Rise up a genuine leader Who is driven by moral character and integrity Who commits to truth and responsibility Who models personal discipline and accountability Who earns respect by giving it Who is humble in self-imperfections and gracious in others’ Who nurtures trust and collaboration
Rise up a genuine leader Who is we-oriented, not me-oriented Who articulates vision with clarity and infuses pride in purpose Who disables barriers to people development Who confronts social ills with positive solutions Who seeks understanding and resolutions in contentions Who fosters creativity and inspires hope
Rise up a genuine leader Who can undo chaos and create order Who is composed instead of clamorous Who promotes diversity of viewpoints in unity of purpose Who invests in people and worthy dreams Who is transparent, trustworthy, and teachable Who upholds faith in a better future and spurs actions toward it
Rise up a genuine leader Who values people and ideas over profit Who knows virtue sustains character, but its absence destroys it Who is considerate instead of caustic Who brings competence with candor Who discerns realities with compassion and directs resolutions with care Who influences people to mutually elevate lives, institutions, and ideals.
Rise up a genuine leader Who is attentive to needs of the people and builds their spirit Who overcomes personal ego, arrogance, and unethical behavior Who rejects conflict mongering Who is consistent and persistent in value-added contributions Who equips and empowers other leaders Who builds an enduring legacy of transformational results
Books have brought me into worlds I wouldn’t otherwise know
This past year’s reading has brought me into worlds and cultures I wouldn’t otherwise know. I have visited Nazi Germany (three times), ancient Palestine, Soviet Russia, Revolutionary Russia, Cold War Europe, South Africa, Victorian Australia, Spanish colonization, Antarctica, even those spheres of oppression, depression, gene editing, scientific research, cosmology, and quantum physics.
These books have taught me more about myself and those around me. I have reveled in the wonders of my own body, and have gained insights into wellness, happiness, and better working and personal relationships.
These books have ignited my imagination through creative storytelling. I’ve entered several classic tales for the first time, and have revisited some inspiring old favorites.
These books have expanded my knowledge in a great many subjects: natural, geologic, and cultural history; economics, public policy, activism; exploitation, greed, commerce, philanthropy; psychology, volunteer organizing, and leadership in philosophical differences and changing cultures. And so much more!
My favorites and recommendations are noted with an asterisk. But here are my special mentions:
Most satisfying ending: Angel of Vengeance
Most surprising over what I thought I knew about it: Tarzan of the Apes
Most over my head: The Physics of Immortality
Most annoying: HHhH (author reports true things, then confesses he made them up)
Most wide-ranging scope: Saving the Redwoods
Most spiritually revealing: New Morning Mercies
Most enjoyable biography/memoir: Sunday Nights at Seven: The Jack Benny Story
* Destined to Witness: Growing Up Black in Nazi Germany, Hans J. Massaquoi
The Handbook for Health: 5 Essential Pillars for Optimized Wellness, Dr. Christopher Turnpaugh with Dr. Cynthia West
The 6 Types of Working Genius: a Better Way to Understand Your Frustrations and Your Team, Patrick Lencioni
* The Body: a Guide for Occupants, Bill Bryson
* Only One Year: How Joseph Stalin’s Daughter Broke Through the Iron Curtain, Svetlana Alliluyeva
The Millionaires, Brad Meltzner
Name All the Animals: a Memoir, Alison Smith
* The Blue Zones of Happiness: Lessons from the World’s Happiest People, Dan Buettner
* The Code Breaker: Jennifer Doudna, Gene Editing and the Future of the Human Race, Walter Isaacson
* From the Earth to the Moon, Jules Vern
A Sand County Almanac and Sketches Here and There, Aldo Leopold
* Inkheart, Cornelia Funke
* Inkspell, Cornelia Funke
* Inkdeath, Cornelia Funke
* The Noticer, Andy Andrews
HHhH “Himmler’s brain is called Heydrich”, Laurent Binet
Bethlehem, Karen Kelly
Homecoming, Kate Morton
The Trail, Robert Whitlow
Cry, the Beloved Country, Alan Paton
* The Last Days of Night, Graham Moore
* Still Life With Crows, Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child
* Shackleton’s Stowaway, Victoria McKernan
The Magician’s Nephew, C.S. Lewis
White Fire, Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child
Three Sisters, Heather Morris
* Tuck Everlasting, Natalie Babbitt
Murder in the Lincoln Bedroom, Elliot Roosevelt
* The Scorpion’s Tail, Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child
The Leader’s Greatest Return: Attracting, Developing and Multiplying Leaders, John C. Maxwell
Mayday, Nelson DeMille and Thomas Block
* The Oath, Frank Peretti
Community Recreation and Parks Handbook, Sue Landes
Financing Municipal Recreation and Parks, Sue Landes
Absolute Friends, John le Carré
* The Day the World Came to Town: 9/11 in Gander, Newfoundland, Jim DeFede
Humorous Stories and Sketches, Mark Twain
Murders on Alcatraz, George DeVincenzi
* Palisades Park, Alan Brennert
Skin: Revenge is Beautiful, Ted Dekker
* A Gentleman in Moscow, Amor Towles
* Tarzan of the Apes, Edgar Rice Burroughes
Just Tell Them I Love Them: a Hospice Chaplain’s Invitation to Live Well, Helen Burke
* Take This Cup, Bodie and Brock Thoene
The First 90 Days: Proven Strategies for Getting Up to Speed Faster and Smarter, Michael D. Watkins
* Saving the Redwoods: The Movement to Rescue a Wonder of the Natural World, Joseph H. Engbeck, Jr.
