I have been thinking of a quote recently that I have not thought about for several years.
The chief cause of failure and unhappiness is trading what we want for what we want at the moment. ~ Suprina Berenyi
I am not questioning why this notion came front of mind all of a sudden, but I wondered more why this quote took a vacation for so long. It is something is something I need think of everyday for motivation and to nurture a longer term and bigger goal perspective. The humorous part of this is that my struggle with moral of this quote has been lifelong. It was why I blog rather than write a book. Blogs are shorter and can be written in the moment whereas a book requires planning and a longer-term focus. I have never as been good at endeavors that require long term planning, focus, and effort. Suprina, a wellness coach and nutritionist, is absolutely correct. Failure and unhappiness is indeed the result of trading off what I really want for what I want at the moment. Well, that is extreme, because I am not wallowing in unhappiness nor am I burdened by always feeling as a failure. I do have my moments, however. Supposedly, according to a mythical story on the origin of our last name, our family motto is never to leave today’s work for tomorrow. This is definitely not a motto that I live to though I should. Part of long term projects and planning is to set a schedule and do some of the work according to that schedule There are two other quotes that go along with Suprina’s. Together they truly provide a set of tenets, a collective motto, by which I should live my work life. The other two quotes are:
Knowing never equals doing. - Mariah Smith
Start sewing and God will supply the thread. ~ German Proverb
I tend to know what to do, how to do it, and, then, procrastinating like crazy. I have fought against this forever. The German Proverb is indeed the prescription for procrastination. The first step is simply just to start. Don’t procrastinate. Start the task. That simple act overcomes the biggest hurdle I, and many others apparently, have… just getting started. Even if you are not sure how to start or what to do, it doesn’t matter. Start. God will supply the thread. When thought of together and put into action, it works. I know this. I really do. But, as Mariah Smith stated so eloquently “Knowing never equals doing.” It is the doing, the executing, the flat-out getting things done that makes the difference. It is the bias for action, for working toward what we really want rather than what we want for the moment. If you do this enough, what you really want and what you want for the moment becomes the same thing. I really make it sound so very simple.
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I have heard this term all my life. Certainly, it comes from antiquity but I was never sure who Damocles was nor under what circumstances a sword came to be dangling over his head. My entire knowledge of this fellow and his sword was from The Three Stooges.
The reference to the sword of Damocles was in their 97th short film, Half-Wits Holiday, made in 1947 and was the prelude to the kind of epic pie fights the Stooge films were known for. The boys found themselves at a high society gathering and were trying to fit in.
The scene in the film involved Moe, Curly, and a society lady played by Symona Boniface. Boniface’s character was name Mrs. Smythe-Smythe. Curly takes an entire pie from the buffet and is about to bite into it without having cut it or without using utensils. Moe sees this, chastises him, and takes the pie. As he sees Mrs. Smythe-Smythe approaching, he is not sure what to do with the pie. So, he tosses it up and sticks to the ceiling. Mrs. Smythe-Smythe approaches Moe and is standing right under the pie which is about to come down. Moe encourages Mrs. Smythe-Smythe to leave when she utters the line, “Young man, what’s wrong, you act as if the sword of Damocles is hanging over your head.” The pie comes down right on her face and in wiping it off and throwing it laterally, it hit another guest and the pie fight is on.
I always wondered what the sword of Damocles was all about. So, I finally searched it. History.com had an excellent explanation:
The famed “sword of Damocles” dates back to an ancient moral parable popularized by the Roman philosopher Cicero in his 45 B.C. book “Tusculan Disputations.” Cicero’s version of the tale centers on Dionysius II, a tyrannical king who once ruled over the Sicilian city of Syracuse during the fourth and fifth centuries B.C. Though rich and powerful, Dionysius was supremely unhappy. His iron-fisted rule had made him many enemies, and he was tormented by fears of assassination—so much so that he slept in a bedchamber surrounded by a moat and only trusted his daughters to shave his beard with a razor.
