Newsletter the Twenty-eighth

My younger son invented a brilliant piece of theatre: He said he wanted to perform a role in a play where the character exists only offstage… the character is never mentioned by anyone in the play, the character is never seen on stage, and then the character meets a mysterious but quiet death. The audience may never even know this tragic character existed as part of the play. Yet, the director and the cast would know. He named this character Schr?dinger, of course.

After all, if an actor is alone in a room offstage (with or without having exited pursued by a bear), how would we know if the character is alive or dead? How would we even know to care?

Money Flows

I was recently at a business event, and I heard a quote so good that even though I don't agree 100%, I still have to pass it on. Steve Baker ("Great Game of Business") quoted Dave Ramsey as saying, "Money flows from those who don’t understand it to those who do."

We can argue all day over whether this is true (after all, plenty of clueless people still have boat loads of cash), but I think the real question is: what does it mean to "understand" money? Does it mean "how to take as much as possible from others"? Or is it just getting really clear about our own personal relationship with what money means to us?

When I was 20, I visited the Findhorn Foundation in Northern Scotland, where they say "Work is love in action." And everyone knows that "money is power," right? Well… physics tells us that power = work/time. So we could extrapolate that money = love over time.

Of course, the Beatles taught that money can't buy you love, but can love — in action, over time — lead to money??

I have a feeling that this is not the understanding that Dave and Steve were talking about. But it's an interesting idea, no?

The Last First

It's our last first day of school. How proud we are, how excited for the new year, as our boy dutifully stands next to mom for The Photo, just before heading to class. He's a senior now, backpack slug over one shoulder, driving himself rather than being driven. It's a bittersweet sense of accomplishment mixed with loss; astonishment at how quickly the years passed, alongside the memories… oh, so many memories.

We each experience these passages in life. The last first date and the last first kiss. The last first day on a new job.?

For competitors, the last first place. For serial entrepreneurs, the last first dollar made. For travelers, the last first time on a new continent. And not to get too morbid, but for about 7 out of 1000 people each year: the last first day of spring.

It's important to recognize and respect that these are losses as well as gains. Loss of social groups, of prescribed activities… the loss of looking forward to the turning of the cycle and the next first. The loss of one identity as we step into a new one.

Feels like the kind of thing that would drive someone to write haiku.

Thank You!

I enjoy sharing my musings… and I enjoy hearing yours! Feel free to follow this newsletter, share it with a friend, follow me on LinkedIn, and send me feedback. You can always reach me at [email protected]