Michelangelo And A Flawed Piece Of Marble And You.

I read an article in “Our Daily Bread” August, 18^th 2008 by Albert Lee, that for about a hundred years, a huge piece of flawed but otherwise expensive marble lay in the courtyard of a cathedral in Italy until around 1501, when a young sculptor was asked to “do something with it”. Which he did. He had in mind to do a sculpture of a young shepherd boy.

Well for 3 years he skilfully toiled at his task and finished with an 18-foot (just shy of 6 mts,) figure of “his” shepherd boy. That stature still stands and is admired greatly even today? Maybe you have heard of it too? It is of course, Michelangelo’s David. A true masterpiece! One, to which one of Michelangelo’s students supposedly exclaimed, “Master, it lacks only one thing – speech.”

Now I of course have not seen it up close and personal and thus only through photos, but every one who has, does agree that it is wonderful too. What attracted my attention was that it was made from a flawed stone. That and a flawed stone that had lain there for a hundred years, before the right person came along to do something wonderful with it. A stone that had it not been handled perfectly and properly, would have been not an invaluable work of art and admiration, but a heap, quite literally of useless little pieces of rock.

What is true of Marble is also true of humans too, isn’t it? So how many flawed humans have you come across in your lifetime and how have you left them? As invaluable works of art, or useless pieces of rock? Or have you just left them alone for someone else to deal with.

Even though not the preferred option, often that is the best option if you don’t know how to properly handle them to bring out their true potential, isn’t it? To leave them intact and undamaged by your presence and leave them for another "Michelangelo” to come along later and make them what they could be but what you can’t make the!

Do you do that? Or do you try anyway and simply leave a shattered mess there for someone else to deal with? Just a thought! What say you?

How Indispensable Are You?

Until I read an article (I can’t remember where), I had never heard of Saxon White Kessinger, or his book, “The Indispensable Man”. However in this article, it quotes Mr Kessinger as writing in it: “Sometime when you feel that your doing, would leave an un-fill-able hole, just follow these simple instructions, and see how they humble your soul. Take a bucket and fill it with water, put your hand in it up to the wrist; pull it out and the hole that’s remaining, is the measure of how you’ll be missed.” It’s humbling just how quickly the hole we think we’re leaving, disappears or gets filled in by others.”

As one who has worked in a lot of places with lots of personal coming and going all the time, I too have noticed that phenomenon. There have been many, many reliable and valuable people among them, (hopefully even me), at times but they have all been replaced, with someone who has always managed to do the job adequately, if not sometimes even better!

So it never pays to become proud and boast that you can’t be replaced because you can and your boasting may just be the cause of you being replaced. "Just to prove you wrong”.

So if you are really among that somewhat rather elite group, be happy but don’t be proud, otherwise you just might pull your arm out of the bucket and show the world your true worth, hey?

So if you think you might be indispensable, don’t boast about it but help others, as to the best of your ability and show, not tell, but show, them, just how valuable you really are.

Remember you are not even thought indispensable when you think you are, but only when everyone else there thinks you are. Till then, your pride makes you vulnerable and maybe even dispensable, rather than indispensable.

So in closing, if you really think you are indispensable don’t tell anyone but show everyone and not just your superiors either.

Asterisk.

Recently I wrote briefly about Tintin, who was the sole creation of Herge. (Georges Remi) Today I would like to refer to that other famous Cartoon character Asterisk. Unlike Tintin who was the sole effort of Herge, Asterisk’s stories were written by one man and illustrated by another and then finally the English versions were translated by another Couple.

The writer had the story but needed the illustrator. He also needed the translators to get the right effect although his English wasn’t that bad.

Whereas Tintin was a sole creation and work of one, Asterisk was a team effort and relied on all four working together, even if they rarely did actually work together in practise.

What about you? Are you talented and/or lucky enough to be a Lone Ranger like Herge, or are you a Team player like the Asterisk Team?

If you are part of a team like the Asterisk mob, are you happy with your position, or are you jealous of the others? Are you happy with your lot and work as a team, or are you trying to pull the others down, so that you can be elevated?

When the storey writer of Asterisk died, his collaborator did write a new story and illustrated it himself, but it wasn’t the same; and although it sold, out of novelty value, it never achieved the success of any of the originals. Neither will you. You might have some initial success but it will only be fleeting and of novelty value. Better to share the glory with others, than not to have any at all through lack of adequate talent and /or support from those that have what you lack! What say you? Walter

Tintin.

