June 30, 2018
“Ladies and Gentlemen for tonight’s homework assignment, please read chapter 13 with particular attention to section N and O. Be prepared to discuss the questions at the end of the chapter. You are to turn in a minimum 500 word exposition of the chapter with your interpretation of the facts as it relates to your life’s lessons learned.”
How many times have you been told a line similar to the one above and all you kept thinking is you have five other classes, with professors who thought their class is the only one you are taking? Or worse, thinking they are the only professor giving you assignments and are you’re only thinking of their class throughout the day?
Or…
The infamous, most eluded, essay question, which you already procrastinated far too long, that you must answer for the admission application of your most coveted first choice university.
You read, re-read and hoped it would read different. But no matter, what, the words still asked the same question and you were left with the gut wrenching thought, where do I begin, answer all that in 500 words or less and still convey the answer with robustness to stand out from the other thousands who completed their admission application for the same university.
Unfortunately, as we were taught at a very young age, life is not fair, nor is it a cakewalk to get through life. Remember, the television show, “Highway to Heaven”? starring Michael Landon as (Jonathan Smith), an angel on probation whose job was to help people in order to earn his wings and Victor French (Mark Gordon), a retired policeman, now bouncing from job to job. Once Gordon realizes and accepts Smith is an angel, Smith offers a job to Gordon, to work on assignments by “The Boss” (God). Both use their humanity to help various troubled souls overcome their problems, allowing Smith to earn his angelic wings back one story at time. The storylines are corny at best, always conclude with a sappy feel-good finale that often puts reality into suspense, at least for the duration of the show.
I don’t intend to put my readers into suspense for the duration of their read or even to bore them with my life, but I find ways to connect their life’s journey as I tell stories of my own journey, through various allegories, parables and morals. What became a question from a former supervisor, why don’t I write my YMCA career into snippets as my writing would invite readers into my journey, hence the writings took to blogging, YMEJOURNEY. Originally, it started out to be my journey in my YMCA career but has ventured beyond the realm of my life. Not that my YMCA career doesn’t have enough stories in itself, but I often say to myself, if I didn’t live this life, I couldn’t possibly imagine it being real.
As the mortal beings we are on Earth, the beliefs of God vary amongst the human species and our various degrees of beliefs or their lack of. Now, complicate it with the dynamic opinions of the existence of heaven and hell, you have all the ingredients of a never ending tale of biblical proportion. I’m not here to debate, persuade or validate your beliefs but to share that each and every living human has assignments to complete in their journey. Every step along this journey in life has been an assignment and with each decision or consequence or is the final exam before taking on the next assignment. Only in life, there are no quizzes, practice exams or retakes for a failure as often provided for in the television and motion picture industry. Many of these assignments have cyclical themes to keep you on task. It is these lessons from the assignments which help us prepare for the final examination.
There really is no resemblance to a traditional classroom in this class; as it is filled with no homework assignments, no mandatory attendance or participation requirements and doesn’t end when the period bell sounds to let you know it’s time to switch class. However; one too many pop quizzes along the journey, with just a pass or fail grade given. Even with a fail, you must move on despite not grasping the foundational knowledge before the next pop quiz. At this point you can only hope you gained adequate foundational knowledge and be ready to wrestle the next one, when it may popup once again.
Life is filled with plenty of assignments and these damn pop quizzes… some of the ones thrown at me, I am still unsure whether I passed or failed, I do realize the only thing constant is time does keep us moving forward, regardless of the grade earned on any particular assignment. The boss makes no promises what your assignments will be, but guaranteed it will be the one made just for you.
Learning etiquette of a faith other than my own; what is a Bar Mitzvah? how do you show your sympathy at a funeral and offer condolences at Shiva? How to prepare for being a groomsmen and know how to recite a proper Hebrew toast? Though I forgot how to say the Hebrew toast and how to wear a yamaka or kippot properly without stabbing my forehead with bobby pins, I became to better understand the Jewish faith to a greater degree than much of my Jewish friends. How do you participate in activities when you are the only one not speaking the native tongue? Do you properly decline the invite because you will feel uncomfortable outside the securities of your own realm? Am I open-minded to trying new foods and beverages or worse for attempting to sing, and now sing in a foreign language? Etiquette is merely just being polite, putting on your best manners forward when you would rather flee and retreat to your happy place as quick as your feet can carry you.
