Tiger Woods

(link: Tiger Woods Apology commentary)

Now that I have your attention, I wish to point out that what has happened to Tiger can happen to anyone. "How the mighty have fallen," is the phrase applied to such cases as Tiger's. If you Google that phrase, you find many people's take on the mighty, usually someone above the author's station, being taken down a notch or few.

While these people are the most visible, due to their success, I remind you that theirs is not an exclusive malady.

We are all prideful. We all wish, at one time or another, to be up on that pedestal of fame and glory.

In Tiger's case (from the news this morning), he will be taking some time away from golf to put his life back together.

Think of that, those of you who think that money buys happiness. A person whose personal success has brought him a 7- no 8-, or is it a 9-figure income needs to put his life back together.

So, what does a rich person like Tiger need to do to put his life back together?

The same thing you (and I) need to do: ask the person in the mirror two questions:

1 - What is the most important thing in my life?

The answer to this question is not "What I tell people on Oscar night...". No fibbing, stretches-of-truth or out-and-out lies allowed.

2 - What should be the most important thing in my life?

There are many good-sounding answers to this question. Many such answers are the stuff of Oscar night, or beauty pageant personal statements. They are the sweet-sounding lies we tell each other and ourselves when we get backed into the corner. Sometimes we ourselves believe them.

But, I'm asking for honesty here. The questions demand it, as our souls and our happiness depend on the answers.

My answers to these questions are ..., but wait a moment.

My play list needs to be updated. Most people listen to their favorite music in the background. Me, too. But, I also listen to old time radio, stories, history, philosophy, quite a number of things besides music. I haven't changed the list in a couple of months.

"So what?" I hear you asking.

Well, when I sat down, a reading of Locke's words was playing. Now, fittingly, it is the Mercury Theatre's rendition of Dickens' "A Christmas Carol". Perhaps you've seen or heard a rendition of the story this past Christmas season.

If Scrooge were asked these questions before his visitation of spirits, how would he answer, do you suppose? And on the following Christmas morning, how would he answer?

And the most important question - and answer - is:

What difference does it make?

Well, does make a difference?

Mr. Woods has had his own version of the ghosts visit. This reminds us of a lesser-known, but no less important, quote:

"Be sure your secret sin will find you out."

Some of us don't believe in sin, secret or otherwise. Many of us live in fear of it, harboring the guilt. A few of us live timid lives because of such a fear. The secret sin often occurred because the answer to the first question differed from the the answer to the second.

For some of you, the concept of sin is a non-starter. Let us call it the ethic of the Golden Rule: would you be happy if someone had done such a thing to you?

Yet, this still answers the first question badly, because it answers the second question badly; the focus is inward, not outward.

So, chuckle up your sleeve, whisper down a well, and, alone, face that person in the mirror:

What, in your heart of hearts, is the most important thing in your life?

When you distill all the answers, what most of us get is a version of: Me, Myself.

The answer to the second question points the way. Many people answer it this way: Others.

The best answer is: God.

The 'Others' answer is the purported message of "A Christmas Carol". And it is a good answer. For those of you who disagree with my best answer on principle, it may be the only answer. But, my God sacrificed Himself for us, before we even truly understood what was going on. If we let him rule, and follow His rules, we cannot go wrong.

His example of loving and giving is the best we have to go on.

Can you do it? Can I?

I will give it my best shot. So must you.

Yes, you can!

The First Commandment

On this website you will see ads for various self-help resources. That is good, as far as it goes. But be careful of what you pick up and read, please. Just because something comes with a label you like doesn't mean you will like what is under the label.

For example, from time to time you will see books by Wayne Dyer advertised. Since I am part of Adword advertising, if I have the phrases self-help or self-improvement, his books will appear. I cannot exclude his books without excluding others (such as the Good News Bible) that I want to keep.

I'm going to pick on Dr. Wayne Dyer for a little bit. I have seen criticism of him and his writings (by an anonymous person with an atheistic standpoint) because Dr. Dyer says God exists. Then I have read, from Dyer's own book, that the god he believes in is more of an 'energy field' that we make requests to. I think the anonymous atheist mentioned above has little to fear from such a god, save for the cringe factor of hearing the word.

Why do I say that?

Our atheist above rails against any belief system that imagines something bigger, and external, to himself. He further rails against any 'rule book' that might be associated to such a belief system. In fact, he rails against any non-human authority, be it Judao-Christian in origin, or Islamist, or, in fact, anything else that might restrict him from doing something he wants to do.

But Dr. Dyer's god places no such restrictions on anybody. it merely does what it is asked.

Right now, some of you are arguing that I have created a straw man, and, in fact, I have. In this particular case I know only that Mr. Anonymous criticized Mr. Dyer, and on the point of the mentioning of God. If I was going to knock him down and say, "Ta-Da!" you would be right to yell at me. (Oh, he may fall, but I am not going to touch him. He will fall, or not, on his own.)

