Posts Tagged ‘Community’
Giving Thanks
We are approaching my favorite holiday—Thanksgiving. In 1863, President Abraham Lincoln proclaimed a National Thanksgiving Day to be held each November. However, the first Thanksgiving celebration happened 242 years earlier. One hundred and two passengers left Plymouth, England, in 1620 on a small ship named the Mayflower. Their destination was the New World, where they hoped…
Read MoreIt’s Supposed to be Hard
“It’s supposed to be hard. If it wasn’t hard, everyone would do it. The hard is what makes it great.” —Tom Hanks in A League of Their Own Last Saturday, at 7:30 a.m., hundreds of ordinary people of all ages, shapes, and types got into Lake Hefner and started swimming in 3-foot waves whipped up…
Read MoreWorking Man
Efforts and courage are not enough without purpose and direction. John F. Kennedy My uncle Dusty (married to GOK’s eldest daughter, Barbara) sent me a link to a TED talk. I am always humbled when someone with Dusty’s life experience shares something me that impacted him. So, I was eager to watch and listen and…
Read MoreThe Big Dipper
It has been a rough few weeks for my family, so I want to tell you a story. When I was young, we used to go to a place called Spring Lake Amusement Park. The park is gone now. It wasn’t in great shape when we went there, but it was still a magical place. There…
Read MoreA Run To Remember
From the Oklahoma City Memorial Marathon website: Our mission is to celebrate life, reach for the future, honor the memories of those who were killed, and unite the world in hope. This is not just another marathon. It is a Run to Remember…and a race to show that we can each make a difference and…
Read MoreDream
Less than six months before I was born, Martin Luther King, Jr. stood on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, DC, on August 28, 1963, and delivered one of the most famous speeches of all time. Many know the “I have a dream…” portion of his speech, but that was the finale. Long…
Read MoreThe Problem with People
I was having a conversation with someone I value. We were discussing an issue in his business regarding someone who had been creative and productive in the past but had since stopped creating value. My friend told me about all the things his company did to try to get the person back on track, including…
Read MoreIt Matters
Bedlam: a place, scene, or state of uproar and confusion. First, congratulations to those of you who earned a degree from the University of Oklahoma. Your alma mater played well and deserves to be the Big 12 Champion. Perine taking a knee on the one-yard line was a classy move. The word bedlam originated around…
Read MoreA Compassionate Society
I encourage you to vote in tomorrow’s election. I hope you will encourage those around you to vote. Our system of governance is based on the fundamental right of the people to advocate for what’s important to us. The government we have and the policies they enact are a reflection of our cultural choices (whether…
Read MoreChristmas Basket Letter
I am writing this before Thanksgiving. That’s important because I have a strict “no Christmas before Thanksgiving” policy. So rigid is this rule in my home that in retaliation my family requires that I participate in getting out and putting up every single Christmas decoration on Friday the day after Thanksgiving. Call us dysfunctional, but…
Read More