* Eternal, Lisa Scottoline
* Sunday Nights at Seven: The Jack Benny Story by Jack Benny and his daughter Joan
The Best Christmas Pageant Ever, Barbara Roobinson
* Healing Stones, Nancy Rue and Stephen Arterburn
* Angel of Vengeance, Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child
The Physics of Immortality: Modern Cosmology, God and the Resurrection of the Dead, Frank J. Tippler
* New Morning Mercies: A Daily Gospel Devotional, Paul David Tripp
The Council of State Executive Directors met this week in Park City, Utah. The annual gathering focuses on trends and best practices of association management, and mutual issues in the recreation and park profession.
But we are more than just colleagues. We are a gregarious, fun, engaging (and exhausting!) bunch who continually and passionately invests in each other. This is my greatest gang of professional associates and personal friends – my collective, got-your-back brain trust. I appreciate and love them all.
Four years ago today my organization canceled its largest-ever statewide conference, just four days before it was to begin, due to the emerging pandemic.
Today is the start of this year‘s conference. And we have returned to same venue for the first time since the “Greatest Conference That Ever Wasn’t.”
And when I opened my daily devotional this morning (New Morning Mercies, by Paul David Tripp), I see my note in the margin from the last time I used this book four years ago.
Tripp’s particularly timely reminder for this day: “You are always facing the unexpected. Almost daily you are required to deal with something you wouldn’t have chosen for your life…“
Today, and every time you face the unexpected, I wish you grace.
Last year, I participated in a provoking thought exercise with my counterparts from other states. We attempted to develop an alternate term for “recreation and parks.”
Schuylkill River Trail. credit: Visit Philadelphia
Because recreation and parks means something different to practically every person, and carries unwanted baggage of being regarded as trivial, even laughable, and less worthy than more “important” things, we wanted to explore what single term could encompass all its comprehensive benefits.
Eleanor Warmack, CEO of the Florida Recreation and Park Association, declares, “If our industry was a corporation, we would have rebranded ourselves 20 times by now. This profession has evolved—we cannot keep using terminology from 100 years ago to limit what the public thinks of our value, nor to allow our profession to be defined by three words.”
In the book The Blue Zones of Happiness, author Dan Buettner cites research from 141 countries to distill what contributes most to life satisfaction all over the world, and offers practical lessons to making happiness a personal lifestyle.
It’s fairly easy to be happy in any particular moment, of course. The challenge is to sustain an ongoing pursuit of what he calls the three P’s—purpose, pleasure, and pride—the universal keys to life fulfillment, regardless of culture or personality. And while personal discipline can go only so far, Buettner advocates “for strategies that make changes to our surroundings…that constantly nudge us into doing the right things so we don’t have to remember them on our own.”
Our governments, communities, and workplaces; our social networks, homes, and finances; and even our inner lives can be “happier by design,” he asserts. Each of his designing blueprints for happiness enumerates specific action steps for advancing our personal and collective purpose, pleasure, and pride.
In the book’s foreword, Ed Diener summarizes, “We now know that happiness is an essential part of functioning well, and that it gives a boost in well-being not only to individuals, but also to those around them, their communities, and their societies. Rather than being a luxury to be pursued only after we take care of the more important things in life, happiness is beneficial to everything else we desire: It aids our health and helps us live longer; it aids our social functioning and makes us better citizens; it helps us perform better at work; and it builds up our resilience, which enables us to bounce back after setbacks or when bad events occur in our lives. The happier we are, the better we are for our friends and family, our workplaces, our communities, and our society as a whole.”
