 |
|||
John Y. Brown, III Photo HereRecovering PoliticianTHEN: Secretary of State (KY), 1996-2004; Candidate for Lieutenant Governor, 2007 NOW: JYB3 Group (Owner) -public affairs consulting firm; Miller Wells law firm (Of counsel) Full Biography: link   
But wished I had. If I had learned to play guitar, this is what I would have looked and sounded like. More than likely. If things had gone according to plan. Now you are probably wishing I’d learned how to play guitar too. And know how I feel. Fortunately , Carlos Santana, unlike me, did learn. At least we can all be grateful for that. And, I might add, I did learn to play air guitar to several Carlos Santana songs. Which is a consolation. To me, at least.
 “Weight where you are the healthiest and happiest”
I was talking to my wife this morning about me losing a little more weight. Rebecca asked me to think back and ask myself what was the weight I felt the healthiest and most comfortable with myself and to make that my ideal weight and try to attain it. After reflecting for a few moments, I had my answer and responded to Rebecca. It was when I weighed 7 lbs and 11 oz. Practical and helpful negotiating advice I learned from my father “Give a little, take a little, but don’t break up the game.” We need each other and the best long term strategy for being someone wants to so business with is to be fair to others. They deserve it and will appreciate the respect —and help the “game” keep going (and with you in it).
You will go farther in life being average and kind than smart and condescending: Besides who wants to “play” with people like the latter category anyway? Be a person who gives and little and takes a little and is in the game. Re-thinking old assumptions and Prince Charming. We go through life locked in to certain beliefs, goals and aspirations. That is fine but many of the beliefs we carry with us at ages 20,30, 40 and beyond are based on subconscious decisions we made when we were children. We adopted a belief about ourselves, the world and what we wanted to do in life and, in many instances, have never pulled out those beliefs and looked at them from an adult perspective. Maybe they were good assumptions we made about life and we decide, as an adult, to keep that belief. But others won’t be as sensible to our grown-up selves as they seemed when we were, say, age 10. Think about Prince Charming. Ladies this is for you. We men are told that all women want to marry a Prince Charming.
“Sure,” I conceded, “he was handsome but what would you talk about after the first date? Probably him. It would be all about him. You can tell by looking at him. Do you really want that?” I honestly can’t remember anything else about that conversation. It probably ended then. My real goal was to set the bar much lower for me than Prince Charming so I could step over it. I did successfully set the bar lower. Whether I have stepped over it or not is a question only Rebecca can answer. But at least I’m not a “Dandy” The next “Big Idea”
The most brilliant solutions are usually the most obvious. Mine is no exception. After you hear it, you will want to kick yourself for not thinking of it yourself. I believe that given the extent of our national debt coupled with individual’s lack of retirement savings and the disappointing failure of multitasking to allow us to complete all of our errands and “action items” each day in our frantic wireless world that never turns off, we need a solution that is bold and “out of the box” — a “game changer,” if you will. Here’s my idea to solve all these problems. It’s this generation’s Star Wars Missile Defense System. Only better. We must use our best and brightest scientific minds to get an extension, as it were—via Mother Nature. We need to slow the rate at which the Earth rotates. Not a lot. Just a little—so that it is barely noticeable after the first month or two (like in the 1970s when the speed limit was dropped to 55 mph to reduce our national usage of and reliance on foreign oil. Car pooling helped to.)
