greatest joys is waking up on Sunday morning to a nice fat newspaper, a pot of coffee and nothing to do. (On this Sunday I do have things to do but they will come after I finish the crosswords.) I read through the paper before getting to my beloved puzzle page and what I read left me with one of those "AHA!" moments. I realized that the thing that annoys me most about being in Seattle is that most people have a crippling fear of failure. It's nuts! I mean, people are afraid of being wrong to the point of petty squabbles and even road rage. The state and city governments are afraid of making big changes so they do nothing as an alternative. Hell, if someone had the balls to tell people 10 years ago they were living in the path of a possibly life threatening mudslide people would have had the choice to move away. But nobody wanted to take the responsibility for alarm (just in case it didn't happen). The newspaper was full of stories which all said the same thing:
Failure is not an option, therefore there are no options.
I go out in public all the time (bars, stores, the bus, etc.) and I will talk to anyone. I find that usually people just want to bitch about something. They will complain that the "Don't walk" sign is taking too long, or the bus is late, or the bartender is ignoring them, or there aren't enough cashiers. It is a rare occasion to be around anyone in this city who isn't looking to complain. I have come to the conclusion that they are complaining because if they voice out loud how bad things are they can blame someone else if things go wrong (the "I told you so" loophole). For example: "The 'don't walk' sign went on too long so I missed the bus and was late to work. It wasn't my fault. Don't blame me." There are many reasons people want to find scapegoats but it all comes back to the crippling fear of failure.
SETTLE DOWN, PEOPLE!
Don't be afraid of making mistakes. Don't be afraid of looking like a goof. Take up juggling and drop the balls over and over. It isn't the end of the world. People won't die if you are half an hour late (unless your job is saving lives...). Instead of blaming the cashier for the line at the store, be positive ("My, those flowers are lovely in the floral department." Or "That fresh baked bread smells wonderful! I could stand here all day!") Seriously, even if you just say these things to yourself you will fell a hell of a lot better the rest of your day.
And for Pete's sake, take some responsibility!!! If you miss the bus (even if the bus is early) say "I missed the bus." Don't automatically blame the bus driver (even if it is the driver's fault). It's very empowering to take responsibility for things. Maybe we'll start a trend?
Good morning how are you?
ReplyDeleteMy name is Emilio, I am a Spanish boy and I live in a town near to Madrid. I am a very interested person in knowing things so different as the culture, the way of life of the inhabitants of our planet, the fauna, the flora, and the landscapes of all the countries of the world etc. in summary, I am a person that enjoys traveling, learning and respecting people's diversity from all over the world.
I would love to travel and meet in person all the aspects above mentioned, but unfortunately as this is very expensive and my purchasing power is quite small, so I devised a way to travel with the imagination in every corner of our planet. A few years ago I started a collection of used stamps because trough them, you can see pictures about fauna, flora, monuments, landscapes etc. from all the countries. As every day is more and more difficult to get stamps, some years ago I started a new collection in order to get traditional letters addressed to me in which my goal was to get at least 1 letter from each country in the world. This modest goal is feasible to reach in the most part of countries, but unfortunately it’s impossible to achieve in other various territories for several reasons, either because they are countries at war, either because they are countries with extreme poverty or because for whatever reason the postal system is not functioning properly.
For all this I would ask you one small favor:
Would you be so kind as to send me a letter by traditional mail from British Virgin Islands? I understand perfectly that you think that your blog is not the appropriate place to ask this, and even, is very probably that you ignore my letter, but I would call your attention to the difficulty involved in getting a letter from that country, and also I don’t know anyone neither where to write in British Virgin Islands in order to increase my collection. a letter for me is like a little souvenir, like if I have had visited that territory with my imagination and at same time, the arrival of the letters from a country is a sign of peace and normality and an original way to promote a country in the world. My postal address is the following one:
Emilio Fernandez Esteban
Calle Valencia, 39
28903 Getafe (Madrid)
Spain
If you wish, you can visit my blog www.cartasenmibuzon.blogspot.com where you can see the pictures of all the letters that I have received from whole World.
Finally I would like to thank the attention given to this letter, and whether you can help me or not, I send my best wishes for peace, health and happiness for you, your family and all your dear beings.
Yours Sincerely
Emilio Fernandez