Behind the Street Sweeper

“Whatever you are, be a good one.” - Abraham Lincoln

I am reminded from time to time of the words Dr. Martin Luther King spoke and is quoted in numerous sources. I wanted to find out more about when he first used the words, in what context and how he came about those words.

It appears he first used the words in his speech titled “The Birth of A New Age,” on August 11, 1956. This speech was at the Fiftieth Anniversary of Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity in Buffalo, NY.

Dr. King used these words in many different speeches but this particular speech was to encourage "African Americans on how they can best prepare for the challenges and responsibilities of the “new order” that is replacing the “old order” of colonialism abroad and segregation at home."

About half way through his speech are the following words,

"As someone said, do it so well that the living, dead, or the unborn could do it no better. If your son grows up to be a street cleaner, sweep streets like Michelangelo painted pictures, sweep streets like Beethoven composed music, sweep streets like Shakespeare wrote poetry, sweep streets so well that all the hosts of heaven and earth will have to pause and say, “here lived a great street sweeper who swept his job well”.

Dr. King attributed the words to Morehouse College president Benjamin Mays during a speech to an Atlanta, GA audience (see King, “Facing the Challenge of a New Age,” January 1, 1957, Paul H. Brown Collection).

He went on to paraphrase from a poem written by Douglas Malloch titled “Be the Best of Whatever You Are” (1926).

"If you can’t be a pine on the top of the hill be a shrub on the side, but be the best shrub on the side of the hill. Be a bush if you can’t be a tree, if you can’t be a highway be a trail, if you can’t be the sun be a star. It isn’t by size that you win or you fail. Be the best of whatever you are and that is the second challenge, that we confront the issues of today and prepare to live in this new age."

It is these words I use to remind you today of the greatness one can achieve regardless of where you are in life.

No matter what you do in life. Even in spite of your current condition in life. With timeless words repeated countless times,

Be the best at whatever it is you do.

Stay inspired my friends!

The Little Things

“You need to let the little things that would ordinarily bore you suddenly thrill you.” ― Andy Warhol

I have written quite often how we should be doing small things that touch other people's lives. You open a door, let another car into the line of traffic or maybe sending a smile their way. All good things are returned to you in ways you will never expect. For me it happened in a way I did not expect.

Good things come in unexpected ways.

I was eating dinner with my son who is in the U.S. Army. We had finished eating at a local restaurant and were getting ready to leave. The waitress had brought our bill and I noticed it was short one meal. I called her back over in order to get it corrected. It turns out that someone in the restaurant had paid for my son's meal.

I asked whom it was so that we could thank them, but it was indicated they wished to remain anonymous. A very nice gesture which touched me in a way I didn't think it could. My son was grateful and I could tell in his quiet way that it had made an impression.

Not looking for headlines, just a person doing something nice for another.

All of us can not fly another to Paris to view the Eiffel Tower, but we can give them a key chain. It is the little things that let another person know we are thinking of them or that we do care. A simple gesture that has a grand effect.

The little things in life do matter.

You can do something for others every day of your life. You can start right now, tonight or in the morning - find one small thing to do. To paraphrase a quote, "The smallest deed is better than the greatest intention." Small things become great in their own simplicity.

Stay inspired my friends.

Useless or Important Stuff

"From the time we're born until we die, we're kept busy with artificial stuff that isn't important." - Tom Ford

I have many of the normal excuses you might have for doing something else instead of a needed task.

... was busy with a lot of important paperwork.
... the world was clearly going to end without it.
... was the only one on earth capable of doing it.

There are a lot of things we do each and every single day. Sometimes I simply get busy with the actual work I do each day for a job. I am sure that you are also very busy every day with the work you do.

Do we pile a lot of non-useful stuff onto the pile of important things?

I probably do because I am one of those self-proclaimed multi-tasking people. I find things to do which fill in and mix with the important stuff. During a slow work week, it can be very useful. But when busy, I do have a hard time cutting back and focusing on single tasks.

Heck, if I'm not working composing a document; tweeting every once in a while; checking email; working on a second project; all at the same time while ensuring my coffee cup is full - then I just don't feel I'm getting anything done.

Experts say the important work suffers in quality when we try to multi-task.

For me, quality suffers when I become single task oriented. I can become very bored with a single task but doing multiple things keeps me interested in the individual tasks. It is also my own type of creative process.

Creative process you might ask?

We may not all be artists in the strict definition of the word. But each of us use some level of creativity in most everything we do. The creation of a business proposal, creation of a meal at home, creation of a successful work shift; you probably get the idea.

Regardless of single tasking or multi-tasking, we tend to create artificial needs and the important stuff gets lost many times in busy life? It is of course relative to you and those around you. One persons "important" stuff is another persons "artificial" stuff. You have to decide what works in life and for those that surround your life (ie; spouse, family, friends).

You have to decide what can be tossed to make room for the important.

All of this sounds like setting priorities in ones life. Well it sort of is and don't be surprised if others judge you based upon your priorities. Use common sense and adjust according to you and (again) those in your life.

Some people thrive in a very busy, multi-tasking world.
Some people thrive in a more singular task type of world.

Neither is better than the other. Neither is the right choice for everyone. You have to figure out which one best fits you. From there, achieving things becomes easier, on your terms, with your style.

Useless stuff can be important, it just depends upon you.

Stay inspired my friends!

Roll the Dice

"You roll the dice, and you deal with it." - Hunter S. Thompson

The above quote can be seen in many different places, forms and contexts of meaning. The writer Hunter Thompson had written something similar in his book Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. He wrote the words "buy the ticket, take the ride.” I am unsure if Mr. Thompson would say I have taken his words out of context, but I take them to simply mean that life is our journey.

You make a decision and you live with it.

Some will sit quietly with the shades drawn and allow life around them to roll the dice for them. Others may choose to live life on the edge like the famed Dos Equis (Most Interesting Man In The World) commercial. Many of us live somewhere between the two extremes.

The key thing to remember is that we are the ones to live our own life.

We roll our dice, we buy our ticket and those choices we make constitute the journey we take. We can choose to roll those dice at any point. We can change the direction we are going. We can change the pattern in our way of living. We can change our attitude.

We can change.

So buy the ticket, take the ride, roll the dice and see what comes up. But more importantly, live life.

Stay inspired my friends.