A different perspective?

The other day one of my colleagues shared some historical letters from WWII. 

These letters were from his uncle Peter (that he was named after), his grandma, and his aunt. They talked about intensive fighting, awful living and fighting conditions, letters that expressed thanks for gifts, and letters about loss as his brother-in-law and friend were killed.  You could tell that both sides tried hard not to have the others worry.  One letter Peter wrote to his sister had a hole in it, with the words "This letter saved my live.  That is a bullet hole.  Please don't tell mom as she will worry."  This was the last letter sent before Peter was also killed.  Peter was killed in Russia.  His other brother was killed in Holland.

My colleague translated these letters for me as they were written in German.  My first thought was "these were the enemies of WWII" but as we talked more about how his family fought for the German army because that was what was expected it made me think.  This was a family who suffered the same things that other families suffered during the war just because they were doing something that was expected of them. 

Sometimes the little details get lost in the larger picture and I can attest that sometimes it is hard to change our perspective.  I am embarrassed to say that it took me awhile to be able to think about these letters without thinking of this family as being "the enemy".  This was just about a brother and a son who lost his life during a war and left behind a grieving family. 

Increasing Knowledge

We recently brought in the Chinese New Year at the same time as our banquet and had such a great time.  While we were cleaning up, Ms. Ward and I were talking about the other Chinese traditions that are part of the New Year.  These were things we never realized and it made me start to think how there are many times that we may have limited information or incomplete knowledge.  Think back to the last time someone asked you a question and you found yourself stumbling and giving an answer with your best “guess”, or if you started your answer with “I think…”.  This was probably a time you could have benefited from more understanding on that subject. 

I want to increase my knowledge and become more familiar with our charities this year.  I know the names of our charities, I know the details of each, I know why they are important but I do not really KNOW them.  I want to increase my knowledge but I also want to find things that make me passionate so I can speak to others about them and hopefully spark their passion.  I am starting this now, so as we get closer to the Pandamonium, I will have practiced my “vocabulary” and get others involved.

Last year as a team we had an amazing year!  This year, let’s make it even better.  I would like to challenge each team member to find at least one of the charities and REALLY get to know it.  Let’s start working together to increase our vocabulary so we can make this the best Pandamonium year yet!

See you at the Kwoon!  Don’t forget Pink Shirt Day is coming up Feb 28^th.

 

Banquet Items - 2018

Supplies Needed

Front greeting area

Hand sanitizer

Basket for tickets

Table setup

Green masking tape

Extension cords

Duct tape

100’ Measuring tape – we usually brought this but the kids broke it

Black tablecloths for silent auction

SRKF flags

Silent Auction

Pens and Markers

Money box with float

Calculator

Dessert/Coffee Table

Bowls for coffeemate

Bowls for sugar packets

Flippers for dessert

Sugar

Cream

Stir sticks

Tea

Coffee

Basket for spoons for dessert and/or coffee

Serving Tables

Baskets for soya sauce and fortune cookies

Jugs for dispensing pineapple sauce

Kitchen

T-towels (marked)

Dish cloths

Dish soap

Hand Soap

towels for hands

Rubber spatulas

White totes for bussing tables

Large knives for cutting dessert

Black markers

Large Freezer bags - use for silverware returns

Black garbage bags

Oven mitts for moving food

Rubber gloves for scraping plates

Bye to the Rooster!

Well, the Year of the Rooster is coming to an end. 


Its been a year of once in a life experiences, a year of challenges, and a year of rewards.  Its been a pretty amazing Rooster group and the year seemed to fly by so very quickly. 


I joined KungFu to get some exercise since I was at the kwoon anyways.  I have always enjoyed coming to KungFu, it was a great stress release and great people to be around.  Slowly I've progressed up the belts and made it to where I am today, but this year something has changed and its hard to put my finger on it except for the simple fact that "I want my black belt".  I know it is many years of hard work still to come but I look forward to the challenge.


Also this year I have been working on building back up my shoulder and strengthening my knee muscles.  Both of these I thought were tough until I bruised some ribs last week.  That caused me to sit on the sidelines on Saturday and I can't tell you how disappointed I felt as I was letting down the team, especially my cane partner Sifu Beckett.  This gave me time to reflect on how to train smarter through this injury so this week I will try to rest and find ways to train without aggravating things further.  This may have put my running training behind schedule but at least my horse stance time will improve.
 
Not really a great end to the Year of the Rooster but at least I can be thankful that I wasn't in the dragon this year! 

Perceptions and Assumptions

Something recently that affected me greatly was the challenge of my beliefs and values.  Mike and I were told that we had too high expectations and we needed to bring them in check.   It really makes you look at yourself when you are told that you have too high standards and expect too much of others on things that I believe are our foundation. 

Some people may see things that are foundational to you as not important to them or others.  My initial reaction to this comment was defensiveness (how can someone even challenge this) and hurt (what am I doing wrong) and self-doubt (why did I even do this).  How can something as basic as responsibility and accountability be too high of an expectation?  Where in society has things changed so drastically that its "acceptable" to be even less than mediocre.  Why am I expected to reward someone for just "showing up"?  Why is it wrong to push someone when you see their potential? 

As I try to understand "why" I was challenged on my fundamental expectations, the hurt is starting to decrease and I am not quite so defensive but I am now finding a feeling of apathy and that bothers me more as now I am accepting mediocrity.  That being said, I do not regret my decisions, regret is just a wasted emotion. 

These emotions are really still raw but as I write this, I am realizing that my foundational values and beliefs are just that, they are mine.  That is why we surround ourselves with like minds and feed off the same energies, but if we don't let ourselves be open and take the risk of getting our values and beliefs challenged, how can we be sure they are really our foundation?  Everyone has values and beliefs and holds onto them strongly although they may differ slightly or greatly between each person.  Trying to understand those differences will make us more compassionate to each other and that is what I am hoping to accomplish as I continue to work through this.