Non-practice

There are some people helping with administrative and logistic things around the church, people who offer their time to help with daily tasks.

Some people might envy those persons for being, all the time, close to God.

On another hand, if you carefully look at the situation you might notice that while they’re always busy doing something, they rarely if ever have time to properly listen and pray in the church.

So close, no matter how far.

Same with NGOs.

I know people who dedicate their lives to helping others.

While that’s nice and noble, there are other ways in which you can have an even bigger impact – for example, getting resources doing other activities, and helping society with those resources.

I think working in an NGO is one of the noblest things one can do for others.

Still, there are even better solutions.

Note – I start here with the assumption that all things are equal: one has the same motivation working for an NGO as doing other tasks. If this isn’t the thing, one’s mileage might vary. This is not career advice, it’s just a thought on a possible solution for improving things. At times, my solution might fail.

Citește mai departePersons helping the church and volunteers within NGOs

I have a great deal of respect towards dr. Alexandru Pesamosca (deceased) and dr. Niculina Bratu (see this, in Romanian »).

Both of these people pretty much sacrificed their lives to the well of others.

It reminds of a scene in Schindler’s list (1993):

– I didn’t do enough!

– You did so much!

Think of it – there are/were people in this world who lived, mostly, for others’ good. That’s impressive!

Citește mai departeSchindler’s list: I didn’t do enough! You did so much!

Once, at my grandparents’ house in Buzău, I was sent into the village. I came back running, to overhear a conversation between my grandfather and my grandmother: “Olivian is a hardworking person. Wherever you send him, he goes.”

My grandfather didn’t use to say too many good things to my face. But when he made that confession to my grandmother, I knew he meant it.

Another memory is with a rather critical teacher from the 8^th grade, who, at least for a moment, I managed to impress.

I think people should say more good things one to another.

The only exception I can think of are monks, who prefer not to be praised.

Praising makes the world better, in my opinion.

I still think of moments when someone told something good about me, it feeds me, it’s a validation I need. I’m trying not to depend on this, but it happens naturally.

Also, don’t fake it. If you don’t mean praising, I wouldn’t do it. Say the truth, don’t just say things.

But if you focus on “What could I say good about this person?”, most likely you’ll come up with something.

Citește mai departePraise the praiser

I like this quote:

The only three things that matter:

• Relationships
• Health
• Purpose

(via Mike Crittenden »)

It reminds me of:

Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

(John 14:6 NIV)

Here, relationships = truth, health = life, purpose = the way.

In the article quoted above, there are also priorities. Is there anything more important to you than those things? If so, is this a rational step?

I think there are multiple levels in life, and in some way or another, you fail to some degree on all of these. But, at the end of the day, you can do your best to achieve these goals, and it might be good for you.

Citește mai departeThings that matter

There is some hardware, like a nice keyboard or an ergonomic chair, which you can hardly test.

Sure, you can go into a store and see if you like it or not, start typing on the keyboard or lean back on the chair.

But how will you feel one week after using it? 3 months? One year?

I don’t think that first impressions are the best in these situations.

As I see it, you can only test if you don’t like some things like that – if you really hate the chair, if the keyboard annoys you a lot.

Citește mai departeTesting hardware – keyboard, chair

Some consider that Shrek wasn’t a success:

“The fairytale comedy was a hit with critics and audiences but its toilet humour, glibness and shoddy animation mark it out as a misfire”. (Shrek at 20: an unfunny and overrated low for blockbuster animation | Animation in film | The Guardian)

When you compare Shrek with the dream-like princesses, to me some things are worth mentioning:

• Shrek didn’t do much self-improvement. Sure, as in any movie, the main hero wants to improve on a specific thing. But, all-in-all, Shrek was happy with not succeeding. Not great, but happy.
• On another hand, most of Disney princesses focus on being almost perfect, like a dream. They focus on self-improvement a bit too much. Great, but, perhaps, less happy.
• What’s the solution? Get the best out of both worlds. You do need to become better, you can’t just be happy with your state. On another hand, you can accept some things are they are and fully enjoy life.

Citește mai departeShrek vs. The dream princesses

I think that in order to be a good professional, you might need to know some things outside of your area.

Leonardo da Vinci knew a lot of things.

Nicolae Steinhardt, if I’m not mistaken, recommends monks to know some other things, not necessarily focus 100% on Theology.

Andrei Pleșu: “Dar cine îşi imaginează că a nu citi, a nu cădea niciodată pe gînduri, a te purta birjăreşte, a te ocupa numai de şmecherii şi aranjamente adaugă ceva calităţii tale umane e la fel de smintit ca cel care crede că a fi frecventat bibliotecile e a fi deja cu sufletul în rai şi a avea un ascendent inatacabil asupra oricui.”

There was a quote that when you need to choose between two professionals if they’re of generally equal value it might be a better idea to choose the one with a greater culture.

Even if you work with numbers and information bits (0s and 1s), you might still need some theater, some literature.

You do need logic, demonstration and technical parts.

But if you want to be a good professional it might be wiser to have a balanced formation, not just technical, but also art-related, not only art-related but also technical.

A quote:

Andrei Pleșu discută cu Sever Voinescu, redactor-șef al Dilemei vechi, despre cultură și tinerii de azi. „A venit un om la mine, un inginer, și mi-a spus: După ce am citit Jurnalul de la Păltiniș, am devenit un mai bun inginer“. (Andrei Pleșu despre ce poate stîrni cultura în oameni – Dilema veche)

Citește mai departeFully developed professional

”The best arguments in the world won’t change a single person’s mind. The only thing that can do that is a good story.” – Richard Powers

I tend not to send others information about vaccination – if you believe the information, you don’t need it, if you don’t need it, you won’t listen.

Things go the same with faith – you don’t need to be proven that God exists, you believe in Him or not.

My purpose is not to try and influence anyone’s opinion on this.

I want to state my views, but without ever hoping that this will change someone’s mind.

The wish to change others is natural, the expectation that this will actually happen, is not, in my opinion.

Citește mai departeChanging someone’s mind