Leadership
When the Titanic hit an iceberg, and people drowned, ultimately, the Captain was held responsible. When a train crashes headlong into another, through no fault of its own, the Conductor is held responsible. When a school has a rogue student or coach that other kids have mentioned to their superiors, and nothing is done, the Principal is held responsible. It is the one at the helm of any organization that is held responsible, when things go wrong. The Leader often gets paid more than others to stand at the top…be an overseer…and granted there are perks, and position…but there is also a responsibility to try to make sure all goes well under their stewardship. That is called Leadership.
A true Leader wants things to go well…takes pride in what they set out to accomplish. They are not afraid to be present. They are not intimidated. They will sacrifice a vacation to tend to problems under their governance. They are passionate about their job. They can go off script to answer questions because they know the ins and outs of what they tower over. They have taken the time to learn everything they can about the ship, train, business, country, etc. that they run. It is their passion…it is their mission.
A true Leader doesn’t want shame to glare over their stewardship. They try to bring the best and the brightest together to get things done. They make folks in an organization feel that they are all working towards the same goal, even if they have differing opinions. A true Leader has the grace and finesse to make both sides feel they have won. The last thing a true Leader wants is to have warring factions under the same roof. Just like in a family, a true Leader is able to remind everyone that winning means there must be compromise.
In times of great turmoil, true Leadership is needed. Not Leaders who try to blame others for failures, nor Leaders who hide behind their past accolades. A true Leader realizes that today is more important than the past, and tomorrow is more important than today.
Carpe Diem,
Jennifer Avalon
© 2011 Jennifer Avalon
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Pro-Business
I wake up in the morning and get out of my bed (a business made my bed, mattress, and sheets) I brush my teeth (toothbrush, thank you business) I take a shower and dry myself off (thank you tub and shower installer business, and, oh yes, the water business) Every moment of my day I am interacting with a business product. I drive my car, get gas, eat lunch, work….without business, I would probably be living, well, I don’t even know where, because without the construction business I wouldn’t be in a house, and without the car business, I wouldn’t have a car. And yet there are some amongst us who put down “business”….big business, is what they often site, but the real truth is, without big business there are no little businesses, and without any kind of business, we have nothing. We might as well all go back to living in caves (if we can still find any) and hope we haven’t lost our hunting skills, and, oh yes, we better have a natural source of running water.
We foolishly take for granted what we use every day to live. And the funniest part of all is, the folks who are often against big business are the folks who can usually AFFORD to moan about big business. The truth is, “big business” hires people, pays taxes (contrary to what folks say) which means they contribute to the “entitlements” of Social Security and Medicare/Medicaid, because their workers and they are paying into those systems. Try having Social Security and Medicare/Medicaid without the businesses who pay into them with their employees….entitlements couldn’t exist! So I get really frustrated when some folks try to twist the truth about what’s going on with “big business.” Taxes are lower in communities where there is a “big business.” More people are employed, even in smaller businesses, because small businesses grow up around big businesses. That’s the way it works. Ever notice what happens when a “big business” leaves an area? The steel mills in Pennsylvania, for instance? Ever seen it? Empty storefronts…gone are the mom and pop restaurants that fed the big business workers….foreclosures spring up on the lawns….etc.etc. Domino effect.
Whenever people moan about “big business” I think of the ungratefulness they are actually expressing. Big Business can often employ people out of the country now…and why wouldn’t they, if they don’t feel the American people appreciate them anymore? And sometimes, to stay in business, they have to employ overseas. America has not been business friendly now for a few years….. which is what’s hurting our economy to its core. So beware of those who are against business….you might be very surprised by the size of their bank accounts, and/or that deed to the chalet they own in southern France. You might be shocked, actually.
Our country needs a pro-business attitude so it can get rolling again. Without that, we will never have enough of a tax base to support the things we hold dear. And we don’t need to “raise taxes on the rich,”…that will only send them elsewhere. We need businesses to not feel FEARFUL anymore about hiring people. Fear is causing this recession/depression. It’s all so simple….but you would never know it by what you hear in most of the press. Really simple.
