The
following movie clip is one of my best-loved scenes in any movie.
The team from a small rural town arrives in the city to play for the
state championship in a large basketball arena. On arriving in town,
their coach Norman Dale takes them to the court on which the game
will be played. He wants to make a vital point.
The
coach makes the point that the championship game will be played on a
court exactly like the familiar court in their hometown. He might also have
said that like the measurements of the court, the fundamentals of the
game remain primarily, perhaps entirely, the same. The lesson
extends for me even further to the human experience itself. No
matter what court we are playing on, we can be sure that the
fundamentals of human nature never change.
Today
I visited my financial adviser, Greg Helck, at Raymond James. After a
fairly exhaustive discussion of finances, Greg and I (as we are want
to do) talked about issues that allowed us to understand each other
better in a broader sense. We touched on several subjects that had
one conclusion in common – fundamentals matter.
For
example, we discussed the importance of language. Those unskilled in
the use of language have a significant disadvantage in the
fundamentals of thought. (This is perhaps the one place in the modern
world where a generalized skill can contend with specialized ones).
This evening my wife and I discussed it, and Kathy remarked that
without language skills one is left to compensate for the deficit by
thinking in pictures. For example, for the underprivileged with
deficits in language skills; gold chains, gold teeth, and flashy cars
can be imaged graphically. On the other hand, extremely important
matters of an abstract nature cannot be so easily pictured—they are
abstractions; but like the abstractions of math, they are essential
for the human enterprise and require for comprehension a rich
vocabulary in concert with well-practiced verbal thought processes.
I think right away of the department where I work. The St.
Petersburg’s Parks and Recreation programs build character with:
Self Discipline, Teamwork, Achievement, Responsibility, Respect, and
Honesty. Training and activities (including abstract indoctrination)
are used to instill these values.
Another
fundamental discussed with Greg had to do with the essential kinship
between behavior early and late. That is, a businessman may start
out his business with a spirit of philanthropy expressed in terms of
helping his clients. In fact, he may get such satisfaction from
helping them that the financial compensation so derived is secondary;
he would do it, if he could, for free. After abundant success this
same spirit can be expressed in terms of financial support for
cherished causes. But it's important to understand that there is no
difference in the underlying spirit. Likewise, there are many people
of modest means who are significant benefactors in many ways other
than money—but the philanthropic spirit is identical to that of our
successful businessman.
We
also discussed the fundamental need to positively adjust attitude to
meet any necessity—even otherwise unpleasant ones. For me the
attitude adjusting tool that most immediately comes to mind is the
Lord's Prayer. When it's considered carefully in its entirety, it
provides almost the perfect tool for such adjustment. I would
recommend to any non-believer, if only for a moment, that they
suspend their disbelief and recite this prayer.
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