Archive for March, 2011

Yes, you can be replaced

Sunday, March 13th, 2011

Mother Nature has a very strange way of harming and protecting us at the same time.  The devastating earthquake in Japan stole the headlines from Charlie Sheen.

I fought my instincts to  give Mr. Sheen additional undeserved attention, but the magazine covers on the supermarket checkout line beckoned me to state an opinion.

Interesting that Mr. Sheen felt irreplaceable, which relates to a recent NY Times article by David Brooks on our overwhelming overconfidence.

Healthy self-esteem is a good thing to have, but we can’t all be ‘A’ players, students, workers, dancers, singers, etc. and we all certainly can’t be the winners we believe we are.  The majority of people are average; hence the concept of average.

Cheer for your basketball player, applaud for your dancer, give confidence to your student, but more importantly, encourage them to be better for their sake of their own continuous improvement.

“The cemeteries of the world are full of indispensable men.”

–        Charles de Gaulle

As you know, your families are the only people who find you irreplaceable.