Understanding the importance of education and putting my priorities first; being the first in my family to attend college and onward for a graduate degree. For me personally, the entire formality of walking the stage to receive my degree in an outfit not conducive for south Florida’s heat and humidity, unsuccessfully captured my interest. My parents were just as proud of my accomplishments without walking to get my degree as I found more joy in yearning to be with my campers. First for my bachelor’s degree ceremony, at the time of commencement I was at the Miami Seaquarium getting splashed on by whale juice and for my master’s degree, I was on a tour at Metro Zoo listening to a curator discuss the eating and bathroom habits of the African elephant. Perhaps the amount of waste an African elephant produces in one day is not near the amount of biased bullshit I heard in lectures and is the main reason I wanted to avoid the graduation ceremony. Again, I have no regrets on not attending, just placing a higher priority on my own life and not necessarily what society calls its traditions or expected standards. Keep your eye on your priorities, live your life on your terms and focus on what brings serenity to your soul, not what others may want from you to fulfill their own selfish priorities, dreams and serenity.
Being respectful we all can hear the same stories and still be filled with vast differences of opinion and perspectives in various highly volatile conversations involving religion, politics and other topics raising the dander of those involved. In the end, being man enough to agree to disagree with my closest friends and remaining friends afterwards, speaks volumes of the maturity and respect tying the knot of friendship for life. Do I express my belief in Christianity is it one of I have more of a simply spiritual belief than fanatical faithful or even evangelical? How about adding my education doesn’t necessarily throw out my beliefs as much as it opens more questions of the depth of religion? Can I perhaps be zealous in my views and disagree without belittling to personal attacks? Politically, I find myself more center-right than being overly conservative or liberal. I tend to vote on issues not people, creating a mistaken maelstrom of what I believe in. Am I ok to say I am pro-choice when I really believe in pro-life? Yes, because what’s right for me is not necessarily right for you. I do believe in less federal control and more power to states, but is it possible to say the federal government should set guidelines and boundaries when spending my hard earned tax dollars? Our own individual identity is composed of experiences and education, it may not be right or wrong but it is who I am. The strength of our nation has come through the many assimilated cultures we have in our great country as the saying goes, united we stand tall – divided we will fall.
Accepting defeat doesn’t make you less of a man. I never felt the loss of someone as painful as losing my Dad in 2016. My Dad was the first person family or otherwise I experienced emotional grief with. Certainly, there were family and friends who’ve passed away before, but their loss didn’t hit me anywhere near as hard. I thought honoring his choices was making the transition easier, armed with Dad’s living will and advanced medical directive, I wasn’t prepared for what I was about to get into. The elevated urgency to answer questions bombarding you by doctors and nurses helping to treat him only casted a doubt on if I was doing things to honor his wishes. The frequency of multiple tests to see what is happening on the inside, being told Dad is really ill. I really had no clue what the doctors and nurses were saying because all the distractions in my mind and the everyday noises of an emergency room and critical care unit just created more questions in my mind than answers. Being asked, do I agree to Dad’s advanced medical directive to allow for no resuscitation or interference to prolong life or do I wish to override it? I asked myself, is it OK to hold his hand through this ordeal? is it OK to talk to him and express our love and tell him its OK to let go? Do I allow the nurse to provide drugs to bring comfort and sedation to Dad, knowing very well that its time to say “good-bye” sooner than later. How long do I stay with his body after his spirit has departed? Is it OK to thank the medical team for providing comfort to him in his last moments and providing you an extra shoulder to cry on? It’s only with hindsight we discerned whether or not we did the right thing. The ultimate question and answer remained “it’s OK” to have answers, to not have answers and to not justify whether you did the right or wrong thing, but to be there.
Swallowing your pride, where sometimes it’s easier to give in and wave the white flag of surrender than the proudly wave the home flag of victory. Do I admit to have greater knowledge in a particular are than my own supervisor? When do I pretend I really don’t know when I really do? Or contrarily, when do I fake it until I can make it? Sometimes it’s easier to just allow myself to step back a couple steps, sometimes a couple leaps and more often than not, to even rewind to a previous period in life to give myself the opportunity to be humbled. Time has a way of deceiving memories and allows you to grow from such experiences. Some of us are destined to be leaders beating to our own drum beat rather than play one drum of several in a rather large orchestra ensemble which continues to play on long after our drum beat stopped. I’d rather be my own drum, beating to the words of my own song, letting its deep-toned beat, much like my own voice, convey its message on my terms.
The above five assignments (leaning etiquette, understanding priorities, being respectful, accepting defeat and swallowing pride) I’ve been challenged with. Though I don’t recall having an opportunity to study for any of these pop quizzes thrown at me, each assignment helped broaden my experiences and to become the adult I am today. I only shared one brief lesson, of many, in each assignment. These five assignments seem to bring frequent random recurring pop quizzes, each possessing a greater challenge than the previous one before. The anticipation of the pop quiz at me at the very moment I am least prepared, knowing very well time will continue to move forward and the only constant in life is change. It is when I close my eyes for the very last time, I will know, I successfully completed all the assignments assigned, passed the pop quizzes, realized I have passed my final examination and ultimately I’ve made the boss proud of my assignment he calls life, or as I have called it, my journey.