Wake Up,
Jennifer Avalon
© 2011 Jennifer Avalon
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Pain
What is pain, and how can it be measured? Is the person living in the desert with no food or water worse off than the person stuck in a valley with flooding and tornadoes? Both suffer…both experience pain.
We often feel we can quantify pain….mine is worse than yours, or, mine couldn’t ever match yours. Truth be told, the pain of losing a home is probably not as bad as the pain of being molested…a pain that involves the soul. A building can be rebuilt….a damaged soul can take a lifetime to repair. And yet many of us feel that if we appear to visibly have more than others, we don’t have as much pain as someone who visibly has less. But it’s all about what’s going on inside of us.
When we lose someone we care about, that is a pain of the soul. All the money in the world can’t bring them back, so we feel the loss. If we lose something materially, we can often replace it. And even if we can’t, we can often move on, and get the help to do so. Where do we get the help to fix a damaged soul? And how does anybody see the cracks, to help in the first place?
We come into this world naked, and we go out naked, whether we like it or not. We bring nothing with us into this life but our bodies and souls, and, I believe, we leave with the same….but with the imprints of those we have loved, and who have loved us, with us…..in our souls. That is all the treasure we can take with us….and the more we have of that, the richer we are….no clothes, no houses, no bank accounts…just Love. The pain of life gone….
So what really is pain? The lack of Love…demonstrated by those who hurt us, sometimes including ourselves. When a flood or tornado hits, there are often neighbors who demonstrate real Love….when a soul is damaged, there are people who can help also. The trick is to recognize that pain is pain, no matter where it comes from….and only Love can cure it.
With Love,
Jennifer Avalon
© 2011 Jennifer Avalon
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Home
Where is home? As the eternal question asks, is it where the heart is? Is it where you have to be because of work? Is it where you grew up, but left behind? Or is it somewhere in our imaginations…a place that we all long for, but can never quite seem to be fully satisfied with, on earth.
We buy or rent a house…after a while it seems like “old hat.” Been there, done that….what’s around the corner, on the other side of the wall? Does a vacation take care of the wanderlust in each of us, or does it spur us to want to continue the search for “home.” For some, home is where they grew up, went to school, made friends. And even if most of their friends move away, they still consider their plot of land and four walls to be “home.” Nothing wrong with that.
For others, “home” is truly wherever they hang their hat….can be for many years, can be for only a few. They get to know some folks, and keep in touch with them after they move out of the area, via internet or phone. They fix up or decorate each new place with vim and vigor, but when they leave it looks as if they have never quite been there. It’s quite interesting to see how each of us views “home.”
Some people need to be near water….be it a lake in the mountains, or an actual seaside place. Others can do just fine in the plains, or the desert, or on a farm. But each of us does need to be in a certain environment to feel more “at home.” Have you ever noticed that when you visit a friend in a cabin or house in the mountains, they will have a picture, almost always, of the beach, hanging somewhere in their home? The same goes for the beach folks…somewhere you will find, even if it’s in the bathroom, a print or photo of the mountains. This is what makes me wonder about human nature…are we really forever wanderers on this planet, until we finally go to our “true home,” which is, of course, Heaven. Finding “Heaven on earth” is very difficult, and I think that’s why we long to, or do, dust off our shoes sometimes and “move on.”
Sometimes it is only a vacation we need, just to recharge and come back refreshed, to enjoy our lives. Other times it is a wake-up call that we need to find a new job, a new place, or a better way of living. Life affords opportunities for those things to happen, especially during these times, when so much is in flux. But the strangest part of all is, when things are in “flux,” we feel we need “home” more than ever….
Go Home,
Jennifer Avalon
© 2011 Jennifer Avalon
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Aliens
There is some doubt as to whether there is “more intelligent life out there,” among scholars and laymen. I personally am in the middle on the subject. I hope there IS, because at the rate we are going on this planet, we may need a spaceship to climb onto and soar away into the atmosphere! I am more inclined to think that because God made us, He also created the Aliens, or Beings, perhaps to help “keep an eye on us” at times, when we are doing truly potentially harmful stuff…like inventing atom bombs, and such. They say that spacecraft appear over areas where potentially dubious experiments are occuring, and also where mankind is in major conflicts, or about to be. Why? Are they watching over us, observing our latest moves? Or are they simply a figment of multi- millions of folk’s imaginations?