As Cicero tells it, the king’s dissatisfaction came to a head one day after a court flatterer named Damocles showered him with compliments and remarked how blissful his life must be. “Since this life delights you,” an annoyed Dionysius replied, “do you wish to taste it yourself and make a trial of my good fortune?” When Damocles agreed, Dionysius seated him on a golden couch and ordered a host of servants wait on him. He was treated to succulent cuts of meat and lavished with scented perfumes and ointments. Damocles couldn’t believe his luck, but just as he was starting to enjoy the life of a king, he noticed that Dionysius had also hung a razor-sharp sword from the ceiling. It was positioned over Damocles’ head, suspended only by a single strand of horsehair. From then on, the courtier’s fear for his life made it impossible for him to savor the opulence of the feast or enjoy the servants. After casting several nervous glances at the blade dangling above him, he asked to be excused, saying he no longer wished to be so fortunate.
The history.com piece claims that the sword of Damocles is a general term for looming danger and attributes the related “hanging by a thread” to mean the same thing. While I do hear people say “hanging by a thread” somewhat often, I do not recall anyone using the Sword of Damocles phrase at all except, of course, when they are referring to The Three Stooges.
The Sword of Damocles is a symbol of perpetual and looming danger and doom. Yet, that is not the only moral in the myth or perhaps not the full breadth of the moral. There is the “watch out what you ask for” part. Damocles wanted the king’s life but only the good parts. He wanted no part of the negative aspects which the king made sure he experienced in full. Another interpretation may be to never envy a tyrant if you are not willing and able to deal with the hate and associated risks that come along with the seemingly pleasant and luxurious parts. I like these two interpretations more.
A sad twist to The Three Stooges short is that Half-Wits Holiday was the last film Jerome “Curly” Howard would star in. After the scene where Moe took the pie from Curly and tossed it up to the ceiling, Curly went off-stage and had a stroke that ended his career as a Stooge. He was replaced by his brother Samuel “Shemp” Howard.
Here is the Sword of Damocles clip from Half-Wits Holiday:
One of my valued and long-standing sources of news is National Public Radio (NPR). The two primary broadcasts that I listen to are Morning Edition and All Things Considered on my morning and evening drives. This week marks the 40th Anniversary of Morning Edition which aired first on November 5, 1979. All Things Considered debuted eight years earlier on May 3, 1971. I am not sure when I first started listening to All Things Considered. It may have been in 1974 and 1975 during my misguided first year of graduate school at Michigan State University. I discovered that NPR was more than just classical music while studying in my disgusting hovel of a room in a house on Gunston St. I was impressed with the coverage of news and the presentation of feature stories on All Things Considered. I also really enjoyed another show, the name of which I cannot recall, which was very well done audio presentations of popular fiction. I remember listening to James Michener’s Centennial with great interest. My listening to NPR was haphazard at best back then. I listened more regularly when I returned to Detroit and worked at Ford Motor Company and attended graduate school at the University of Michigan and then Wayne State University. I used to listen to Morning Edition from its inception on my morning commutes and All Things Considered on the way home or to school. No matter whatever else I tried to listen to during my commute from other radio stations to music, I would always gravitate back to these two NPR broadcasts. These two related news shows became part of my routine. I listened to Morning Edition much more and for the sole reason that the time of my morning commute was more predictable and most definitely in the time slot when that show was airing. In 1990, I moved to Connecticut and worked in Manhattan. My commuting shifted from car to train. My news source shifted from these two shows to The New York Times. I tried using a radio on the hour train ride, but the reception was not good. I would listen to Morning Edition on my 10 minute drive to the train station or when driving to New Jersey for occasional meetings. I rarely had the opportunity to listen to All Things Considered. On top of this, I was travelling internationally about 30-45% of the time. This period lasted until 2007. It was truly an era of Morning Edition and All Things Considered drought for me. The drought ended when I moved to Chicago and worked for Sanford Brands. I started listening to both shows again and it was like I hadn’t missed a beat. Bob Edwards and Cokie Roberts, who sadly passed earlier this year, were like old friends that I was glad to be reacquainted with. As was the case previously, I listened to Morning Edition more than All Things Considered, again, simply because the hour of my morning commute was more predictable. When the Great Recession hit and I joined the ranks of disenfranchised, my tuning in to those shows waned again until consulting and then teaching picked up and I was more out and about. On my homebound days, I never listened as I simply did not have a radio other than the ancient alarm clock/radio in the bedroom. When I joined North Park in 2014 and had much more and well defined commute times, I have been listening with greater frequency ever since. These days, I listen to many of the news shows on NPR such as Market Place and Fresh Air to name two. I have the modern-day equivalent to a radio, my smart phone, on which I have the WBEZ App and can tune in anytime to hear what’s being aired live and listen to broadcasts I might have missed. But, I am old school and only listen to what is aired live. For previous broadcasts, I go to NPR.org and listen there or read the transcripts of various stories. I greatly appreciate these two news shows, especially, Morning Edition. Some folks criticize the broadcasts for having a liberal bias. I don’t see it and, in fact, am impressed with their neutral perspective in presenting the news. I feel like they present the facts, cover both sides of the stories very well, and most importantly, they make my think. Thank you and happy birthday Morning Edition. I have been a fan from the very beginning.
