"As long as there is death, there is hope." -Brother Theodore, philosopher, metaphysician, and podiatrist
3 years ago | 1
One of my fave quotes: “We do not think that tragedy is our natural state. We do not live in chronic dread of disaster. We do not expect disaster until we have specific reason to expect it, and when we encounter it, we are free to fight it. It is not happiness, but suffering, that we consider unnatural. It is not success but calamity that we regard as the abnormal exception in human life.” Ragnar in Ayn Rand's Atlas Shrugged. Cheers me up anyway.
3 years ago | 7
I understand what this quote is getting at (participation trophy syndrome), but I don't think the word "empowerment" quite nails it. More commonly, it's a word that signifies a state of being - a journey to self-actualization. Your use connotes a doing rather than a being, in which an unqualified person is placed in a role or position of power.
3 years ago | 7
8th place trophies ..having grown up before they were a thing, I can't imagine seeing them as anything other than landfill!
3 years ago | 1
Empowerment without excellence is just amplified incompetence?
3 years ago (edited) | 7
Great point, and actually if you think about the reality that photo, rather than the emotion it attempts to capture, those people were probably jumping up and down looking like idiots as passers by were wondering what the he'll they were doing. 256 jumps later..... they finally got this photo.
3 years ago | 1
It's not really excellence you want, but the pursuit of excellence. It doesn't matter how far on that road you are, it's following it to the best of your ability. It's hard to summarize in a motivational poster though
3 years ago | 0
Unearned praise is the flip side of unearned criticism. Neither spends well.
3 years ago
| 1
I have to say, I do excel at mediocrity. The key is to make sure you have a lovely view out your window, because you aren't going anywhere.
3 years ago | 6
Huge problem with this in “just be kind capital” Utah. I’ve been watching you since evergreen and was struck by the black girl who said “I’m not a victim” I’ve sort of become her since moving to Utah (from Seattle) . Fighting what I thought I fled. I have a small channel called Martins’ Daughter and would love to interview you!
2 years ago | 1
I guess "excellence" is hardly objective. What is excellent for my 3 yr old is not exactly excellent for my 11 yr old. I would define excellence for an individual as the thing that takes them to the limits of their current abilities. Maybe this is where the desire to give everyone a trophy comes from. The unintended consequence ends up being that even if no one is excelling beyond their current abilities they are still praised. Perhaps we are really bad and actually determining when this actually happens and the best tool we have is competition?
3 years ago (edited) | 0
Wouldn’t power make more sense? Empowerment is too broad a term. You can feel personally empowered without mediocrity being amplified.
3 years ago | 6
Benjamin A Boyce
feeling motivational, might delete later
3 years ago | [YT] | 786