Category: Daily Philosophy

As we come to the end of the year we often find ourselves reflecting back on the past and how we can better face the uncertainty of the future that is coming our way.
Life is a strange ride indeed and we are always on the lookout for guideposts whether we realize it or not. I was lucky to find two of them this week and I thought they were worth sharing.

In the wide open spaces of our hearts there is more room than we know. And in times of tragedy we get a glimpse of how much we can feel for others. My wife sent this quote to me last week and I loved it. It has a simple stickiness as an idea that can outlast nearly anything that befalls us.

“When I was a boy and I would see scary things in the news, my mother would say to me, ‘Look for the helpers. You will always find people who are helping.’ To this day, especially in times of disaster, I remember my mother’s words and I am always comforted by realizing that there are still so many helpers—so many caring people in this world.”
—Fred Rogers

And then a day or so later a friend of mine posted this on Facebook. And again I loved the simplicity of the idea.

“Monday Morning. Here we go. Be kind to one another. Really be kind. Think about your actions. Don’t get bogged down in the petty stuff. Just be kind. Smile more. Don’t let people who disagree with you politically upset you. You can’t change their mind and they can’t change yours. Just be kind. Love one another. Take the high road. Do a good deed. Be kind. Go out of your way to be kind. Be the type of kind that when you see it on tv it seems over the top. Be that version of kind. Do the right thing. Be kind.
– Larry Hooper

So there it is. I am going to close out the year with this post.
And I am going to carry these words into the New Year.

Look for the helpers and be kind.

National Geographic is one of my favorite things on the planet. My grandfather had long bookcases that ran the length of the upstairs hallway at his house and they were filled with back issues of National Geographic. I would pull them out and read them from cover to cover whenever I would visit. The bright yellow spine is of the most iconic things inside my brain.

And my father has continued the tradition by giving me a subscription each year at Christmas. I get the postcard wrapped up and it is still by far one of the best gifts I get. And my children get the magazines for their respective ages. I watch the NatGeo channel and follow them on Twitter. I think you get where I am with them as a brand. I am all in.

So I was kind of excited to get an email from them asking me to enter their annual photo contest. Now I am sure that they have run this for many years but this was the first time that I chose to take an interest in it. But this is where the story goes wrong. Like I said – I got all excited about this one night last week and knew just the photo that I wanted to submit. By now you may have guessed that it is the one above. I took this shot about two years ago while I was out visiting my mother at her ranch in the middle of West Texas. I went out for a walk with the camera took the time to lay on the ground and follow this small creature of the earth for some time. This is the result of that endeavor. So I got the photo exported and went to the site and filled out all of the fields on the submission form and was ready to upload the photo to throw my shot in the ring with much more talented photographers than I just because I thought it would be fun.

But then it happened. I hit the paywall. They wanted me to pay $15 for the chance to play the game. Like I said – maybe that’s the way it’s always been done. But they lost me. Why would I pay for this?? I understand barriers. I understand costs. But they lost me.

The world has changed. We no longer need permission. I don’t need to pay you to enter your contest. It should be free and so I closed the tab and quit the browser.

This is the shift that has happened. And not just to me. To the everything. It took me a while to get my heard around it but now I get it. How quickly I was able to move on to something else after a lifetime of branding was a strange thing to realize.