Live and Learn and Pass It On

Regardless of how much we know, we are given new opportunities everyday for growth and discovery. School is always in session and life challenges us to excel at being both the enthusiastic student and the inspired teacher. With that said, below are a few pearls of wisdom I’d like to share:

• I’ve learned that a person is only as good as his or her word.
• I’ve learned that you can get by on charm for about fifteen minutes. After that, you’d better know something.
• I’ve learned that a good reputation is a person’s biggest asset.
• I’ve learned that being fired can be the best thing that can happen to you.
• I’ve learned that the more creative you are, the more things you notice.
• I’ve learned that the great challenge of life is to decide what’s important and to disregard everything else.
• I’ve learned that nothing of value comes without effort.
• I’ve learned that anticipation is often better than the real thing.
• I’ve leaned that generous people seldom have emotional and mental problems.
• I’ve learned that in every face-to-face encounter, regardless of how brief, we leave something behind.
• I’ve learned that children and grandparents are natural allies.
• I’ve learned that even when you schedule a doctor’s appointment at 8:00 a.m., you still have to wait an hour.
• I’ve learned that education, experience and memories are three things no one can take away from you.
• I’ve learned that I don’t have to be perfect for my family to love me.
• I’ve learned that if you wait for all conditions to be perfect before you act, you’ll never act.
• I’ve learned that whatever I love to do, I do well.
• I’ve learned that there are people who love you dearly but just don’t know how to show it.
• I’ve learned that self-pity is a BIG waste of time.
• I’ve learned that the worse pain is watching someone else in pain.

Coping With a Job You Hate

Having a job you just hate is never easy and in today’s economy, you probably need to grin and bear it until another opportunity comes along. Whether you're currently stuck because you have to pay the bills or are holding out for the next great job, here are a few things you can do to help you get through the day.

1. Set weekly goals for yourself. Sometimes it is easier to get through the day when you can keep your eye on the prize. Even if you hate your job now, there is something out there that will make you happy. Setting these goals will give you something to work towards.

2. Do one thing each day to help you reach your goals. When you get up in the morning, set a daily objective for yourself and make sure you achieve it. This will give you a sense of accomplishment and keep you feeling good about your progress.

3. Give yourself "me time" before work. Going into a job you hate will be worse if you get to the office feeling rushed, stressed and frazzled. Set aside some moments of solitude each morning. Develop a positive morning ritual. Treat yourself to a latte, get up early enough to read the paper, or just set your alarm to play upbeat music when you wake up. Improving your mornings can do wonders for your afternoons.

4. Create a diversion for yourself in the office. Does being in your office make you yearn for the outdoors? Are the incessant ringing phones driving you batty? Do something to brighten your mood while you're at work. Use a photo that makes you smile as your screensaver. Buy yourself a "joke of the day" desk calendar. Listen to your iPod while working.

5. Use your time to develop your skills. Hating your job doesn't mean you can't learn new skills. Use your time to make yourself a better candidate down the road. If your company offers training courses, take advantage of them. Use downtime to learn something new on your computer. Pick up a management development book and read it at lunch. Turn this job into an opportunity for self-improvement.

6. Blow off some steam. Most people have an activity that helps them unwind and get rid of tension. Take a nice long walk during your lunch hour or go for a run after work.

7. Treat yourself. To make up for your office misery, find little ways of treating yourself. Buy a good book to read. Treat yourself to ice cream. Rent a movie. Shop for a new interview suit. Plan your next vacation. Do something to make you feel better inside, regardless of what is going on outside.

The History of Valentine’s Day

February 14th is Valentine's Day. Currently celebrated as a holiday for lovers, it actually originated in 5th Century Rome, as a tribute to a Catholic bishop.

For eight hundred years prior to the establishment of Valentine's Day, the Romans practiced a pagan celebration in mid-February commemorating young men's rite of passage to the god Lupercus. The celebration featured a lottery in which young men would draw the names of teenage girls from a box. The girl assigned to each young man in that manner would be his sexual companion during the remaining year.

In an effort to do away with the pagan festival, Pope Gelasius ordered a slight change in the lottery. Instead of the names of young women, the box would contain the names of saints. Both men and women were allowed to draw from the box; however, the game was changed to emulating the ways of the saint drawn. Needless to say, many of the young Roman men were not too pleased with the rule changes.

Instead of the pagan god Lupercus, the Church looked for a suitable patron saint of love to take his place. They found an appropriate choice in Valentine, who, in 270 AD had been beheaded by Emperor Claudius.

Claudius determined that married men made poor soldiers, banned marriage from his empire. In spite of this, Valentine would secretly marry the young men and women that came to him. When Claudius found out about Valentine, he tried to convert him to paganism, but Valentine reversed the strategy, trying instead to convert Claudius. When he failed, he was stoned and beheaded.

During the days that Valentine was imprisoned, he fell in love with the blind daughter of his jailer. His love for her, and his great faith, managed to miraculously heal her from her blindness before his death. Before he was taken to his death, he signed a farewell message to her, "From your Valentine." The phrase has been used on his day ever since.

Although the church banned the lottery, the mid-February holiday in commemoration of St. Valentine was stilled used by Roman men to seek the affection of women. It became a tradition for men to give the ones they admired handwritten messages of affection, containing Valentine's name.

The first Valentine card grew out of this practice. Charles, Duke of Orleans, sent the first true Valentine card in 1415 to his wife while he was imprisoned in the Tower of London.

Cupid, another symbol of the holiday, became associated with it because he was the son of Venus, the Roman god of love and beauty. Even today, Cupid often appears on Valentine cards.

Wishing you and yours a very happy Valentine’s Day!

The Endangered Renaissance Personality

Remember all of those drawing-room scenes in 18th century novels, where the ladies play études on the piano, converse with foreign visitors in their native tongue, and even recite poems, while the men recount sporting feats, argue about politics and trade witty anecdotes? Everyone seems so … refined. Even in recent decades, the scholar-athlete-artist has racked up awards and social cachet for his or her breadth and depth.

But in a time where geeks who tweak software lord it over well-read, well-traveled dilettantes, a broad cultural education seems less like something to admire and of which to aspire.

In lamenting the decline of what he calls the cultivated person, Tracy Lee Simmons, a professor at Hillsdale College and author of Climbing Parnassus: A New Apologia for Greek and Latin, couldn’t resist summing up the situation with quotes from the Roman big guns: “Virgil said, ‘Fortunate the man who can understand the causes of things.’ ” (It’s difficult to decipher the causes of our sociopolitical environment when we’re busy monetizing video mash-ups.) And, “Cicero said that ‘to not know history is to remain forever a child.’ By ‘child’ he meant intellectually unformed, and probably a little dangerous.”

Whereas snagging a high-quality spouse was often the motivation for well-roundedness in Jane Austen’s time, today’s young suitors tend to flaunt one, maybe two attributes or areas of expertise.

Professors still sense a thirst for knowledge among students, but there’s no longer a sense of shame at cultural illiteracy. “I asked a smart young woman which president held office before Reagan,” Simmons says. “She didn’t know. When I gently chastised her, she said, ’But I wasn’t born then!’ She felt that let her off the hook, whereas a student from a previous generation would have been mortified.”

What’s at stake here? Well-rounded humanists who will do the right thing … what a pity!