Committing to the Commitment

At the age of 67, Thomas Edison watched as fire destroyed much of his work and equipment. Time to retire? Time to hang up the lab coat? No way.“All our mistakes are burned up,” the inventor said. “Now we can start anew.”

There is a time to retire, but Edison knew his time hadn’t come. The fire that consumed his work didn’t destroy the fire that burned within him to continue his work. Edison’s commitment remained.

People tend to associate commitment with emotions. If they feel the right way, then they can follow through on their commitments. But true commitment doesn’t work that way.  Commitment is not an emotion; it’s a character quality that enables us to reach our goals.

Emotions go up and down all the time, but commitment must remain rock solid. A solid team—whether it’s in business, sports, marriage or a volunteer organization—must have team players who are solidly committed to the team.

Four things every team player needs to know about being committed:
1. Commitment is usually discovered in the midst of adversity.
2. Commitment does not depend on gifts and abilities.
3. Commitment results from choices, not conditions.
4. Commitment lasts when it is based on values.

By John C. Maxwell

A Short Course in Human Relations

The six most important words: “I made a mistake.”

The five most important words: “You did a good job.”

The four most important words: “What is your opinion?”

The three most important words: “If you please.”

The two most important words: “Thank you.”

The one most important word: “We.”

The least important word: “I.”

Author unknown

Anarchism

I had thought about doing something a little different today in my first blog post in a while, but I came across this information this morning in my reading and I thought I would share it. It’s timely with what is going on in America at the moment. These are not my thoughts or information. I just wanted to share the “trivial knowledge” I’ve gain a reputation for.

Anarchism

Amid the twentieth century’s great clashes between communism, fascism, and democracy, one small, militant political movement opted for a different course: none of the above.

Anarchism- the opposition to all forms of government- was founded by European political theorists including Pierre-Joseph Proudhon (1809-1865) and Mikhail Bakunin (1814-1876). The movement enjoyed its greatest popularity in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries in both Europe and the United States.

To its adherents, anarchism promised an end to government oppression as well to the depredations of capitalism. Anarchists believed that private property should be abolished and control of factories turned over to workers. Although anarchism had many similarities with communism, philosophers such as Proudhon did not envision any role for the state whatsoever.

In practice, anarchist launched a global wave of violence, with a special emphasis on assassinations of authority figures that they hoped would eventually bring down governments across the world. In Russia, Czar Alexander II (181-1881) was killed by an anarchist bomb. The king of Italy, Umberto I (1844-1900), was shot dead. Lean Czolgosz (1873-1901), the assassin of President William McKinley (1843-1901), was an anarchist. Anarchists were also blamed for an attack on Wall Street that killed thirty-eight bystanders in1920, although the crime was never solved.

Anarchists, by their very nature, lacked a cohesive national leadership structure, although the most well know American anarchist was Emma Goldman (1869-1940). But their secretiveness only made them appear more fearsome; fear of anarchism helped trigger the Red Scare after World War I, in which Goldman and many suspected anarchists and communists were deported from the United States.

Anarchism still has followers, although its violence ended in the United States after the 1920s.

From “The Intellectual Devotional; Modern Culture.” By David S. Kidder & Noah D. Oppenheim