So you think you’re a self-made person?
Self-images
Last year the same question was mostly answered by a book received at Christmas from my daughter. My comments then from my nearly daily Ramblings:
July 19, 2009–house sitting a War Horse Farm near Sarasota, Florida
Not many months ago I read a book that described quite well the circumstances that move a person along their pathways to become what they become, Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell. There is the easily made comment that a person is self-made but Malcolm has shown that many others relative to any self-made person have been the real stepping stones for without them, that person would not, through their own efforts, have become the end product at any particular time.
What or why do events or actions or things, call these what you will, happen to people? For example, there have been many times which I have recognized and some written about that occur in my life, those not-on-purpose happenings that come together at a near single time. Here’s the most recent one.
I’d looked through most all of the DVDs and VHS tapes here in the house—screened several that interested me—and watched various TV programs available via Direct TV. Yesterday evening I decided to check out the DVDs that fill a very large box in the apartment above the stables. There’s maybe two hundred of them, mostly action stuff that I have little interest in. However I did select perhaps five or six with the final selection becoming the one I had wanted to see when I watched an episode of Charlie Rose interviewing George Clooney—Good night. And good luck. The story of Edward R. Murrow with emphasis on his reporting of the McCarthy witch hunts for communists. I put it into the player and watched one of the most important reporting episodes in U.S. history. Clooney played the part of Fred Friendly, the producer of the news program, Person to Person. Murrow and Friendly together were allowed to present whatever they wanted without ever being told “No,” by CBS. Together they brought McCarthy before a Senate Hearing Committee.
Now the strange thing here is the fact that Walter Cronkite died on the 17th of the month, just a day before I selected the movie! It was Murrow who brought Cronkite to CBS. And it was both of them that I feel have been the greatest of news reporters. I watched Cronkite during the Viet Nam war, JFK’s assassination, Robert’s assassination, King’s assassination, the moon landing, etc. Murrow was not on my radar until I was older and he was dead. I was in eighth grade when he took on McCarthy, which was not a time in my life when I watched much news for we had just gotten a TV a year or two earlier.
This morning, Sunday, July 19, 2009, CBS’ Sunday Morning devoted the entire hour-and-a-half to Walter. This evening at 7 PM they will broadcast another one hour program to him.
What I’m trying to say here is that I have gravitated to certain things not by chance, but by some intervention—that for whatever reason those things I have great interest in seem to come to a surface at what seems to be crucial points in my life. Without being here, in Florida, at this ranch, at this time, I’d not have seen any of this. Why I’m here and how it came to be are not steps anyone can consciously say had a directness towards what I’ve just described. Michael’s comment, my Nephew, that day more than a year ago while driving by this ranch; my response that I’d like to house sit; my decision to leave the house in Bellaire, Texas after visiting the Waco rally of GMC motor homes and purchasing one; Michael’s email that there was interest in me sitting this place. All of these events resulted in the past two days of happenings, events without direction—or was there?
I’m not saying that my life has changed significantly because of these just described events. My life is what it is today, I feel, by not accepting opportunities that could have moved me along better pathways in addition to finally having been diagnosed with ADHD and Bi-Polar Disorder.
If you think you’re “self-made” perhaps you might take a little time and think about the people in your past. Look carefully to see where they had influence that allowed or guided you along a slightly different path than one you might have otherwise taken. And if you feel you’re not where you wanted to be, look even more carefully for those missed opportunities.
Tags: 4x5, black and white, Don Eddy, personality, photography, Polaroid, Sandy Eddy, self-image, self-made, success
This entry was posted
on Thursday, July 1st, 2010 at 10:55 PM and is filed under General News/Commentary.
You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
Self-made persons?
So you think you’re a self-made person?
Self-images
Last year the same question was mostly answered by a book received at Christmas from my daughter. My comments then from my nearly daily Ramblings:
July 19, 2009–house sitting a War Horse Farm near Sarasota, Florida
Not many months ago I read a book that described quite well the circumstances that move a person along their pathways to become what they become, Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell. There is the easily made comment that a person is self-made but Malcolm has shown that many others relative to any self-made person have been the real stepping stones for without them, that person would not, through their own efforts, have become the end product at any particular time.
What or why do events or actions or things, call these what you will, happen to people? For example, there have been many times which I have recognized and some written about that occur in my life, those not-on-purpose happenings that come together at a near single time. Here’s the most recent one.
I’d looked through most all of the DVDs and VHS tapes here in the house—screened several that interested me—and watched various TV programs available via Direct TV. Yesterday evening I decided to check out the DVDs that fill a very large box in the apartment above the stables. There’s maybe two hundred of them, mostly action stuff that I have little interest in. However I did select perhaps five or six with the final selection becoming the one I had wanted to see when I watched an episode of Charlie Rose interviewing George Clooney—Good night. And good luck. The story of Edward R. Murrow with emphasis on his reporting of the McCarthy witch hunts for communists. I put it into the player and watched one of the most important reporting episodes in U.S. history. Clooney played the part of Fred Friendly, the producer of the news program, Person to Person. Murrow and Friendly together were allowed to present whatever they wanted without ever being told “No,” by CBS. Together they brought McCarthy before a Senate Hearing Committee.
Now the strange thing here is the fact that Walter Cronkite died on the 17th of the month, just a day before I selected the movie! It was Murrow who brought Cronkite to CBS. And it was both of them that I feel have been the greatest of news reporters. I watched Cronkite during the Viet Nam war, JFK’s assassination, Robert’s assassination, King’s assassination, the moon landing, etc. Murrow was not on my radar until I was older and he was dead. I was in eighth grade when he took on McCarthy, which was not a time in my life when I watched much news for we had just gotten a TV a year or two earlier.
This morning, Sunday, July 19, 2009, CBS’ Sunday Morning devoted the entire hour-and-a-half to Walter. This evening at 7 PM they will broadcast another one hour program to him.
What I’m trying to say here is that I have gravitated to certain things not by chance, but by some intervention—that for whatever reason those things I have great interest in seem to come to a surface at what seems to be crucial points in my life. Without being here, in Florida, at this ranch, at this time, I’d not have seen any of this. Why I’m here and how it came to be are not steps anyone can consciously say had a directness towards what I’ve just described. Michael’s comment, my Nephew, that day more than a year ago while driving by this ranch; my response that I’d like to house sit; my decision to leave the house in Bellaire, Texas after visiting the Waco rally of GMC motor homes and purchasing one; Michael’s email that there was interest in me sitting this place. All of these events resulted in the past two days of happenings, events without direction—or was there?
I’m not saying that my life has changed significantly because of these just described events. My life is what it is today, I feel, by not accepting opportunities that could have moved me along better pathways in addition to finally having been diagnosed with ADHD and Bi-Polar Disorder.
If you think you’re “self-made” perhaps you might take a little time and think about the people in your past. Look carefully to see where they had influence that allowed or guided you along a slightly different path than one you might have otherwise taken. And if you feel you’re not where you wanted to be, look even more carefully for those missed opportunities.
Tags: 4x5, black and white, Don Eddy, personality, photography, Polaroid, Sandy Eddy, self-image, self-made, success
This entry was posted on Thursday, July 1st, 2010 at 10:55 PM and is filed under General News/Commentary. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.