The Letters to the Editor section of the newspaper was longer today than usual.  Counting the editorial cartoon the letters occupied a full half of the “Perspective” page.  Eight letters comprise what I like to think of as the therapy section of the paper.

One screams out, “You really don’t get it do you?” as if they’re carrying on a conversation with a person across the table from them.  Another says, “I am writing to inform you of my opinion.” Still another angsts over why a road project is taking so long.

I’d hate to think of the newspaper without the opinion page.  It functions like a virtual town hall and gives you a bellwether of public opinion.  Sometimes the opinions expressed are well-thought, articulate, and reasonable in tone.  Other times they are angry and reactionary.  Just because they appear in print doesn’t mean they’re worth reading.

What drives me nuts about them is how frequently the authors don’t have a clue what they are talking about.  For example, a local hot button issue in our town has generated a lot of heat but little light.  Awfulizers write about the terrible things that will happen if we get a particular business.

In our democracy everyone has the right to speak.  Right or wrong we can express our opinions and come to a consensus.  It’s not a perfect process as is evident on the editorial page.  And we do not always arrive at good decisions.

Nevertheless, the respect and access that we give to all our citizens is a far better way to live than totalitarianism where people are told what to think. 

I don’t like all the opinions expressed on the editorial page.  Some are downright uninformed.  But I’d hate to think of our society without that right.

We became friends because we were colleagues in the same group.  It was a bunch of pastors from the same area of the state.  We got together once a month for food and conversation and enjoyed the professional and collegial stimulation.

He was pastor for a church that eventually had some internal problems, and the church had a terrible split which created two churches.  He left with the group that split away, and also left our group.  He disappeared, and we didn’t see him after that.

Several years passed.  One day the phone in my office rang; it was my old friend.  “Hi Bruce.  How are you?  Still at the same church?”  We talked for a couple of minutes, and I was elated that he had called to reconnect.  Until……

“Have you heard of colostrum?” he asked.  “Colostrum?” I’m wondering.  “Isn’t that the first fluid that a nursing baby gets from its mother?  Why would he be talking about colostrum?  What could colostrum possibly have to do with our friendship?”  My mind went into warp drive.

He went on.  “Colostrum has wonderful health benefits, and my wife is now a distributor of it.  By going to this website and entering her number, you can purchase this great product and she will get credit for it.”

Whatever warm feelings I had about his calling evaporated.  He wasn’t calling a friend; I was just a potential customer.  A means to make money.  I could feel my mind shutting down.  “How can I get out of this conversation?” I thought.  I didn’t buy the product, and we never talked again.

A good friend of mine calls people like this a “one way street.”  In other words, the relational traffic only goes in their direction.  They don’t care about anyone but themselves.  It’s disappointing, especially when you fall for their opening lines.  “How are you doing?  I’ve been thinking about you.”

We went to a New Year’s Eve party at Playhouse Merced. The event started at 8:00 on Wednesday evening, and it was in full swing by the time we arrived. 

The Playhouse was well decorated for the event.  The main stage area had a fresh coat of paint.  A small, raised platform supported the three-person band.  A few people were dancing to the music; others were sitting, enjoying the show.

The foyer housed the drink bar, nibbles, and conversation areas.  It stayed full most of the night.  Some folks went to the event to be with friends and chat.  Conversation areas were scattered around the room.  One couple was visiting the area from South Dakota.  They found the event on the web and decided to join the festivities.

Upstairs in the Studio was the karaoke bar.  Cafe tables were set up, along with a small bar and a karaoke stage.  It was my first time to experience karaoke, and I was pleasantly surprised.

One by one people looked at the huge catalog of songs available, signed up with the person in charge of song order, and then waited for their turn.  Some had lovely voices.  Others sounded like cats fighting.  However, the audience treated every performer with kindness.

The karaoke performances were very democratic.  Everyone that wanted to got their opportunity at the microphone.  Everyone was treated with the same courtesies and respect.  Maybe it’s not that way at every karaoke night, but it was true here.

The performance that impressed me the most was that of the child who, accompanied with an adult, sang “Jingle Bells.”  It wasn’t a stellar performance, but that’s not the point.  The child was included as part of the karaoke community, people applauded, and the child left with an optimistic view of human acceptance.  It was a good example of human cooperation and contribution. 