What I'm doing today is apologise to you, dear reader.

As the heading at the top of the page says, I am learning to walk like a child of the King. This King has said:

"I am the Lord your God. You will not have any other gods before me."

All three of us, Mr. Atheist, Dr. Dyer and Mr. Madman Hansen, have put other gods ahead of the One True God. Mr. Atheist has placed the non-god of 'Self', Mr. Dyer, his 'Cosmic Energy Field', which is another way of saying 'Self'. And I, I've placed 'Getting Ahead, Making My Pile, and to Hell with the Rest,' in God's place. In other words: 'Self'.

I am the worst of all, because I should know better.

That is why I should apologise. Every time I've said to depend on something or someone other than the Lord our God to provide strength and help, I've pointed you away from the greatest help you can have.

Oh, I've given God a passing nod: "Make sure you know what He wants you to do." And, as far as it goes, it was good advice. But it didn't go far enough.

Folks, What I want you to do is this: Talk to God. Then: Listen! Do this with an earnestness of expecting an answer.

Yes, even you folks who might have more in common with Misters A & D above, I want even you to do this.

If you are an 'energy field' devotee, you might find your 'energy field' is not so impersonal.

As an atheist, if there is no god, you have nothing to fear in the exercise. You may even get a good laugh out of it.

Myself, I'm hoping that you might encounter a surprise, no matter to which camp you belong.

To tell you the truth, sometimes I'm scared to talk to God, especially when I have an idea that I'm not sure is the direction I should go, but I want to anyway. It's that 'self'-thing. If you fear talking, then listening, to God, do it anyway. I have found, even if the answer is 'No', the alternative is often far better that I would have hoped for. Example: being a loner or marrying my wife (ended up marrying); being a lone couple or adopting kids (adopted two great kids); entering old age quietly or being available to raise a grandkid (yep, more pitter-patter around the house). All of those choices involved me not giving of myself to others, or being a servant.

You get the idea, I hope.

How to earn the money we need ... that I haven't had so much luck with. Scratch that. There is no luck. What I haven't done so well with is listen, or even talk, to God about it. That will change. It has to. With God's help, it will.

With God's help, so can you.

Yes, you can!

PS: on my workstation at my day job (actually, night job, as I work the 'graveyard shift') I have a sticky-note that reads:

What is the point?

I know what the point is, the note is merely there to remind me:

I am here to serve.

Not very glamorous, perhaps, but ...

In service, we do our greatest work.

Yes, we do.


PPS: A new edition of my e-book "Yes, You Can!" will be out in the near future, edited and rewritten where necessary to reflect the above truth about God.

Look for it, soon! (As before, it will be freee.)

Fight For ...

This is the year, and time of year especially, for political speeches. Each side getting in their licks, and the other side picking the speech apart and making sometimes snide comments on it.

This year one candidate’s speech was rated by the opposition as “…Typical…” and “…Not as good as Kennedy’s…,” referring to JFK’s “Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country,” speech. Admittedly, it would be hard to top that speech, and that line in particular.

But, try this one on for size:

“Fight for a cause bigger than yourself.”

I think that one has potential to be a catchphrase for the future. It enlists you to work, hard, for something. It forces you to look beyond your personal horizon. It makes you choose something worthy of all the hard work, something that will benefit others as well as yourself.

It compels you to be generous and courageous.

Hmm. If the candidate is being judged on his speech, relative to JFK’s, perhaps the candidates should be judged on the content as well as how pretty the speech was.

Given that, which of the current candidates asks you to give to our country, rather than receive from our country? And I don't mean in the form of more taxes.

You will note that I haven’t mention which candidate used the phrase. I’ll let you work that out for yourself.

Yes, giving is hard, if you’re not used to it. Maybe we should get used to it (myself very much included).

The benefits of not giving: you have more for yourself. More pizza, beer and pretzels. A bigger car. A designer-label set of jeans. Y’know, the typical stuff.

The benefit of giving, however: everyone has more of the important things, such as fresh-water well where the had bad water before; a reading program for adult literacy; a reading program for children to prevent adult illiteracy in the first place; food for the hungry; shelter for the homeless; a sense of community.

America is well known for its rugged individualism. It is less known for something equally important: its sense of community, of pulling together in times of need. We saw how this happened in a small way in New Orleans, after Katrina. We saw this in a bigger way (when we thought to look) where towns were blown away by tornadoes, and flooded away by the Mississippi River this early summer.

Fight for a cause bigger than myself.

I like the sound of that. It’ll be a challenge, and it’s time I was properly challenged

Fight for a cause bigger than yourself

Yes, you can!