How many times have you been told a line similar to the one above and all you kept thinking is you have five other classes, with professors who thought their class is the only one you are taking? Or worse, thinking they are the only professor giving you assignments and are you’re only thinking of their class throughout the day?
Or…
The infamous, most eluded, essay question, which you already procrastinated far too long, that you must answer for the admission application of your most coveted first choice university.
You read, re-read and hoped it would read different. But no matter, what, the words still asked the same question and you were left with the gut wrenching thought, where do I begin, answer all that in 500 words or less and still convey the answer with robustness to stand out from the other thousands who completed their admission application for the same university.
Unfortunately, as we were taught at a very young age, life is not fair, nor is it a cakewalk to get through life. Remember, the television show, “Highway to Heaven”? starring Michael Landon as (Jonathan Smith), an angel on probation whose job was to help people in order to earn his wings and Victor French (Mark Gordon), a retired policeman, now bouncing from job to job. Once Gordon realizes and accepts Smith is an angel, Smith offers a job to Gordon, to work on assignments by “The Boss” (God). Both use their humanity to help various troubled souls overcome their problems, allowing Smith to earn his angelic wings back one story at time. The storylines are corny at best, always conclude with a sappy feel-good finale that often puts reality into suspense, at least for the duration of the show.
I don’t intend to put my readers into suspense for the duration of their read or even to bore them with my life, but I find ways to connect their life’s journey as I tell stories of my own journey, through various allegories, parables and morals. What became a question from a former supervisor, why don’t I write my YMCA career into snippets as my writing would invite readers into my journey, hence the writings took to blogging, YMEJOURNEY. Originally, it started out to be my journey in my YMCA career but has ventured beyond the realm of my life. Not that my YMCA career doesn’t have enough stories in itself, but I often say to myself, if I didn’t live this life, I couldn’t possibly imagine it being real.
As the mortal beings we are on Earth, the beliefs of God vary amongst the human species and our various degrees of beliefs or their lack of. Now, complicate it with the dynamic opinions of the existence of heaven and hell, you have all the ingredients of a never ending tale of biblical proportion. I’m not here to debate, persuade or validate your beliefs but to share that each and every living human has assignments to complete in their journey. Every step along this journey in life has been an assignment and with each decision or consequence or is the final exam before taking on the next assignment. Only in life, there are no quizzes, practice exams or retakes for a failure as often provided for in the television and motion picture industry. Many of these assignments have cyclical themes to keep you on task. It is these lessons from the assignments which help us prepare for the final examination.
There really is no resemblance to a traditional classroom in this class; as it is filled with no homework assignments, no mandatory attendance or participation requirements and doesn’t end when the period bell sounds to let you know it’s time to switch class. However; one too many pop quizzes along the journey, with just a pass or fail grade given. Even with a fail, you must move on despite not grasping the foundational knowledge before the next pop quiz. At this point you can only hope you gained adequate foundational knowledge and be ready to wrestle the next one, when it may popup once again.
Life is filled with plenty of assignments and these damn pop quizzes… some of the ones thrown at me, I am still unsure whether I passed or failed, I do realize the only thing constant is time does keep us moving forward, regardless of the grade earned on any particular assignment. The boss makes no promises what your assignments will be, but guaranteed it will be the one made just for you.
Learning etiquette of a faith other than my own; what is a Bar Mitzvah? how do you show your sympathy at a funeral and offer condolences at Shiva? How to prepare for being a groomsmen and know how to recite a proper Hebrew toast? Though I forgot how to say the Hebrew toast and how to wear a yamaka or kippot properly without stabbing my forehead with bobby pins, I became to better understand the Jewish faith to a greater degree than much of my Jewish friends. How do you participate in activities when you are the only one not speaking the native tongue? Do you properly decline the invite because you will feel uncomfortable outside the securities of your own realm? Am I open-minded to trying new foods and beverages or worse for attempting to sing, and now sing in a foreign language? Etiquette is merely just being polite, putting on your best manners forward when you would rather flee and retreat to your happy place as quick as your feet can carry you.
Understanding the importance of education and putting my priorities first; being the first in my family to attend college and onward for a graduate degree. For me personally, the entire formality of walking the stage to receive my degree in an outfit not conducive for south Florida’s heat and humidity, unsuccessfully captured my interest. My parents were just as proud of my accomplishments without walking to get my degree as I found more joy in yearning to be with my campers. First for my bachelor’s degree ceremony, at the time of commencement I was at the Miami Seaquarium getting splashed on by whale juice and for my master’s degree, I was on a tour at Metro Zoo listening to a curator discuss the eating and bathroom habits of the African elephant. Perhaps the amount of waste an African elephant produces in one day is not near the amount of biased bullshit I heard in lectures and is the main reason I wanted to avoid the graduation ceremony. Again, I have no regrets on not attending, just placing a higher priority on my own life and not necessarily what society calls its traditions or expected standards. Keep your eye on your priorities, live your life on your terms and focus on what brings serenity to your soul, not what others may want from you to fulfill their own selfish priorities, dreams and serenity.
Being respectful we all can hear the same stories and still be filled with vast differences of opinion and perspectives in various highly volatile conversations involving religion, politics and other topics raising the dander of those involved. In the end, being man enough to agree to disagree with my closest friends and remaining friends afterwards, speaks volumes of the maturity and respect tying the knot of friendship for life. Do I express my belief in Christianity is it one of I have more of a simply spiritual belief than fanatical faithful or even evangelical? How about adding my education doesn’t necessarily throw out my beliefs as much as it opens more questions of the depth of religion? Can I perhaps be zealous in my views and disagree without belittling to personal attacks? Politically, I find myself more center-right than being overly conservative or liberal. I tend to vote on issues not people, creating a mistaken maelstrom of what I believe in. Am I ok to say I am pro-choice when I really believe in pro-life? Yes, because what’s right for me is not necessarily right for you. I do believe in less federal control and more power to states, but is it possible to say the federal government should set guidelines and boundaries when spending my hard earned tax dollars? Our own individual identity is composed of experiences and education, it may not be right or wrong but it is who I am. The strength of our nation has come through the many assimilated cultures we have in our great country as the saying goes, united we stand tall – divided we will fall.
Accepting defeat doesn’t make you less of a man. I never felt the loss of someone as painful as losing my Dad in 2016. My Dad was the first person family or otherwise I experienced emotional grief with. Certainly, there were family and friends who’ve passed away before, but their loss didn’t hit me anywhere near as hard. I thought honoring his choices was making the transition easier, armed with Dad’s living will and advanced medical directive, I wasn’t prepared for what I was about to get into. The elevated urgency to answer questions bombarding you by doctors and nurses helping to treat him only casted a doubt on if I was doing things to honor his wishes. The frequency of multiple tests to see what is happening on the inside, being told Dad is really ill. I really had no clue what the doctors and nurses were saying because all the distractions in my mind and the everyday noises of an emergency room and critical care unit just created more questions in my mind than answers. Being asked, do I agree to Dad’s advanced medical directive to allow for no resuscitation or interference to prolong life or do I wish to override it? I asked myself, is it OK to hold his hand through this ordeal? is it OK to talk to him and express our love and tell him its OK to let go? Do I allow the nurse to provide drugs to bring comfort and sedation to Dad, knowing very well that its time to say “good-bye” sooner than later. How long do I stay with his body after his spirit has departed? Is it OK to thank the medical team for providing comfort to him in his last moments and providing you an extra shoulder to cry on? It’s only with hindsight we discerned whether or not we did the right thing. The ultimate question and answer remained “it’s OK” to have answers, to not have answers and to not justify whether you did the right or wrong thing, but to be there.
Swallowing your pride, where sometimes it’s easier to give in and wave the white flag of surrender than the proudly wave the home flag of victory. Do I admit to have greater knowledge in a particular are than my own supervisor? When do I pretend I really don’t know when I really do? Or contrarily, when do I fake it until I can make it? Sometimes it’s easier to just allow myself to step back a couple steps, sometimes a couple leaps and more often than not, to even rewind to a previous period in life to give myself the opportunity to be humbled. Time has a way of deceiving memories and allows you to grow from such experiences. Some of us are destined to be leaders beating to our own drum beat rather than play one drum of several in a rather large orchestra ensemble which continues to play on long after our drum beat stopped. I’d rather be my own drum, beating to the words of my own song, letting its deep-toned beat, much like my own voice, convey its message on my terms.
The above five assignments (leaning etiquette, understanding priorities, being respectful, accepting defeat and swallowing pride) I’ve been challenged with. Though I don’t recall having an opportunity to study for any of these pop quizzes thrown at me, each assignment helped broaden my experiences and to become the adult I am today. I only shared one brief lesson, of many, in each assignment. These five assignments seem to bring frequent random recurring pop quizzes, each possessing a greater challenge than the previous one before. The anticipation of the pop quiz at me at the very moment I am least prepared, knowing very well time will continue to move forward and the only constant in life is change. It is when I close my eyes for the very last time, I will know, I successfully completed all the assignments assigned, passed the pop quizzes, realized I have passed my final examination and ultimately I’ve made the boss proud of my assignment he calls life, or as I have called it, my journey.
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