When I joined a business networking group, we were taught to be able to give a summary of our business or product in the amount of time needed for an elevator ride—about 60 seconds.  It was tough learning to be that succinct, and even now I want to use a few more words.

But what if you had to summarize your life in six words?  James Emery White asked that question recently in his blog.  I suspect that the 2008 summary would be drastically different than, say, the 2004 version.  Economy, jobs, war, and weather have had their impact on us all.

In the best seller, Not Quite What I Was Planning, Rachel Fershleiser and Larry Smith compiled the quotes of famous and not-so-famous people on this very idea.  Here are some examples:

“Liars, hysterectomy didn’t improve sex life!” (Joan Rivers)
 
“Well, I thought it was funny.”  (Stephen Colbert)
 
“Maybe you had to be there.”  (Roy Blount, Jr.)
 
“Revenge is living well, without you.”  (Joyce Carol Oates)
 
“Followed yellow brick road.  Disappointment ensued.”

“Should have risked asking, he sighed.” 

Then there was the USA Today reporter who offered his own while reviewing the book:  “Dad was Santa.  Downhill from there.”

Okay, we’re all about to climb on board the 2009 elevator, and I wonder what a 6–word or 60–second summary of my life should say.  If I’m not careful, it will be tinged with some regrets.  “Should have taken that other job.”  Or “wish I had gotten my doctorate.”  Or “I should have played more sports.”

There are some I like much better, and they make for a healthier life.  “He lived life full of enthusiasm.”  Or “Not afraid to follow his dreams.”

Six words can say so little or so much.  Depending on how seriously life is taken.

Recently I got to participate in a two-day set of interviews for openings at a local agency.  The candidates were each given a one hour appointment during which they would make their presentation and receive questions from our group.

This was the first time I had ever participated in a process like this one, and I was fascinated by how the interviews were conducted as well as by how much could be learned in only one hour.  I was also impressed with how uniform the observations of the group were.

I came away from the experience with some observations that were interesting and helpful to me.  They included these:

• You better do your homework.  If you have a group that you need to impress quickly, one of the best things you can do is find out all your can about them.  Find out history, demographics, who they serve, and what they want.  The more information you have about them the better.
• It’s really easy, and often fatal, to shoot yourself in the foot.  You can fire the fateful bullet by speaking ignorantly, by not having enough information, or by making too many assumptions.  In a one-hour interview there is no grace, no opportunity to recoup or regroup, and no call backs.  Time is of the essence.
• You probably can’t fool a group.  This goes back to the need for preparation.  However, it also addresses the important matter of not filling a presentation with bells and whistles.  They very quickly get brushed aside for the hard question of “how do you propose to use our money and accomplish our task?”
• A well-stocked toolkit is extremely important.  One dimensional approaches will lose every time.  When a group is looking for someone to represent and implement its interests, they look for someone/s who have several ways to approach the situation.  If one doesn’t work, there are other approaches also being used.

The group process is very important for making good decisions.  In the group there are different experiences, different educational backgrounds, different eyes looking, and different points of view analyzing the situation.  It is a good way to prevent the skewed, jaundiced eye of an individual.

My secretary ushered in a person I had never met before who had a folder in her hand. “Pastor,” she said. “I want to talk to you about a threat to our religious freedom.”

This was in the early 80’s, and what she told me was not new to me. According to my guest, Madalyn Murray O’Hair was filing a petition with the FCC to stop religious broadcasting. “Please ask your congregants to sign this petition and return it to me so that we can stop Ms. O’Hair.”

Since I had heard this before and previously signed one of the peripatetic petitions, I decided to call the FCC to see if this was true. In fact, over the next couple of years, I called them twice. But on each occasion I was assured that there was no such petition.

That was before the Internet became such a big part of our lives. Now such rumors proceed at light speed across the globe.

Most people know that Madalyn Murray O’Hair is now dead, so the rumor has morphed. One of the new versions has James Dobson pleading for us to stop some “group” that is attempting to stop religious broadcasting.