Doesn’t this passage sound like what we strive for in providing recreation and park services?
Now back to the rebranding term for recreation and parks.
Our creative thought exercise was tough. We identified what we wanted the new phrase to embody. We noted that some park and recreation agencies are transitioning to alternate terms, like the Community Enrichment Department in St. Petersburg, Florida. We tried out new phrases. We even enlisted ChatGPT to invent a new word, which came up with such disastrous results as “recrarks,” “culturisure,” “leisureplex,” and “communivital.” Our discussion was quite stimulating, but so far, we’ve failed to invent anything that conveys so much so concisely.
But—doesn’t the above description of happiness come so very close? There might be a case for it. After all, its pursuit is singled out as an important tenet in one of our nation’s founding documents. And as everyone knows, it’s one of the inalienable rights of “We the People!”
What do you think? All comments and suggestions are welcome!
One rainy day I glimpsed a rainbow in my rearview mirror. And while I don’t recommend taking your eyes off your destination for long, a quick review of where you’ve been in such circumstances can be an encouraging reminder of three fabulous truths.
A rainbow in your rearview means:
• the storm and its difficulties are behind you. You have survived it. Be grateful, and leave those troubles in the past.
• you are facing the sun and its clearing skies. You are entering a change in your state of affairs. Be grateful, and embrace the future.
• there are still beautiful wonders in this beleaguered, woeful world. Be grateful, and enjoy the present.
Our son, who has autism spectrum disorder (ASD), was often an inadvertent contributor to his problems by his lack of social savvy—but not always. Bullies can rise up anywhere and everywhere. And at any age. (Apparently, bullies never grow up.) They may even take the more insidious and impersonal form of institutional and systemic bias.
Children with physical, developmental, intellectual, emotional, and sensory disabilities often seem to have a prominent “Kick Me” sign on their backs, a seemingly irresistible target for the bullying mindset. Try as our son might to blend in or stay unnoticed, his “marching to a different drummer” routine attracted attention—especially from those kids who judged him ripe for their mocking, harassing, teasing, taunting, badgering, and bullying.
Often, bullies’ exploitive route is through their victims’ lack of peer support. Having friends can prevent and protect against bullying. But children with special needs often fail to make friends, and may have difficulty getting around, trouble communicating and navigating social interactions, or display signs of vulnerability and emotional distress. All of these challenges mark them as “different,” and increase their risk of aggression from bullies.
Stepping Stones: our pathfinding adventure with Asperger’s introduces the concepts required to continue organizational change. And to all parents and caregivers of children with ASD, this true tale offers pragmatic guidance, self-help encouragement, and real reason for hope. tinyurl.com/4c6bxw4s
“One of the exceptional gifts of Asperger’s Syndrome is the ability to perceive an issue from a unique perspective, which can lead to fresh or surprising solutions.” – from Stepping Stones: our pathfinding adventure with Asperger’s.
Despite some very rough times growing up, when our son’s autism spectrum disorder (ASD) hindered his social development, that same gift later enabled his success as a research engineer with a Master’s in physics.
Stepping Stones is the story of the paths we carved while raising a child on the high functioning sliver of the autism spectrum. We offer it as a trail guide of hope for all parents and caregivers of children with ASD.
We are offering a free ebook copy (pdf or epub) to all who leave a message of “book” with an email address. (See contact page.) All we ask is that you provide an honest review on Amazon when finished reading it. We wish all the best in their daily challenges!
The image shown comes from the book’s back cover. It was created by our son by plotting the solutions of millions of polynomial equations on the complex plane, and stacking and colorizing the result.
I have now lived just as long as Leonardo Da Vinci, and longer than Walt Disney, Abraham Lincoln, Marie Curie, Martin Luther King Jr, Jim Henson, C.S. Lewis, and so many other accomplished men and women I admire—and I can’t help comparing what I’ve done with my life to date.
But that’s not what I should be measuring, is it? I may not have produced a similar depth and breadth of accomplishments, but…
Have I nurtured my own gifts and talents?
Have I well-stewarded the resources I’ve been accountable for?
Have I contributed my best to my tasks, responsibilities, goals, and dreams?
Is my conscience clean, despite my failures, mistakes and shortcomings?
Have I extended grace to those who have disappointed or wronged me?
Have I been a positive influence to those who know me?
Have I loved my family to the utmost, and lived my life with integrity?
If so, I’m ok with that.
And any comparisons with others’ accomplishments are useless.