Although I only came across Tintin late in life through my kids, I quickly became a fan. (Also of Asterisk, but that’s another author and another story.) May 22 would have been the 100th Birthday of one Georges Remi of Brussels. Georges is better known as Herge (pronounced air- zhay), the creator of the cartoon character Tintin, which has been translated into over 50 languages.

He first started producing Tintin in 1929 in a weekly paper, and eventually these Comic stories were collected and turned into hard bound Books, which continue to sell all around the world in over 50 languages.

Initially Tintin was Georges Remi and the character reflected Georges life, loves and experiences as he had lived it or wished he could live it, but eventually the character Tintin took on a life and a persona of its own in the public domain. One that Herge struggled with. He is recorded as writing to his first wife of his feelings of being hemmed in by his creation.

He wrote,” I have just discovered that I know that Tintin is no longer me, that if he is to go on living, it will be by an artificial respiration that I will have to practice constantly and which exhausts me more and more.”

What about you? Have you created something or started on something, that has now completely taken over your life and created one of its own? One that you now have to live up to, but like Herge, resent!

Will you like Herge, go with the money and fame and put up with it or will you say enough is enough and it is now time to move on, (or even to go back) to something that again fulfils you? I have come to the conclusion that my current job is no longer fulfilling and it is time to go back to something that is. What about You? Walter

Cane Toads & Sin.

Recently I received the following e-mail: “Hi Walter: Big news in the US is about the Australian Monster toad. How it was brought to Australia from South America in the 30s and how it was to kill your pest beetles, but now has become a pest themselves by killing the animals that are good.

According to the way you blog, I thought of how sin messes around with pests and it seems okay, then it gradually begins to contaminate the good.

Our information says the toad is 15 inches long and has killed millions of animals.

The "monster cane toad" is poisonous and SO IS SIN.”

As I read the above, I thought that it was a good analogy but one I hadn’t thought of, as Cane Toads are not a problem in Melbourne. We have been told that they will be, but as yet not so, and appear to be heading west across Australia where it is warmer, rather than coming down to the cold South.

So, although they are a problem to some they aren’t to us and thus someone else’s problem and not one for me to worry about.

A little while back in my Bible reading, I came across the story where God through his prophet, told King Hezekiah that all his riches and the Kingdom would be stripped from him and the people taken into captivity into Babylon, but that God would delay this punishment until after his death.

Hezekiah’s response was, “Is it not good, if peace and truth be in my days? (2 Kings 20: 19.)”

At the time I thought that Hezekiah’s response was a lot like us today, but I could not think of an illustration to demonstrate that. Now thanks to my American friend I have not one but two illustrations.

Firstly as my friend pointed out that sin (falling short of what is properly required of you) is not just your problem but the problem of others if not corrected. The Cane Toad was introduced to correct one sin/failing in one particular area, yet in turn has created other problems over half the Continent of Australia. Introducing failings into our lives is like letting Cane Toads into our Country. At first they may seem helpful, then a slight nuisance when their numbers increase, to becoming a full scale problem when they crowd out and kill the good things in our country and our lives.

Our failings, like the Cane Toads, will get out of control if we either ignore then or deny that they are a problem, till it becomes not only too obvious to deny but sometimes like currently with the Cane Toads, almost impossible to control let alone eradicate.

The second illustration I have is myself. As A Melbournian, without Cane Toads already under foot, I just didn’t recognize the enormity of the problem that Cane Toads not only can do but are already doing to the rest of MY country.

What about you? What problems are there around you that you can deal with now? Rather than leave them for the next generation or the one after that? Over to you: Walter

Not Really New.

In “How do you say sorry?” I mentioned that I had received a blurb for a new Book. My son later corrected me by saying that it was in fact an old book that has been around for a while, but obviously is having a return run.

This comment bought three thoughts to my mind.

1. Many new things are not new, just presented as such.
2. As the Bible states there truly is nothing new under the sun.
3. If you don’t know it, all things are new to you, no matter how old it is to someone else.

So with these thoughts in mind let me ask you;

1. What old things are you presenting as new, whether knowingly or as in my case, unknowingly?

2. As there is nothing new under the sun, we really have no excuse for not checking up on these ideas that come before us to see how they were assessed before, before presenting them again.

And finally; 3. If we find that an old thing is reliable, then it is not only good but right that we take every opportunity to present it anew to those around us in need of this new/old information and help.

Conversely, if it is not good, then we should definitely not pass it on and perhaps even consider speaking against it, if deemed beneficial in protecting others from its errors. If not let it quietly drop by the wayside. What say you? Walter