What’s interesting to me is that the people that are so anxious to spread this story make no attempt to correct their error when they learn of it. Any Internet search will quickly clarify the issue and give the truth.

Meanwhile this negative and false rumor continues to circulate. Where’s the integrity of these people that claim to want to tell the truth? I’d suggest that truth is not a concern of theirs if they are not willing to rewrite the people on their list to say, “I was wrong. This story is false.”

Christmas is just around the corner. Time for getting the right gift for your honey is running short. I just found this helpful video that I recommend all men watch before going to the mall. It could save you from going into the doghouse.

During Bill Clinton’s campaign, his campaign strategist, James Carville, coined the phrase, “the economy, stupid,” as a way to refocus voters’ attention and to say that George H.W. Bush had not adequately addressed the economy.  The phrase was meant for an internal audience of campaign workers, but it became widely used.

All you have to do is drive around our City or any city in the U.S. and you get the immediate impression that “It’s the economy stupid” is current again.  The economy looms over us like a huge black cloud.  And it affects family after family.

The evening news last night presented us with the grim news about the auto industry.  American auto makers are drowning in a sea of red.  Cars aren’t selling, sources of money for lending are meager, and some are saying that the industry as a whole has only months of money left to operate unless something significant happens.

But this is about more than the auto industry or the banking industry or any other industry by itself.

The story went on to talk about how the auto industry’s woes trickle, no flood, down into the rest of the economy.  If the auto industry has no money to purchase from suppliers then suppliers have no money to produce their products.  Layoffs occur and then families have no money to spend in their respective communities.  Small businesses close, taxes dry up, and city governments have less money to spend on services.  Yada, yada, yada.

The economy is such a good, but painful, reminder of how interconnected we all are; none of us lives in a vacuum.  I especially like the way the famous preacher, John Donne, said it.

No man is an island, entire of itself
every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main
if a clod be washed away by the sea,
Europe is the less, as well as if a promontory were,
as well as if a manor of thy friends or of thine own were
any man’s death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind
and therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls
it tolls for thee.

Earlier this year one of our neighbors moved, and a For Sale sign went up in front of the house.  The family was a victim of the current housing crisis.  I don’t know where they went, but I do know that the economy’s effects trickled down to our street.  That makes it very, very real, and very personal.

I’ve been reading a very intriguing book called Wikinomics.  The premise of the book is that the way business and creativity is practiced on the Internet is transforming brick and mortar business as well.

The premier example of the creativity of the Internet is Wikipedia, an online encyclopedia produced through the collaborative efforts of its users.  In other words, anyone can write an article for the online publication.  His best example is about the bombings that occurred in London on July 7, 2005.

Four synchronized bombs exploded in the London subway.  Eighteen minutes later the first entry about the bombings appeared in Wikipedia.  Within minutes other Wikipedia users were adding additional information to the original article, correcting spelling, etc.  By the end of the day, over twenty-five hundred users had created a comprehensive fourteen-page account of the event that was much more detailed than any other single news outlet.

There are other great examples of how people have collaborated to create wonderful ideas and products.  As the old expression goes, “Two heads are better than one.”  Mozilla is an open source internet browser created by collaboration.  Joomla and Linux are also products that are open source and the product of multiple users. 

All of which made me think about how many people “do church.”  Hierarchically.  Top down.  Professional.  Hired.  In other words, if you are a lay person, there is not much for you to do.  Show up.  Worship.  Contribute.  Study.  And go home.  But what if you were a full-on contributor to the life of the church?  A significant part of a team.  Making contributions that affected the well-being and momentum of the church.

The apostle Paul may have been talking about an ancient version of Wikipedia when he likened the church to the human body.  He described it as an organism that relies on all its parts, and each individual part, no matter how tiny, makes important contributions to the function of the whole.

Now that’s what I call collaboration.

Brian McLaren included a link to a Bread for the World video that is poignant and convicting.  I’ve attached it below because I think it identifies a too common belief that organizations, not individuals, are responsible for bringing change to the world.  The same abdication of responsibility can be seen at election time when a pitifully small portion of the electorate turns out to cast a ballot.

So take a look at Bread for the World’s take on this.  It will make you squirm.