Some feel that even the subject of Aliens is anti-Christian. I do find it interesting that recently the Pope declared Aliens our “Celestial Brothers and Sisters,” or something to that effect. What does he know? I take that to mean that “They” are here to possibly help, not harm. Also, that because they inhabit the same universe as us, they must be part of God’s Creation.
God created the Universe, and everything in it, according to us as Christians. If that’s the case, then we must take all of that, the “Good, the Bad, and the Ugly,” as part of God’s Plan. I think what is difficult for some of us to handle is, how could a species be more “intelligent” than us, by being able to manufacture spaceships and the like with materials we haven’t even invented yet, according to some of the articles I have come across. How is that possible, we say? How could anyone be brighter than us?
If you were able to have a “Bird’s Eye View” of this planet, what do you suppose you would really think? If you could see all the conflicts at once, and yes, all the good deeds too, how would they balance out? If you cared, wouldn’t you keep an eye? If you didn’t, wouldn’t you never even bother to look down?
Just thoughts on a controversial subject…something to get your mind off the evening news!!
May the Force Be With You:)
love,
Jennifer Avalon
© 2011 Jennifer Avalon
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The House 2011
This week we look forward to the start of a new year, untouched, like a slate that is unmarked and clean, just waiting for us to paint our thoughts and impressions onto it. Many of us will start to compile a list of New Year resolutions…setting goals for 2011. For a lot of us, by the end of January many of those goals start to unravel, and we become discouraged, wondering why we should continue on the course that looked so bright at the beginning.
I think if we approach the New Year with a different perspective and keep a symbol or image in our minds it may be easier to stay focused and navigate the road ahead. I approach the New Year as a builder, a person who sees a piece of land, and the possibilities that can come forth. I look at the formulation of my goals, hopes, and dreams as a house…a beautiful shining building that by the end of the year I can be proud of. A builder needs tools, not just hammers and nails but Faith, encouragement, conviction and the belief that when you put your mind to it, anything is possible.
In January we start the foundation…we make sure it is strong and has the potential to hold what we place upon it. We make sure there are no cracks. Each proceeding month we add to our house…floor by floor we put in the plumbing, the electrical wiring, the heating system, etc. Sometimes we make mistakes, one room may not be wired right, so we go back, repair the damage and continue on. By the Spring, we see that our house is off the ground and rising. The contributions we have made to our house are beginning to show. People pass by and are amazed how fast the house is starting to come together…but little do they see the problems that we encountered to get to our level. So on we go, each day building brick by brick with the sky above us…and with each brick a feeling of accomplishment comes over us and a better understanding of the mistakes we have made so that we try not to make them again. God looks down and sees a person trying to push forward with a house of meaning and purpose. A badly built house with a weak foundation won’t stand very long…but a good house can last forever. God understands how hard it is to built good houses.
By the Fall, our floors are completed, and we are about to add our roof. We want a roof that will not leak, that can take the elements. If we have done all our work and done it well, by the end of the year we will be standing in front of a house amazed that we were able to accomplish this once monumental task. We look at each brick and floor and see a story. We see the set-backs and the over comings. It is possible to build a good house, God willing, with the right tools, and determination…All things are possible.
Good Luck with your house,
love, Jennifer Avalon
© 2011 Jennifer Avalon
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Food
Food…most of us have trouble living with it, and NONE of us can live without it. How many things in life have that much power? Very few things indeed.
For many, the memories of “Mom’s” cooking stays with us for a lifetime…we call that “comfort food.” Even if Mom made you spinach noodles on burnt rye toast when you had a cold, you would still consider that your “comfort” food. Food is attached to time and place and, especially, emotions. Give me a bowl of tomato soup and I will tell you about childhood and the flu, and how much that warm bowl of soup meant to me. For some, it’s chicken soup…or lentil soup. Soups are, for most of us, put in the “comfort” category. You don’t even need a utensil to enjoy it!!
