2 posts tagged “life”

...More or less.  Long, rambling, have-another-beer post.  Let's give it a whirl.

I'm looking at this blog, and you would think that all I do is ride the bike.  Well, no.  It's just that I try to keep my work opinions to myself, try not to over-publicize people who might not want their name or picture posted on the interwebs, and don't have much going on beyond bike, work, family, and friends.

But I will say something slightly different.  It originates in cycling, but it applies across the board.

Having the right people around you is huge.  You hear about this in so many circles.  They talk about it in MBA classes.  There was a great article in Fortune a few months back about the CEO from Pepsi and her coworkers, and how well they work together.  I certainly see it at work too.  We all have our quirks, but we don't have anyone who's an out-and-out prick.

I'm even more astounded at the quality of people when it comes to family.  You know when you get a little older, into your 20s or 30s, and finally realize that your parents are people?  And you look at siblings and -- wow -- these people are adults all of a sudden, with mortgages, sex lives, and fungi growing in strange places?  This is when I started realizing how big the quality of people is. 

The ~wife and I talk about it from time to time.  We imagine our parents 20 years ago.  Neither of our families was destitute, but we weren't rich, and with 32 kids each, a lot of things were a struggle.  How did our parents buy christmas trees, at like $50 or more a pop, back in the 1980s, when that was real money? 

Good people make things happen, they encourage you, and they make you want to be good -- better -- easter people -- yourself.  On a somewhat smaller scale, but still important, I'm really glad for the people around me who are better than me, and at the same time encourage me to improve myself. 

My ~wife was at a party with me and the cycling team at some point last year, and remarked about how skinny everybody is.  And she pointed out that's probably quite a bit of motivation for me.  No kidding.

It's a lot easier to want to be a better person -- whatever that better is -- when you've got good people, good role models, I spose.  Tonight I had the privilege of hanging out with some guys who are at the upper end of my abilities.  When I got home, I read a very kind and encouraging email from another guy who's at least a shade better than me.  These people are a bit above me in one respect or another, but so many of them are very encouraging.  Both by being a little better, and by making me feel like I can get there too, they help me out immensely.

I guess it's nice to find the good in people.  It's double-nice when it's easy to find. 

I'm reminded of one of my favorite bits of tao wisdom.  Stolen with shame from http://agilethinking.net/cuttingupanox.html.  The line breaks are most like a poem, so I liked it set up this way.  This is one of my favorite little morsels:

Prince Wen Hui's cook
Was cutting up an ox.
Out went a hand,
Down went a shoulder,
He planted a foot,
He pressed with a knee
The ox fell apart
With a whisper,
The bright cleaver murmured
Like a gentle wind.
Rhythm! Timing!
Like a sacred dance,
Like "The Mulberry Grove"
Like ancient harmonies!
"Good work!" the Prince exclaimed,
"Your method is faultless!"
"Method?" said the cook
Laying aside his cleaver,
"What I follow is Tao
Beyond all methods!
"When I first began
To cut up oxen
I would see before me
The whole ox
All in one mass.
"After three years
I no longer saw this mass.
I saw the distinctions.
"But now, I see nothing
With the eye. My whole being
Apprehends.
My sense are idle. The spirit
Free to work without plan
Follows its own instinct
Guided by natural line,
By the secret opening,
The hidden space,
My cleaver finds its own way.
I cut through no joint, chop no bone.
"A great cook needs a new chopper
Once a year - he cuts.
A poor cook needs a new one
Every month - he hacks!
"I have used this same cleaver
Nineteen years.
It has cut up
A thousand oxen.
Its edge is as keen
As if newly sharpened.
"There are spaces in the joints;
The blade is thin and keen:
When this thinness
Finds that space
There is all the room you need!
It goes like a breeze!
Hence I have this cleaver
Nineteen years
As if newly sharpened!
"True, there are sometimes
Tough joints. I feel them coming,
I slow down, I watch closely,
Hold back, barely move the blade,
And whump! the part falls away
Landing like a clod of earth.
"Then I withdraw the blade,
I stand still
And let the joy of the work
Sink in.
I clean the blade
And put it away."
Prince Wen Hui said,
"This is it! My cook has shown me
How I ought to live
My own life!"