As I teach at a university, we have faculty development days and forums two to three times a year. We often have outside speakers or our own faculty speaking on various topics from classroom management to pedagogy. Some of the presentations are really useful, others are restatements of what most of us already know we should do but don’t, and as in any conference or business some are just a complete waste of time. Before the start of this school year, as per our norm, we had another of these gatherings. It was called the 2019 Professional Development Day. The theme of the morning was “The Call to Service: Culturally Relevant Pedagogies.” The rest of the day was updates on policy and other administrative items that we simply needed to be updated on. The morning theme, Culturally Relevant Pedagogies, and the background of the keynote speaker from a prestigious local university had me expecting to be hearing a kind of diversity training session. That would be OK. It would be a good refresher as over the years, I have been required to attend around ten or so at the various companies and schools I have worked. I have been to enough of these to think I could actually run such a training or speak at such an event. I do not, however, expect to be called to do such, any time soon. Given that this was a university event, considering the topic, and noting that all the speakers were women half of them of color, there was some chance that I was going to be talked to and lectured at. I am, after all, in the demographic that seems to be held responsible for the social injustices in this country. If not held responsible, I am certainly a beneficiary, to some degree, of white privilege. As it turns out, it was not so bad. I did not feel like I was talked to or in a demographic that was being singled out. I just did not relate to much of what the speakers were saying and there were not a lot of attempts at providing real actions. There were undertones of the dialogues on race I have been hearing or reading about lately. It boils down to that I can neither define what racism is nor do I have the ability to know if I am being biased or racist. This is not hopeful. It makes me want to give up on trying any longer to figure this out because by the new definition I am not capable of doing so. This made me feel a little frustrated. Note, I was not feeling beaten, battered, or sermonized at. I wasn’t feeling hopeful either. After the keynote, I listened to the response panel of my colleagues but stopped taking notes. The last speaker, however, turned it all around. It was Deborah Penny, Professor of Spiritual Formation in our Seminary. She was amazing and gracious. She talked about it being all our problem and it would take all of us working together to find ways to improve and keep the momentum of what has been gained moving into the future. It was hopeful. I felt I could be part of working toward a better America. I am sure that my summary did not fully convey the full value of the message she shared… as I had stopped taking notes. I was intent on thanking Deborah for her very good speech and hopeful message. As the session broke for lunch, she was not to be found. OK. I made a mental note to send her an email expressing my thoughts. Well, I never got around to sending that email even though the thought to do so resurfaced every few days. What can I say, the beginning of the semester and other projects I was immersed in were consuming my time and energy. About a month after the event, I ran into Deborah in the parking lot. I greeted her and said, “I owe you an apology. I really liked your words the Professional Development Day and have been meaning to write and tell you that. I was feeling a bit discounted and a bit talked to by the other speakers and your message was positive and uplifting. I really appreciated it.” She started crying. I started to wonder what I had said wrong or how I might have been insensitive when she said, “Let me explain, why I am crying.” I said, “please do.”Deborah said, “A few days earlier that I was wondering if my words on that day had any relevance or impact on anyone. I prayed to God to give me a sign.” I said, “Oh my, wow…” and knew I had just experienced the hand of God at work in that small miraculous moment. Then she added, “And, it had to be a white male.” Yes, it did.... indeed it did.
