Bird Droppings June 16, 2011
Wandering about today and nearly missed a moment
with my grand daughter

“Until you have a son of your own you will never know the joy, the love beyond feeling that resonates in the heart of a father as he looks upon his son. You will never know the sense of honor that makes a man want to be more than he is and to pass something good and hopeful into the hands of his son, and you will never know the heartbreak of the fathers who are haunted by the personal demons that keep them from being the men they want their sons to be.” Kent Nerburn

In my running around today I got home just in time to hold my grand daughter before her morning nap. As I started this morning with fathers day coming up I am borrowing from one of my favorite authors who wrote a book to his son and this passage is from that book. I am sure had Kent been blessed with daughters his words would be different and one day perhaps he will be graced with a grand daughter which even makes this passage more significant. As a grand parent the joy is magnified and intensified and every single smile or tiny hand reaching carries love and emotions that are hard to express.
My youngest son heads out early every day often before his daughter is awake. I had a nice drive this morning into town and errands for the house and for school. I felt like I drove a million miles by the time I got home. It has been some time since I thought about this topic and thought I would share again.

“To admit you were wrong is to declare you are wiser now than before.” Unknown author

When I saw this I had many flashbacks to arguments over the years, now perhaps I would call a few debates but back in the day they were arguments. One of my favorite was about copperhead eggs. But that was many years ago, copperheads do not lay eggs they are developed inside the female and are born fully developed and poisonous. Funny thing was many years back a UGA vet student could not be persuaded otherwise. I knew that information from about second grade, anyhow in life admitting you were wrong is probably one of the hardest and most difficult tasks we could ever have, even when only a silly argument or discussion on copperhead eggs or who was best baseball player. Letting go of ego is a difficult task.

“An inflated consciousness is always egocentric and conscious of nothing but its own existence. It is incapable of learning from the past, incapable of understanding contemporary events, and incapable of drawing right conclusions about the future. It is hypnotized by itself and therefore cannot be argued with. It inevitably dooms itself to calamities that must strike it dead.” Karl G. Jung

If I were to call my shelf a certain kind of psychologist it would be Jungian. I do think Jung may have over did it a bit in his idea but ego is such a hard task master and so often in life we all sooner or later fall victim.

“If someone is blessed as I am is not willing to clean out the barn, who will?” H. Ross Perot

Looking back on my own life and I was never really a Perot fan but I happen to like the thought he addresses here. In life who but ourselves is there to clean out the barn. I found a sign with the word EGOS in bold lettering on it and then the red circle for NO across it. I placed several up around the school the only one that survived was on my door, still haven’t figured that one out. All the others were down very quickly, people in general do not want to be wrong or questioned.

“If you think about yourself then you’ve lost sight of the ball.” Mike Willesee

Ever wonder how a pro basketball team either succeeds or collapses. All in all most pro teams are very close in ability, but it is the dealing with egos that makes or breaks a team. A coach has to be able de-egoize a team that is the true sign of a great coach.

“A particular shot or way of moving the ball can be a player’s personal signature, but efficiency of performance is what wins the game for the team. “ Pat Riley

“Ability may get you to the top, but it takes character to keep you there.” John Wooden

“Nothing will work unless you do. “ John Wooden

Many of you never may have heard of John Wooden, perhaps the greatest College basketball coach of all time. I believe he won more NCAA championships somewhere about ten, than any other coach and more in a row. Wooden lived a simple philosophy of life.

“You cannot attain and maintain physical condition unless you are morally and mentally conditioned. And it is impossible to be in moral condition unless you are spiritually conditioned. I always told my players that our team condition depended on two factors — how hard they worked on the floor during practice and how well they behaved between practices.” John Wooden

Recently a few months ago I found an article in the sports page, by former Wooden player who did not get to play very much. This former player was interviewing Bill Walton, a former NBA star, a now sports broadcaster and former great of UCLA’s glory days under Wooden. The player who did not play much had the same respect and love for Wooden as did Walton, and both carried Woodenisms in there wallets still, twenty plus years after college. Example is the key to Coach Wooden’s philosophy of life. Live the life as well as play hard. EGO had no place on a Wooden team and if an ego cropped up you probably will be sitting on the bench or playing at another university. Wooden was successful because he did not skirt the edges so many in the paper schools have done. He won through practice, his players were glad to get off the team, his practices were so hard. Behavior between practices was as important to Coach Wooden as was your play.
Imagine a world where the aura was gone from pro-sports and players played because they wanted too, not for millions of dollars. Imagine where newspapers would have to print about the team getting all A’s in the NCAA rather then team members are arrested for shop lifting and sexual harassment. EGOS can destroy not only an individual but a team and a society.

“Ability may get you to the top, but it takes character to keep you there.” John Wooden

I will close with that last statement from John Wooden, in life and not just sports character will keep you there, a good thought to remember and please keep all in harms way on your mind and in your hearts.
namaste
bird