Food…too much of the wrong kind can kill us, and not enough of the good kind can malnourish, or starve us. What other thing in our life has that much influence over our well-being? Not much, for sure. When I hear food prices might skyrocket someday, I mull over buying large bags of rice, and dried beans, and little pots to grow parsley (got to have those greens!) and then wonder what I can add, to prevent scurvy…you know, the disease they got on the Mayflower from not having enough citrus! Maybe I can buy canned mandarin oranges? I like those. Or just buy a bunch of fruity jams. If it were down to survival, I would have to consider only those food stuffs that are non-perishable….hmmmm….how many things in our lives have to be used within a certain period of time before they become dangerous to use or consume? Not many….
Food….a true love/hate relationship. It can be one of the most enjoyable pleasures in life, and can be downright devastating, like when one gets food-poisoning. I got so ill once in an exotic foreign country from either bad food or water I thought I was going to die….luckily, I lived to tell the tale:) During the experience I told myself I would never drink or eat again (ha!) These are the crazy things we tell ourselves to feel we have some control over the enormous power Food and Water has over us.
Food…part of the gift God has given us…earth to grow wheat and vegetables, trees to bear fruit and nuts, paddies to harvest rice, oceans to fish, etc. It is not meant to be taken for granted, nor abused, and yet we do both. When we don’t have enough of it we die, when we have too much of it, we die. Somewhere we are meant to find the balance. And for those who are without it, may you soon have enough food to be able to complain about it.
love,
Jennifer Avalon
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The Machine
“Money can’t buy you love,” as the Beatles were known to have said in one of their lyrics….but money can, and does, buy power, influence, and comfort. Just ask anyone who’s poor. Or anyone who’s rich. It’s all the same common knowledge. That’s why everyone (or most everyone) wants the green stuff…as much of it as they can get.
Money generally has a bad reputation….it is the “Root of all Evil,” as some say, and has been known to destroy families, in one way or another, either through inheritances or lack thereof, or the perception that one got more than the other. Just ask the Rich….or the Poor. It’s all the same common knowledge.
When politicians talk about raising taxes on the Rich, it actually hurts the Poor. Just look at history. For example, the top 1% of earners in New York, for instance, account for 36% of the state’s total income. If tax rates become too high, some of the Rich leave. Many Rich own homes in other states, and/or other countries. They are wealthy enough to do that. Then what becomes of the tax base, in a state like New York, for instance? Who ends up funding the loss of revenue? Why the Middle Class, of course, and the Poor. Their taxes get raised, or their state budgets get cut. They lose either way. Usually the middle way is the best…the moderate way. Perhaps raising taxes a touch, and cutting a little out of budgets….nothing too drastic, but perhaps that combo makes it fair to everyone. But to punish the Rich has always proven disastrous…because again, as I mentioned, they can just get up and leave. They have the resources to do that. They are not prisoners of their financial circumstances, as many folks are. The Rich and the Poor are intrinsically entwined….because the Poor and Middle Class need the Rich, and the Rich need the workers (both white collar and blue) to keep the machines of their businesses going. We are all dependent on one another. Where it becomes sad is when one realizes that the Rich can now go overseas and hire workers that will take less in pay….the dependency becomes less for the American worker and the Rich. Therefore I cringe every time I hear a politician mention raising taxes on the Rich….it doesn’t work out well for the rest of us…especially now, with cheaper labor overseas.
The Machine…the cogs in the wheel of business and leisure. For one to say they are anti-business is to declare oneself a bit of a fool…without business, we wouldn’t have a country. It’s like when I used to hear people who owned a home say “Oh me, I’m not in the stock market,” well my friend, when your house lost half it’s value with the recession, you quickly discovered you WERE in the stock market, because the value had to do with the banking industry, which is involved with Wall Street. So the good part is that I think people are waking up and realizing that The Machine involves all of us…Rich, Poor, and Middle Class. We all need one another for The Machine to run smoothly.
The more money a person has, the more they spend, usually. Anything that reduces that will hurt the economy….real simple stuff. For The Machine to work well, we all need to understand what makes it tick.
Tick Tock…
Jennifer Avalon
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Vacation
Vacation….the very sound of it makes me smile. To vacate something…to step from one area to another. The beach, the mountains….or somewhere in-between. A ride across many states…an RV self-contained. A home away from home. A train-ride through the alps….lunch at a european cafe lining a cobblestone street, people-watching while sipping something exotic. To try something new. A vacation.
