by Marty Coleman | Oct 21, 2010 | Are Your Rights Right? - 2010, John Wooden |
Day #3 of ‘Rights Weeks’ at The Napkin Dad Daily
I didn’t mean to start a series on rights this week. That’s why the series didn’t start until Tuesday. But after I did one and Wednesday rolled around with it’s purple push against bullying it naturally made me think more along those lines.
Here’s the thing about rights. True wisdom in morality and ethics is all about them. Knowing when you have them, when you don’t. When you can give them up and when you can’t. When you should give them up and when you shouldn’t. When to demand them, when to persuade them. When something, or someone, is more important than them, and when they are not.
I love this quote because it puts the other person in the forefront no matter what. That is the ultimate right, to choose our course of action. And the best course of action, just in case you are ever in doubt, is to always love the person in front of you.
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Drawing and commentary by Marty Coleman of The Napkin Dad Daily
Quote by John Wooden, 1910-2010, UCLA Basketball Coach
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by Marty Coleman | Jun 16, 2010 | John Wooden |
I often don’t have a particular quote or theme in mind for my napkin when I wake up in the morning. I might read some blogs, tweets, news reports, FB updates, newspaper articles, hear something on the radio or watch a particular TV segment before I actually sit down to draw.
This morning I was reading one of my favorite blogs, The Hollywood Housewife. Our said housewife is a new mother, the wife of a successful director/producer she calls ‘The Gorilla’, a recent survivor of moving to a new home and a really cool woman. I found her blog because she is originally from Oklahoma and one of my Okie connections had her blog in their list.
She is about to turn 31 (happy birthday!) and she was ruminating on her busy life. Her simian husband, the Gorilla (I suspect he has substantially more brain power than one of the giant apes) gave her the above quote from John Wooden, the incredible basketball coach of the UCLA Bruins. As soon as I read it I knew I wanted to use it. That is the great thing about using quotes all the time. You really can’t be accused of stealing or plagiarizing since that is what quotes are supposed to have done to them! I like that.
So, for HH and all my other over the top successful friends who are a whirlwind of activity but want to build a bit more achievement into your life, I have this to say. You will never get rid of activity that seems a bit useless and mindless. You will always have activity that takes up time but doesn’t seem to return much. Life is filled with it and it won’t ever go away.
Sound depressing? No, it isn’t. Here’s why. Because now you know what has to change. It isn’t the activity. It’s you. But if I am the activity you say, if that is what I am doing, then aren’t they the same? Yes, they are! That is the point. The activity doesn’t exist without you. So, you either have to change an attitude towards the activity or you have to find something in it that you didn’t know was possible.
Here is one little secret I sometime use to help turn activity into achievement. Love. What I mean is this: Go to Best Buy in a rush before a workout you are suppose to get to. Wait for the tech guy to reformat something. Notice the clerk with the giant pumpkin tattooed on her arm. Go to her and love her. Tell her how interesting the pumpkin is. Ask her if it’s there because she loves halloween. Ask her if she kept room for Christmas tattoos elsewhere. Make her smile. Thank her for making your day. Go to your workout. Activity and achievement. You loved someone. You let them know they were of interest and value. What greater achievement is there?
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| Brittany, The Girl with the Pumpkin Tattoo |
That is my favorite way to turn my activity into achievement.
Drawing and commentary © Marty Coleman
“Never mistake activity for achievement.” – John Wooden, 1910-2010, Basketball and life coach extraordinaire
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by Marty Coleman | May 20, 2010 | John Wooden, Sports - 2010 |
Day #2 in my Sports series. It also seems to be turning into a ‘John Wooden’ series since both quotes so far are by him.
I started coaching a beginning running group this week. Maybe that is why the sports idea popped into my head. I do know that my group includes many who are scared and nervous about running. Some are overweight, some are out of shape, some have never done any real exercise in their life, EVER. They don’t know if they can do it.
With each session we have a goal race at the end. In this case it is a 5k race in about 12 weeks. Many are worried they can’t do that. Guess what? They can’t….yet. If they focus on what they cannot do, run 3.1 miles without stopping, they are likely to feel stress, anxiety, nervousness, defeated, scared and overwhelmed.
However, if they focus on what they can do, which is to run this one training run, which includes walking intervals, less distance, water stops, training, coaching and support, then their fears will be much less. It is doable.
What is the huge brick wall you keep staring at that you can’t jump or climb over? What smaller hurdles are before it over which you can leap? In this case, I want you to turn that old saying, ‘Keep your eye on the prize’ upside down. I want you to take your eye off the prize and instead put it on only the next task in your journey towards the prize. Don’t worry, you know and I know you will NOT truly forget the prize. All you are doing is looking where you need to look for the task. You can do that and the prize will actually get closer.
Drawing and commentary © Marty Coleman
“Do not let what you cannot do interfere with what you can do.” – John Wooden, 1910 – 2010, basketball coach
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by Marty Coleman | May 19, 2010 | John Wooden, Sports - 2010 |
Long ago I once had a friend who hated sports. He thought it was just the stupidest thing in the whole world for someone to chase after a ball, hit a ball, kick a ball, throw a ball or do any other thing with a ball. It held no interest to him. I also think he saw it as a waste of time. It was not utilitarian, not for a redemptive purpose of some sort. It was frivolous. He took pride in his dislike for sports. I think he saw it as an intellectual badge of honor.
I saw it as elitist and ignorant. Now, I know many will say I shouldn’t say that. That he has a right to not like sports just as I have a right to like them. And that would be true. But I am not arguing with his dislike of sports. I am arguing with his denigration and dismissal of the sport itself, those who play the sport and those who watch it as having no value.
I don’t watch sports a lot, but when I do I find great value in many aspects of it. Great examples of character being revealed, for good or bad. Beautiful displays of physical agility, intense and amazing split-second strategic decision making, and fantastic coordination of individuals into one cohesive team among other things.
If we want humans to only be utilitarian, to be only focused on redeeming their time, money, work, effort for a specific puritan purpose, then many other activities will seem worthless to do or pay attention to, maybe even dangerous. If sports is included in this list, then we should also include:
- Hobbies
- Art
- Dancing
- Music
- Play
- Movies / TV
- Books (especially novels)
- Decorating and landscaping
- Celebrations such as birthdays and anniversaries
You don’t have to like sports. But denigrating them and those who participate them doesn’t make you a better person, it makes you a lesser one.
Drawing and commentary © Marty Coleman
“Sports do not build character, they reveal it.” – John Wooden, 1910 – 2010, UCLA Basketball coach. Read about him and his UCLA teams at his wiki bio. You will be astonished at the depth and width of his character and ability.
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