The Montebello Armenian Genocide Martyrs' Monument
asbarez.com
Verchabess… finally. Today, Tuesday October 29th, was a most special day for Armenians, especially American Armenians. It was today, that the 116th Congress passed House Resolution 296. A summary of the resolution prepared by the Congressional Research Service of the Library of Congress is:
This resolution states that it is U.S. policy to (1) commemorate the Armenian Genocide, the killing of 1.5 million Armenians by the Ottoman Empire from 1915 to 1923; (2) reject efforts to associate the U.S. government with efforts to deny the existence of the Armenian Genocide or any genocide; and (3) encourage education and public understanding about the Armenian Genocide.
The full text of the resolution can be found at H.Res.296 - Affirming the United States record on the Armenian Genocide. The resolution was introduced back on April 18, 2019. It was voted on today. It passed by a wide margin of 405 to 11 warming the hearts and souls of all of Armenians in this country. The passing of a resolution like this in the House of Representatives has been a long time coming. It was clear to all that H. Res. 296 was passed today as a reaction to our President abandoning our Kurdish allies in Northern Syria and giving Turkey a green light to move militarily against the them. The New York Times stated that the passing of this resolution was “made possible by a new torrent of bipartisan furor at Turkey.” It was wrong to abandon allies like that and it certainly exposed the intolerance of Turkey for its minorities from Ottoman times to now. Clearly, the Kurds in northern Syria are not Turkish citizens but they did have a organized militia that Turkey perceived might aid the Kurds living in Turkey. Also, Turkey does not want an autonomous or independent Kurdish state on its border. No matter what the reason, we have been advocating and waiting for a resolution like this to pass since 1965. That was the 50th Anniversary of the Genocide and marked the political awakening of the Armenians in the US in this regard. Today, it finally happened. Personally, I am happy in a bittersweet kind of way. We have wanted this for a long time and it is good to see it come to fruition. I think the passing of this resolution will further distance the US from Turkey. Admittedly, it is hard for me to be objective, but I have never understood how the US could be so close to Turkey since the establishment of the current Republic. What’s next? What will the passing of this resolution mean for the Armenians? Will our presidents, moving forward, use the word Genocide in their April 24th commemorative messages? Are they under any mandate or obligation to do so? I am not sure about any of this. Given we are 104 years after the fact and the US influence in Turkey is probably at the lowest levels since 1923, I have little expectations. I am afraid that will be nothing more than a little speed bump for Turkey. For Armenians, we start thinking reparations immediately after recognition. This is why the Republic of Turkey will never recognize what happened as a genocide. It was. I do not see the US advocating for reparations. But then, we were not sure a resolution like this would pass either. Let us, therefore, keep advocating for, as the resolution stated, “Armenians, Greeks, Assyrians, Chaldeans, Syriacs, Arameans, Maronites, and other Christians” as well as the Kurds. Thank you Adam Schiff, Nancy Pelosi, and 166th Congress.
A friend posted an article on Facebook back in May. It was from The Chicago Reporter and was titled Chicago’s Urban Prep Academy – known for 100% college acceptance rates – put reputation ahead of results. Without reading the article, I commented that “When an organization focuses and stakes everything on one metric, achieving that metric replaces the original and noble mission.” She replied, “I personally believe it's a much more complicated issue than one metric.” Of course, she was right, but, and there had to be a but, we should not underestimate the undermining havoc that can be caused by over-focusing on one metric. Doing such will have unintended and sometimes negative consequences. I say this from my years of quality management experience in which selection of the right metric(s) is the very important first step and often the hardest step in problem solving and process improvement. The late great Genichi Taguchi used to emphasize this all the time. What seems to have happened to this school is akin to what a major health clinic is often suspected of. The health entity claims to have a high rate of curing a certain disease that has a high mortality rate. One of the ways they make this claim is by only treating those patients that have a high probability of survival if treated promptly. They give the impression that they can magic because of their high cure rates. It makes for great advertising in both cases, but the missions of both organizations have been hijacked by the focus on only one measure. Imagine going to the health clinic with the hope hyped in the advertising only to be turned away because your case does not meet their qualification criteria. Imagine being asked to leave a school because there is a good chance you will not be going to college. Metrics are huge in the business world. Given the transactional nature of commerce, it is easy to have more concise and well-defined measures that provide meaningful feedback on how some aspect of one’s operations are performing. Historically, most metrics were financial. Money metrics are easier to define and track. Money is additive. Your money and my money become our money. Sales minus costs becomes profits. That is the whole purpose of the accounting function: to generate, track, and analyze financial measures. Non-financial measures were generally more difficult and costly to generate. With the advent of business-wide computer systems, there has been an exponential growth in non-financial transactional data generated and saved. This data made the non-financial measures more economical to gather and track. The focus should be on a an agreed upon set of metrics that helps us from focusing on just one metric. This concept was formalized by David P. Norton and Robert S. Kaplan in a seminal 1992 article in the Harvard Business Review: The Balanced Scorecard—Measures that Drive Performance. Even before reading this I believed in tracking several metrics whenever possible. I believe it even more these days when calculating them is so much easier. I like to have a broad perspective and also want more in depth, diagnostic, metrics at hand when a C-level executive inevitably asks when a Key Performance Indicator (a metric of focus) takes a turn for the worse. As the name of their article suggests, balance is the key. Obsessing on one metric could skew management behavior and compromise the true mission of the organization.
