Why Retirement is a Dirty Word
This is a terrible and dehumanizing way to think of work. It assumes that workers have no real value beyond output. Once their productive years are over—however that’s determined—then we send them out to pasture.
The only way to get workers to play along is to convince them that the pasture is lush and relaxing. Suck it up now because it’s going to be wonderful in a few decades.
The effect is that we’ve now raised a few generations to look for fulfillment in the pasture, not their work. Satisfaction is a future thing, not a present possibility. Joy is for later. Meaning and significance comes from checking out down the road.
6 Things Every Strong Community Needs
And then, for the first time since the world has been created, God sees that something is not good. He says in Genesis 2:18, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make him a helper suitable for him.”
Again, Adam has everything. A perfect relationship with God. Plenty of food. A safe and beautiful environment. Everything is working how it was created to work. And yet, it’s not enough.
This scenario isn’t just about marriage. Jesus, who was the perfect man, the “second Adam,” was single. But this speaks to a larger need we all have: A need for relationships and for community. We weren’t meant to be alone. In fact God says, “it is not good.”
How To View The Struggles Of Your Day
In every situation, we can choose to think higher. We are not to live in denial of the rugged nor insulting terrain. Rather, we are to set our minds upon the many more elements that are going right. In every case (note: every), conditions could be much worse; but they are not.
I’ve encountered brutal take your breath away kinds of days. By His clear call, I have understood that even these could be worse. Leading my mind to think upon the many issues going well has allowed God the room to prove His above point. Peace that cannot be explained….arrives.
The Ways We’re the Same (Or, What Not to Do in an Awkward Social Situation)
It was several hours before I realized that I was just as guilty as she. Yes, she had wrongly judged my friends—but I in turn had wrongly judged her. She didn’t form those opinions in a vacuum. I could have used the time discovering what we had in common, rather than dwelling on the ways I thought she was wrong.
A Culturally Intelligent Way of Handling the Elephant in the Room
I’ve always been a fan of directly addressing the elephant in the room. I don’t enjoy conflict but I loathe avoiding it even more. In this way, I’m terminally a New Yorker. Don’t dance around the issues. Shoot straight with me and tell me what you think! Yet for most of the world, conflict is best addressed more subtly. Harmony and saving face are the driving values.
Direct versus indirect communication is one of the biggest challenges faced by multicultural teams. And the conflict is exacerbated when most of the communication takes place virtually. A blunt email, an obtuse response, or a silent team member can erode trust and productivity.
The dramatic heist of nearly $1million in designer bags, jewelry and furs from the 3,000-square-foot closet of a suburban Houston socialite has taken a strange media twist possibly involving a failed ransom plot.
A person claiming to be the housebreaker sent several of the stolen items to a weekly newspaper, claiming that they were fake and therefore worthless.