The funny thing about a vacation is that you can have one without ever leaving the spot you’re sitting in. Granted the air won’t feel different…the sounds won’t be either, nor the smells. But how we perceive life is all in our minds anyway, so if we have active imaginations we can leave where we are and go somewhere else just by sitting still. Close your eyes for a moment and imagine you are in a place you want to be….either somewhere you’ve been before, or somewhere you’ve always wanted to go to. If you’ve been there before, remember the details of what you enjoyed about it. If it’s somewhere new, imagine what it must feel like. I sometimes sit very still and remember my time in Heaven. It is a place I go to when I need to calm down and remember what truly matters. I go to The Garden. The colors are brighter, the light is different. And I am reminded that this earthly world is temporary, and we will all go Home someday. A mini-vacation, this life is. And yet we need a vacation from our mini-vacation sometimes!
I live near the ocean, so today I drove down to the beach and took a walk by the sea. I let my feet slosh through the waves, and watched all the many different folks sitting in the sun, and children playing with their buckets and shovels. In the parking lot were seagulls, and license plates from all over the country. I love seeing people swimming amongst the waves….people laughing and smiling. Many are most likely on a vacation…the time to let worries flow by the wayside, and enjoy the moment.
We only have so much time allotted to us during the year for that kind of time….so it’s important to be able to “go there” just by sitting alone in a room with walls. A vacation can be taken anytime we can find the moments…anytime our hearts and minds desire.
Please, go on vacation more often….
love,
Jennifer Avalon
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Hope
There has to be a reason to swing our feet over the side of the bed every morning…otherwise, we would just curl up in a bundle of comfy comforters (depending on the season) and perhaps decide to stay there indefinitely. We want to feel safe…we want to feel loved…in a world that half the time doesn’t make sense, or really add up. The main reason to chuck the covers and stick our neck out is Hope….the belief that something better is coming down the pike….someone out there needs us….there really IS a light at the end of the tunnel, and we can only reach it if we make the best of where we are in Life.
I remember seeing the movie, I think it was called “Alive,” where an airplane crashes on a snowy mountaintop, and, after several days, the survivors realize a rescue is nowhere in sight. As more folks begin to die and freeze, the remaining people decide that in order to stay alive, they must eat their fellow frozen passengers. They cut the frozen flesh into matchstick slivers, and one claims that it tastes like chicken, from what I remember, which I thought was odd, but then again, I haven’t had, thankfully, the experience! I remember being horrified, but realized that it was a desperate and last ditch attempt to stay “alive.” It also made me realize, in a flash, how horrible suicide is, because if people are willing to go to such lengths to stay in this world, then what does it say about someone willing to toss it all away?
We are here for a reason…there is always Hope on the horizon, and there really IS a light at the end of the tunnel. These are basic facts, as far as I believe. Hope is the belief that no matter what Life throws at us, we can and WILL overcome it. I’m thinking now, in particular, about the folks in the Gulf States who must feel absolutely devastated by the oil disaster unfolding. What can one say to them? What was one supposed to say to the people standing in the bread lines during the Depression? If you truly believe you are here for a reason, then you find your way back from disaster, and trouble. You take stock of your situation, and don’t have blinders on. If you see a boulder headed your way, move yourself from its path. Sometimes a change is what’s in order….there are times when it’s just smart to go another direction, or move in a different way. We are all here for a reason….it’s our job to find out what the reason is.
Hope, Faith and Love…the three reasons to swing our legs over the side of the bed. Love, because without it the Universe, and we, would collapse. Faith, because we are always being watched by God and His Angels, and there IS a plan for each of us, and Hope, because a loving, faithful God wouldn’t have put us here, and where we are, if he didn’t have Hope for us. We are never to abandon God, because He never abandons us, even if we think, or feel so sometimes. I think God’s Hope is that we don’t forget this.
The strange thing about Life is that it can change overnight. Bad things can happen overnight, and Good things can happen overnight. The Hope is that we can handle the Bad with grace, and the Good with gratefulness….
Keep Hoping,
Jennifer Avalon
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