weekly post from January 20, 2007

Friends & loved ones,

Another week has passed and we've got a cold snap going here in the Northeast. It's a balmy 18 degrees right now; yeah, balmy if you live on Mount Everest. We had a quiet day today and had no place to go. Oh, well, Jim did go shopping earlier while I did some cleaning around the house.

Last season, Jim and I started watching American Idol and really enjoyed it; me more than him. The audition phase or the "place where you find the next Willam Hung" as I call it, is entertaining but there's something crueler going on during these auditions than the acerbities that come out of Simon Cowell's mouth. I've no doubt that many of the people who audition and don't make it through go just for the thrill of being on tv. However, many of the people who audition and do, to put it tactfully, not have it, seriously think they have a shot and have no sense of how they sound. That's a problem and it's indicative of society in general. People shy away from constructive criticism for fear of hurting someone's feelings. I'd rather have my feelings hurt, however briefly, than go on national tv and become a punchline, a cruel joke, the reason people are laughing and not with me. We should never have delusions about talent; about whether we have it or not. Just because we are good at something doesn't mean we are the best. We should be aware of what we are good at and what we're not good at and hone any talent we have everyday because, it's true what they say, if we don't use it we lose it. We shouldn't rely on ourselves to determine if we are good at something or not and we should always get constructive criticism. The problem is families, friends, relatives, etc... give false praise and not enough emphasis to other talents that may not be so readily apparent. It's a problem because then we see so many deluded people auditioning on national tv. That doesn't mean they should be jeered or cruelly laughed at and made fun of but it does mean that they should never have made it to that point.

Next time someone asks you your opinion about something think before you speak. Are you giving the person false praise or being honest with them?

peace,

paul