a blog by John P. Schuster
A few years back, a group with a funky name, Five for Fighting, wrote a piano-based chart topper, 100 Years to Live. The lead singer starts, almost in falsetto: “I’m 15 for a-a moment, caught in between 10 and 20…” Compelling lyrics pull us ahead over the arc of our lives. I can’t get the song out of my head right now, and my new guitar coach, John May, is helping me with the voicings[…]
Read moreI had the privilege of introducing Pam McLean, president of the Hudson Institute, at their annual conference last month when I was MCing. People really loved this quote I used to introduce her, one from James Michener. Pam is a true master at living, so I thought it was appropriate. Masters in the Art of Living draw no distinction between their work and their play, their labor and their leisure their mind and the body[…]
Read morePatricia and I just had an extraordinary experience with prison inmate hospice workers. Oprah has done a powerful documentary on the hospice workers in Angola prison in Louisiana, the largest maximum security prison in the US. The inmates have been educated to provide hospice care for dying inmates (5000, and most will die there—no parole for life sentences in five states). It is redemptive work. Some say the last time they saw someone die is the[…]
Read moreI went snowboarding for about the 18th time in 14 years a few weeks ago. When 50, on a bit of a lark, I learned how to snow board. I was already too old to do this. The young boarders call any boarder over 50 “a gray on a tray.” That was me. I so loved it. The joy of swooshing down the huge, miles-long slopes in Utah or Colorado. The bracing air, the snow[…]
Read moreLike many a loving grandparent, I bought Modern Warfare 3 (MW3) for my grandson. This was a must-buy for this well-rounded 13 year old. MW3 sold $775 million in five days, you most likely heard, making it a mega event. It is well over a billion in sales now. What can we make of this? How can we put our arms around this amazing commercial success for a war game? For me, my relationship to[…]
Read moreA good friend of mine, Joy Leach, tells the story of a childhood memory that has shaped her life as a working mom and wife. Her Dad, every week, would pull out seven one-dollar bills and give them to her mom, and this was her allowance for the week. They were not in poverty, though in the ’50s wealth levels were nowhere near today’s. For Joy, traveling and doing her work as a happily married[…]
Read moreWhen we look at the night sky we feel small in the Grand Scheme. When we help someone with a problem, provide a useful insight, or give a hug of understanding that relieves some pain, we feel worthwhile and know we are here for a reason. What a dichotomy we hold, so tiny and insignificant and so significant! Golda Meir, former Israeli prime minister, apparently carried two stones with her. One said, “For me the[…]
Read moreWe are all taught to use, and teach others, to set SMART goals. This busy time of year, we are “making a list, checking it twice.” So much to do, so little mistletoe. But maybe you need some dumb goals to balance out and enrich your holidays. This SMART acronym, one of the more universally known in the world of organizations – but as a reminder – stands for: Specific Measureable Achieveable/Attainable Realistic Timebound Managers[…]
Read more