It\u2019s that thing everyone is saying:<\/p>\n
KIDS these days!<\/p>\n
They want a trophy for everything. Their helicopter parents hand out ribbons and awards, so they expect it. They are bursting with self-esteem.<\/p>\n
\u2026except they aren\u2019t. A lot of them know that those trophies are meaningless. What are they really <\/i>good at amongst all the accolades? Who are the real friends among all the likes and followers.<\/p>\n
My Dad likes to tell the story about his college professor telling him, in the 1950s, that he and his classmates were part of a very very few who were going to college.<\/p>\n
At the time he said it, it had ceased to be true.<\/p>\n
The 15 minutes of fame isn\u2019t true anymore either.<\/p>\n
We are all nobodies in broad view.<\/p>\n
Step out the front door like a ghost into a fog<\/i><\/a> What matters? And how can I make sure that I do?<\/p>\n In this highly and lightly connected world, we are like dandelion fluff, beautiful all together until the weak wind separates.<\/p>\n No! please don\u2019t go!! We had something here\u2026<\/i><\/p>\n Publishing a book, or a weekly column, used to be very rare. But not anymore. ISBN numbers are proliferating like weeds.<\/p>\n That nasty inner voice seems to be right. This thing that I am doing, that I am compelled to do because I am who I am, doesn\u2019t matter.<\/p>\n I have almost 100 subscribers to the Weekly Wonder. 100! When Paris Hilton has 11 MILLION people following her tweets. I have shy of a hundred.<\/p>\n And most of the people subscribed do not read it.<\/p>\n That bums me out.<\/p>\n Until I see that some 30-odd people do<\/i> read what I have to say. And they think it\u2019s important, they listen and tell me that it makes them think.<\/p>\n Some of them read my week\u2019s writing more than once.<\/p>\n That matters. That\u2019s a connection, not a fluff passing on the wind.<\/p>\n Small town, tiny stage. Like\u00a0It\u2019s a wonderful life<\/i>, that movie that says how one man made his mark on the world, ordinary and untraveled. He was nobody important to anybody but the people to whom his life\u2019s actions had changed everything.<\/p>\n They say that kids these days want to be famous. And we forget that we all already are, to the people who love our faces and have since forever.<\/p>\n That’s enough. In fact, it’s quite a lot.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" It\u2019s that thing everyone is saying: KIDS these days! They want a trophy for everything. Their helicopter parents hand out ribbons and awards, so they expect it. They are bursting with self-esteem. \u2026except they aren\u2019t. A lot of them know … Continue reading
\n Where no one notices the contrast of white on white<\/i><\/a><\/p>\n