Values

I love to read.

Rarely do I get to read anymore. Last year, I read a lot. The year before that I was reading a lot. From my count about 8-10 books a year. And then the 4 years before that I was just reading text books mainly. Maybe one “for fun” book during the summers. Just as of this past year I stopped reading. Maybe it was because I was reading so much online. So many emails. Web forums. Articles on almost anything, everything you could find on wikipedia. Linking from one subject to the next, taking on pointless little tidbits I’d figure would be useful the next time I was in a bar. Or maybe something to mention to the wife during a silent moment in the car.

And I’d say I had stopped reading since about this past March. I don’t know. Things got busy. Owning a house is a lot of work. I can’t even imagine doing this with children, let alone children and a dog. But finally, since I’ve got some time and I’m working on a few things (about myself), I got back in to reading. And admittedly, (and I’ve always known this) I feel more wholesome reading. I feel more calm. I feel excited about the person I am or motivated to do things to change my part of the world. And I believe that wholesomeness is created by the TV turning off. By me avoiding worthless games where I defeat enemies that were programmed long before I even shot them down, and will be there, waiting for me whenever I want. And avoiding, sadly, the internet. Something I already spend 6 hours a day on at work.

And I enjoy reading things that change my mind on subjects. That challenge my thoughts. Because even the smallest tinkering of my mind is still better than me learning about the background of Justin Timberlake’s latest film “Alpha Dog”. In the scheme of things, something like that is so miniscule it’s ridiculous we waste our breath, or even my writing on it. I used to read “brain candy” books. John Grisham, Wilbur Smith, and yes I even got in to Dan Brown. But rarely did I learn anything from those…

So, of course, I’m hanging from Obama Barack’s nuts now. More importantly, I’m hanging from Oprah’s…I guess…nuts…well, something I’m hanging off of from her. Ever since “Poisonwood Bible”, I’ve been buying up her book club stuff for years. Shit if books had a stock value to them I’d be throwing my entire net worth in to any book Oprah endorsed. Because it is excellent stuff. And it gives me the much needed motivation and excuse to read. And the reason for my title tonight? Something that I’ve thought about a lot lately, but just wasn’t able to write out as eloquently as Obama, from “The Audacity of Hope”:

“When I was a community organizer back in the eighties, I would often challenge neighborhood leaders by asking them where they put their time, energy, and money. Those are the true tests of what we value, I’d tell them, regardless of what we tell ourselves. If we aren’t willing to pay a price for our values, if we aren’t willing to make some sacrifices in order to realize them, then we should ask ourselves whether we truly believe in them at all.

By these standards at least, it sometimes appears that Americans today value nothing so much as being rich, thin, young, famous, safe and entertained.”

This rung so true with me it was ridiculous. This is the part where I get excited. When someone nails me right on the head when I knew I was doing something that wasn’t working just right, but could open my eyes up to something I could possibly start changing about myself.

What do I value? Entertainment. Safety. Money. Looks.

Earlier in the “Values” chapter he goes on to talk about all the stuff we like to “talk” about…but rarely do any of us take any action.

None of us like that fact that many inner city school children cannot read at a 2^nd grade level when in the 6^th grade. But how many of us have actually taken the time to volunteer and help those kids out? No one wants to be in the inner city…remember, “Safety”.

So people look to the government. They say, “Hey! We want you to fix our schools and we don’t want to pay another dime in taxes!” I look at my retirement accounts every day. And I’ll fight tooth and nail to get as high of a raise as I feel I deserve. Did I ever fight this hard when it came to anything else? “Money”.

Instead of keeping quality teachers in Washington state, or providing better technology to help our children compete in the future against other countries which are either 1) Quickly gaining on us or 2) Already surpassed us in intelligence/work ethic, we are looking to spend millions of dollars to build another arena. You know, that thousand dollars you spent on season tickets to the Hawks, those thousands of people that did…If each of them had put even a quarter of that money in to their local schools I’m sure it would’ve made a huge difference. “Entertainment”

And lastly, what do I see when I turn on my TV? When I sit and listen to people complain? It’s about how fat they are. It’s about how they wish they could change themselves. It’s about how in a few years they’ll be considering plastic surgery. And sure, I run and workout every other day, and yes, part of it is for my health. But mainly? I’d rather have a six pack than the six pack of beer I’ve got sitting on my gut right now. “Looks”.

So for me, it’s time for a self-audit. And it’s almost kind of sick to be excited about something like that. But as I mentioned before, it’s self-development. Growth. And of course the cynical side of me will still battle with these thoughts. I mean sure I may feel like I’m progressing, but what am I progressing towards?

But really, that’s a lot deeper than I’d like to get in for right now.