A bit of a snarling post today. Just weary of petulance and pettiness; don't think I have a good temperament for leadership. At least for today. Peace on your bit of earth is my wish today!
"It is not the critic who counts: not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles or where the doer of deeds could have done better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly, who errs and comes up short again and again, because there is no effort without error or shortcoming, but who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, who spends himself for a worthy cause; who, at the best, knows, in the end, the triumph of high achievement, and who, at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who knew neither victory nor defeat."
Theodore Roosevelt
Citizenship in a Republic
Speech at the Sorbonne, Paris, April 23, 1910
Speech at the Sorbonne, Paris, April 23, 1910
That's a good quote. Saying not to take it personally obviously doesn't help, since the criticism IS directed toward you -- and at you, and near you... knowing that there is long-standing background issues with your job, I guess your best defense is to remind people that you're ushering in a whole new epoch, and, since you've been at your job for five minutes, maybe they could give you ten more to get your feet wet...?!
ReplyDeleteSince you couldn't muster a poem for Friday, I found you one by Nikki Grimes. It is one for Gaspar...
ReplyDeleteAll those years of poring over
charts and scrolls on astronomy,
then suddenly, it was as if
the Morning Star
leapt from the page
and rose into the sky.
I have waiting for its appearing
so long, I know its shape by heart.
This star marks the Messiah's birth.
God, at last, has come to earth
and I must find him!
"Brothers, it is time for us
to begin the journey
for which we were born.
Pack quickly and take
a gift for the King.
We leave in the morning."
From the new book, Voices of Christmas. It's allegedly a children's book of poetry, but is a cross-over, I feel. Good stuff in there.