My Finger Might Be Broken

The day was especially hot in deep south, Texas. The considerable heat was not unusual for August in the Valley but this day was really, really hot!

After work, I decided to go for a refreshing swim in our backyard pool. Walking outside I noticed my beautiful wife and her niece sitting on the steps of the pool. They obviously had the same idea as I.

After I gave my wife a kiss and said hello to her niece, I dove in.

My routine was to dive in the shallow end and swim underwater to the deep end, touch the end of the pool with my hands and swim back to the shallow end. This exercise provided me the opportunity to cool off more quickly since I swam underwater the entire way.

When I approached the deep end of the pool and reached out with my left hand to touch it so I could reverse my course, I heard a strange cracking sound and felt a unique sensation. Feeling something wasn't right I surfaced and looked at my now disfigured finger, I feared, that my finger might be broken. My finger was dislocated. So without thinking, I grabbed the end and pulled! The finger popped back into place with minimum discomfort and immediately began to swell.  So as a precaution, I took my wedding ring off and as it turned out, that was a very good idea. My finger continued to swell and if I had left the ring on we would have been in the emergency room with a doctor handling a metal cutting tool that was designed for much larger industrial projects.

After the finger healed, the knuckle was disfigured to the extent that my wedding ring would not fit.

Considerable time passed and the knuckle refused to return to its normal size.

I was talking to my wife about the continuing condition of my disfigured knuckle and said I was tired of waiting on my finger to heal so I could wear my wedding ring and we needed to get me one that fit, even if it was going to rattle around because of the size of my abnormal knuckle. She decided I should give my old ring a try to see how far off we were from it going over the knuckle. With a bit of convincing, the ring fit!

My wedding ring is very important to me because it is a visual sign of my commitment. I have always been deeply committed, but the ring represented a visual reminder to me, my wife and the world.

Making commitments is easy, keeping commitments takes dedication. When you make a commitment, create a visual reminder of that commitment. When you see the reminder, you will know that your commitment is strong and requires your continuing dedication because commitments don't stick to people, people stick to them.

It is just more work for the teacher and the student

Give a man a fish, feed him for a day.
Teach a man to fish; feed him for a lifetime.

We are all called to teach.
We are all called to learn.

Teaching is work. In reality, teaching someone something new often requires a great deal more energy and time than does just doing the work yourself. Teaching requires patience. What we have to learn to to do, we learn by doing. But until someone that knows what they are doing, teaches us how to get it done, we are all fishing and floundering!

Learning is work. We all need to be taught. Learning requires patience. The right people are willing to help you learn and know that frustration is a positive byproduct of learning. Learning by observing and paying close attention will be productive as long as you are open and willing. The actual doing will likely be more difficult than you expect it to be. Everything is hard at first but know that repetition is the Mother of education. So do it over and over and over; wrong, until you get it right.

When endeavoring to learn, ask for help from someone that actually knows how to do that which you want to learn. The right people want to and are willing to help, if you will just ask. The first step in asking for help is getting past your disinclination to ask, for fear of being rejected or judged. If you don't ask, the answer is always no.

Be wary of the overzealous "I can do anything" person who says they can help when they really have no idea what they are doing. Choosing the right teacher is half of the solution. The other half is making sure you are the right student. The right teacher is willing to teach and has no reservations about issuing necessary correction without damaging the will of the student. The right student is willing to learn and accepts correction without being offended.

Find the folks with the battle scars. You can't actually see the scars but you can tell they are there by the confidence these warriors exude when they walk the walk and talk the talk. They are the finest teachers.

When you stop learning you stop. If you stop teaching, others stop.

The Pizza Delivery Guy Disagrees

He drives an old pickup truck that has very little of the front bumper and grill remaining. The rest of the truck's body is tattered at best. His tires really need replacing and he drives, in the VERY HOT summer, with the windows down. Often, when he is waiting on the pizza order to be completed so he can make his deliveries, he sits outside and smokes a cigarette. His clothes are okay but nothing that would make anyone envious. He is not especially noticeable because he's just not.

He is as dependable as the rising of the sun and the setting of the same.

Every weekday I see him coming in to work, check in and start making deliveries. Every weekday! I cannot remember a time when he was not at work making the pizza shop a success.

Any of us might understandabally look at his vehicle, his clothing or the way he spends his time waiting (smoking a cigarette) and make a qualitative judgement about his relative value, being likely low. And we would all be dead wrong. The pizza place depends on this delivery guy. Most of their business is delivery and without his dependability, they would struggle, mightily.

Making a great pizza that people want to buy is what the pizza shop does. The delivery guy completes the cycle. It really does not matter how good the pizza is unless the delivery guy makes his delivery. The role he plays is as important as any other role in the business. He also picks up some of the payments.

You may not feel that what you are doing is important but the pizza delivery guy would disagree. He sees his role as mission-critical and you should see your role the same way. Overall, in the great scheme of things, what you do may not make or break the business. But you would not be there if what you are responsible for is not responsibly important. Visualize your role as big and getting bigger. This mind-set will subconsciously move you in a direction of greater responsibility. And greater responsibility starts with being as dependable as the pizza delivery guy!