Bird Droppings April 20, 2012

It is not always who we think we are

 

“I pulled into Nazareth, I was feelin’ about half past dead;

I just need some place where I can lay my head.

“Hey, mister, can you tell me where a man might find a bed?”

He just grinned and shook my hand, and “No!”, was all he said.”

Robbie Robertson

 

                I remember so many years ago hearing this song for the first time and was caught up in and sang along for many years to come. Only recently did I even think about what was being said in the song. The Band was a group that bridged the gap between folk and rock in the early 1970’s and actually was a Canadian band with the addition of Levon Helms as lead singer and their drummer from Arkansas. Levon brought a southern twang and rich tenor voice to put The Bands songs in the forefront for several years. Internal strife broke the band up and in 1998 throat cancer almost silenced Levon Helms. He came back and after recording and touring again for another ten years passed away.  I am sitting here listening to The Band right now as I write.

We all think we are always right as we enter into conversations, arguments, maybe even discussions. Our egos tend to override rational thinking and cloud our perception. We seem to assume in this effort everyone else is wrong as well. Myself I never do this or I should say I do this fifty times a day. When we communicate with others that person’s life history is the basis for their perceptions and beliefs. So often we tend to forget there are reasons for and why a person believes and feels what they do.  

 

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

 

When I saw this I had many flashbacks to arguments over the years. One of my favorite was about copperhead eggs. But that was many years ago (copperheads do not lay eggs per say they give live birth, although a good friend advised the eggs develop internally) A UGA vet student could not be persuaded otherwise and I knew that fact from about second grade maybe even first grade. Anyhow as we journey through life admitting you were wrong is probably one of the hardest and most difficult tasks we could ever undertake. Even when it is only a silly argument or discussion on copperhead eggs or who was the best baseball player, letting go of ego is difficult.

 

“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  

 

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. This may have been the falling out with Freud, Jung and Freud worked together for some time, as Freud put so much emphasis on ego. I work daily with self-esteem and trying to encourage students to think better of themselves.

 

“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 Ross Perot fan but I happen to like this thought. The metaphor of a barn and how we or a barn build up manure and other debris is a good one. I recall an old barn out on our farm back in 1978 or so that had never been cleaned in thirty years or so. The old mule in one of the stalls had to step down to get out of the stall as the three feet of old mule manure had accumulated. In life who but ourselves is there to clean out the barn of our lives.

In my travels and journeys, 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; the others were torn down very quickly. I really think 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 you ever wondered how a pro basketball team either succeeds or collapses. All in all most pro teams are very close in ability it is dealing with egos that makes or breaks a team being able to de-egoize a team is a true sign of a great coach. I was talking with a couple of students this morning and was amazed that the young folks do not know the name of one of the greatest basketball coaches of all time. Recently on one of the movie channels I watched several times the movie aboutTexasWesternCollegeand the NCCA finals game withKentuckyand the then all American player Pat Riley, more famous now as an NBA 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, he won more NCAA championships than any other coach and more games in a row. Some of the greats of NBA fame played on his teams at UCLA during his tenure. What impressed me about this man was his 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

 

A few months ago I found an article on the sports page by former Wooden player who did not get to play much at UCLA, interviewing Bill Walton. Walton is now a sports broadcaster and a 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, both carried Woodenisms in their wallets, still twenty plus years after college. Example 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 other schools have done. He won through practice (players were glad to get off his team when they graduated because his practices were so hard) and behavior between practices. 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 rather than team members who were 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; it is about in life not just sports that character will keep you there. A good thought to remember and please keep all in harm’s way on your minds and in your hearts and to always give thanks.

namaste

bird.