Jan 29
At her recent junior school graduation, our daughter Robyn was awarded her school’s Leadership Cup for outstanding leadership throughout the school year. Earlier today, she was presented with cup by its sponsor, New Zealand Prime Minister John Key, at his electorate office near our home. Cheerful and modest, Robyn lives her life to a high standard and is the model of a servant leader, never asking more than she herself is prepared to give. I am humbled by her selflessness and I count myself as fortunate to be her Dad.
Tagged with: John Key • leadership • new zealand • prime minister • servant leadership
Nov 13
What is friendship? When we are in kindergarten, our friends are those who have the cool crayons that they are willing to share. Friends are easily made and there is no conflict, no fights and no racism. Love beats all things when you are young [...] Tiffs are inevitable, but the saddest thing is when a friendship falls to pieces over the smallest wee thing. In kindergarten, fights would be resolved with a hug and a kiss, and then we would all play on the playground for hours like nothing had happened.
The lovely little passage above resonates with me – the simplicity of our early friendships, the fiery fury of the playground breakups and unconditional love of the before home-time makeups. It brought to mind the following passage from Robert Fulghum’s lovely book ‘All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten‘.
Most of what I really need to know about how to live and what to do and how to be I learned in kindergarten. Wisdom was not at the top of the graduate school mountain, but there in the sand pile at Sunday school. These are the things I learned: Share everything. Play fair. Don’t hit people. Put things back where you found them. Clean up your own mess. Don’t take things that aren’t yours. Say you’re sorry when you hurt somebody. Wash your hands before you eat. Flush. Warm cookies and cold milk are good for you. Live a balanced life—learn some and think some and draw and paint and sing and dance and play and work everyday some. Take a nap every afternoon. When you go out into the world, watch out for traffic, hold hands and stick together. Be aware of wonder.
Isn’t it great then that the first passage was written by Chelsea, a young aspiring writer here in New Zealand, in the second post to her new blog, Chelsea’s Thoughts. I must confess a smidgen of bias here, for Chelsea is a close friend of my daughter – and, bless her, cites my blog as an inspiration to write! Never the less, I think the world needs more enthusiastic young writers like Chelsea – writers that have a great spark and a lovely turn of phrase, so add her to your blogroll, read her posts and comment with encouraging words.
Tagged with: All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten • Blogs • Chelseas Thoughts • new zealand • robert fulghum • writing
May 11
Driving to and from work today, I listened to the latest edition of This American Life, consistently one of the best radio show/podcasts out there. It was one of their ‘recorded in front of a live audience and beamed to theatres countrywide’ specials.
During his piece on being ‘culturally Catholic’, I was touched by Dan Savage‘s heart-rending tale of having having to tell his mother she was about to die. I lost a close friend in a traffic accident in January and we are praying for another good friend who lies critically ill in hospital as I type, so perhaps I am particularly sensitive at present. That said, having to relay to her the choice of spending perhaps days unconscious on a respirator or maybe a few hours on a forced air mask or otherwise just a few short pain-racked minutes saying goodbye seemed an unbearably awful thing to have to do.
I find podcasts to be a boon – a marvellous way to dull the tedium of a commute and a great way to access worlds, lives and points of view that would otherwise pass me by. The output of New Zealand’s newspapers, factual television and radio is fairly parochial, usually delightfully so but occasionally, as has been the case this week, in a darkly self-absorbed way. This being the case, internet news sites and podcasts are a great way of accessing what interests me without having to tune out the noise.
As mentioned above, I listen to Chicago Public Radio’s This American Life as it provides great insights into real lives in the U.S.A. and helps to balance the impressions left here by the heavy diet of imported U.S. television. Betty in the Sky with a Suitcase! provides light relief and entertainment in the form of first-person stories and tales from airline crew. Laurie Taylor’s Thinking Allowed on BBC Radio 4 delves into research around issuing shaping society today and how people are dealing with them while Simon Morton, on Radio NZ’s This Way Up, looks at things we ‘use and consume’. Stephen Fry’s Podgrams are an excellent example of the more indepedent podcasts out there and NPR’s Radio Diaries brings us full circle with insights into the daily lives of ordinary folk, albeit with a more historically angled ear.
My choice of listening changes all the time. Firm favourites remain entrenched on my iPod but others quickly fall from favour and are ruthlessly deleted to make way for new discoveries.
What do you listen to? Are there any ‘must-have’ podcasts I’m missing out on? Let me know!
Tagged with: Chicago Public Radio • dan savage • new zealand • NPR • podcast • radio 4 • Radio NZ • stephen fry
- posted on 09/09/2010 19:28:31