Let’s consider Michigan’s last three games against ranked opponents. The trend is not good. We were trounced by Ohio State 62 – 39 in the last regular season of last year. We were embarrassed by Florida 41 – 15 in the Peach Bowl, and we were manhandled by Wisconsin 35 – 14 in the first Big Ten game of this season. In the first two games of this season, we struggled against Middle Tennessee and it took two overtimes to beat Army. After the Wisconsin game, there was an explosion of posts and discussions calling for a coaching change at Michigan. I get it. We are football fans living in the glory days of our program and so wanting a return to those days. We want our Wolverines to be one of the premier teams in the country. We are frustrated that we are not and have not been one for most of this century. We are looking for the next Fielding Yost, Fritz Crisler, or Bo Schembechler to deliver us to that promised land. That did not happened with Rich Rodriguez. It did not happen with Brady Hoke. Now, large swathes of the fan base believe it will never happen with Jim Harbaugh who came in with everyone not only believing but knowing that he was the second coming of Bo. His record against the elite programs is not impressive:
0-4 vs Ohio State
1-9 vs Top 10 teams
0-7 where Michigan has been an underdog
1-6 on the road against ranked teams
5 loses by 21 or more points where 3 of those have been in the last five games
On the other hand, his record overall at Michigan is 40-15
Oddly, many fans were calling for Michigan to hire Urban Meyer…. Immediately, if not sooner. He left Ohio State at the end of last season and has been working as a commentator this season. So, he is available. If not Urban Meyer, the number two choice seemed to Les Myles. Personally, I can’t even conceive the possibility of Urban Meyer taking the job. The rivalry is simply too big for something like that to happen. On Facebook, someone advocating his being the next Michigan coach, posted a doctored photo of him in a Michigan wind jacket so we could imagine him on the sidelines. The photo made me want to puke. Me? I am not very keen on a coaching change three games into the season. Yes, it is not a great start and if we play like we have thus far, we could lose to Iowa, Penn State, Notre Dame, Michigan State, and Ohio State. I cannot even imagine the uproar if that happens. I don’t see how Harbaugh could keep his job with a six loss season, no matter how big his contract is. Back in the Schembechler heyday, Michigan lost the last three games of the 1979 season to Purdue, Ohio State, and North Carolina in the Gator Bowl. They began the 1980 season with a win by 7 points over Northwestern. They then lost two games back-to-back to Notre Dame and South Carolina. Things looked pretty dismal back then. Michigan then ripped off nine straight victories including getting the first bowl win in the Bo era by beating Washington in the Rose Bowl. Bo had lost his first seven bowl games. Is it possible that this team under Harbaugh could do something like that? Win-out the rest of the season and whatever bowl game they get to? Sure, it is possible. Is it probable? I don’t think so. In 1979, we lost to Purdue and Ohio State by three points each. We lost the bowl game by 2 points. We lost to Notre Dame by 2 and South Carolina by 3 in 1980. We were in each of those games. In Harbaugh’s case we lost to Ohio State, Florida, and Wisconsin by 21 or more points. We were not in these games. I have no clue how the rest of will unfold. I certainly hope that we win out and do not have to experience yet another coaching change. Go Blue!