Will it work? I think the Japanese are already doing this and having quantifiable success. Retirement savings are up and cavities are down, per capita We need to “catch up” and we aren’t able to “speed up” any more. Slowing the Earth to lengthen our calendars is the only thing that makes sense. Who doesn’t love that feeling of getting an extra week to finish an major assignment you are behind on or moving a conference call you aren’t prepared for to the following week? This solution would do that for everything! If this doesn’t work, the federal government will be left with no choice but to require the only beverage served in the US to be Red Bull–to speed us up artificially. And not only would that not work since most of us are already hopped up on caffeine, but drinking that much Red Bull daily is really bad for our teeth and causes gingivitis. This “game changer” solution just makes good common sense! Not to mention political, economic , and dental sense. Its brilliant but not a panacea. We should still encourage car pooling too. It can’t hurt. For my entire adult life whenever I would walk past a noisy bar with young intoxicated people and catch their eyes, I have always felt very intimidated—and dismissed —by the rowdy unrestrained “cool” types hanging out at places like that. Until a few years ago, that is. I’m wearing a blue blazer and slacks and maybe even a tie. It’s not like I fit in. But I was thinking maybe I’m getting cooler with age I’m not as intimidated either. And my our eyes lock with these younger types, it doesn’t feel like they are being dismissive of me anymore. I really liked the possibility that of the “I’m getting cooler with age” theory, until it happened again last night. And I looked a little deeper into the glazed over eyes of the 25 year old unshaven young man with tattered jeans and a hipster air. His look of “respect” toward me wasn’t because he thought I was “cool.” It was because I reminded him of someone who could be his boss —and could fire him.
And after letting that sink in a little bit, I decided, it was even cooler than being cool. Thought for the day:Today I am going to have an attitude like the stick figures who work for the “Life is Good” clothing line.They always seem so happy and grateful –like they are having a good day.Not all day.
Because it gets old being line that all the time.And, frankly, the overly-pleasant skinny skinny stick people get on your nerves after a while. It’s like being around a bunch of people who just discovered Prozac or something.
It’s not real.But for this morning , I am going to be like a “Life is Good” stick person.
If you are almost 50 years old:
Go to a Starbucks where they don’t know you by name. Order whatever you would normally order. And here’s the prank part. Give them a fake name In a few minutes your drink will be ready and they will alert you —not by your real name but some totally bogus fake name! It’s hilarious and no one will know but you
I made up the name “Beauregard Brown.” And when the barista glanced up to ask the inevitable, I responded, “Please don’t ask if you can call me ‘Bo.’ I hate the nickname ‘Bo’….Oh, OK, you can use the nickname ‘Bo’ for my coffee cup.” She thanked me and smiled like I had done her a great favor by not requiring her to write out the name “Beauregard” on my “tall” (which must mean puny in Seattle) coffee cup. But tomorrow I will be ready. If it’s really slow service I will tell her I am from KY where we have a lot of hyphenated male first names, like mine: Buearegard-Bob. And let her try to write out the whole first name.
Or both? My son turned 19 yesterday. I remember as a teenager my best friend and his father would wrestle with each other in their home. It was a way of interacting in a fun and friendly way but could also get intense at times. My friend told me later that the intensity was caused by his father being challenged that he was being displaced as the “man of the house” or the “stronger man between the two” and that all fathers had ego challenges when this natural turning point occurred with a son. (His father was a psychologist so he got deeper explanations for things than I did)
As I hugged my son good night last night, I noticed he was taller than me. Finally. I mentioned this to him and he said matter-of-factly, “Yeah, I know.” And didn’t show the slightest bit of remorse or need to reassure me of my dominant male role in the family. I felt like asking him if he wanted to wrestle me. But just didn’t have the energy at that moment.  I remember as a child–maybe at about age 6 or 7 –my mom let me start brushing my own hair to get ready for school. I was proud of my independence signified by my responsibility for the hair on my head.
As I grew older, about ages 13-14, I graduated to a new level and had to start shaving my peach fuzz-like growth on my upper lip. A year or two later, another step still— as I began shaving not only my entire lower face but shaving daily.
And then….and then…. I still brush my hair, shave my entire lower face and upper neck and occasionally ask my wife to shave the back of my neck…but as I have moved into my 40s now additionally trim my eye brows every two weeks and even check my ear canals once or twice a month for errant hair growths. What’s next? No. On second thought, I don’t want to know. |
| ||
| Copyright © 2024 The Recovering Politician - All Rights Reserved | |||
Follow John Y: