PostSecret

Secret:
People who quote Ghandi REALLY get on my nerves.

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Tonight, as a family, we sat down and took the personality class my dad administers to his management classes. Here are some of my results regarding my work performance and relationships:


People like me
usually are.......................................................which can be seen as
Flexible ………………………………………………….Wishy-washy
Optimistic …………………………………………………..Unrealistic
Enthusiastic ………………………………………………..Egotistical
Confident, poised …………………………………….Self-promoting
Tactful …………………………………………………………Evasive
Socially adept ……………………………………………….Insincere
Persuasive ………………………………………………Manipulative
Fun-loving …………………………………………………….Childish
Spontaneous …………………………………………..Undisciplined
Tolerant …………………………………………..Non-discriminative
Open …………………………………………………………Talkative
Trusting ………………………………………………………..Gullible

Overview of Traits:

Characteristic: Persuasive, confident

Traits: Impulsive, flexible, charming, poised, warm, friendly, talkative, enthusiastic, optimistic, emotional, sympathetic, generous

Motivators: Inspired purpose, creative solution

Values:Pleasure, fun, freedom of speech, openness, honesty, active experimentation, creativity, inspiration, insight

Typically Overuses: Optimism, enthusiasm, overselling self/ideas, tact, indirect approaches, praise, encouragement, tolerance, flexibility, impulsiveness

Value to the Team: Poised, confident, delegates responsibility, promotes people and projects, generates ideas and enthusiasm, sees the big picture, sees innovative solutions, relieves tension

Points to Remember when Dealing with People Like Me:

Goals
*To get things done in a creative way
*To keep people happy/satisfied
*To create democratic working relationships
*To maintain freedom from control/details

Likes
*Working with others, yet maintaining flexibility
*Approval and recognition

Dislikes
*Being bogged down in detail and follow through
*Working in a fixed environment
*Taking advantage of others
*Having to “hard sell”

Problem Solving
*Focuses on the “big picture”; applies imagination, creativity, insight

Decision Making
*Makes decisions quickly and can just as quickly change their minds

Time Orientation
*Thinks about tomorrow’s possibilities

Respects People Who…
*Maintain open minds
*Collaborate with them

Greatest Fear
*Loss of social approval

Driving Thoughts III

• On my way home, I was listening to Manchester Orchestra. I marveled at the originality of composition. These are new melodies and new sets of words that come from a perfectly ordinary person. (I know, because I met him and many like him.) For someone who loves art as much as I do, I often take for granted the miracle of artistic creation. What an extraordinary thing to make something beautiful and sophisticated from nearly nothing!
  
  
• I really hate when I make punctuation mistakes on my blog.
  
  
• I hate Florida. It is an ugly, cultural wasteland--or so I whine--but I love my job. In an irritating moment of truth, a friend pointed out to me that I don't get Montverde Academy without Florida. Furthermore, I suspect I wouldn't appreciate my job so much if I didn't hate Florida as much as I do. If I hadn't come from a horrible administration, would I really appreciate mine so much? If I hadn't had the anti-students, would I really be as glad for the sometimes-mediocre set I have now? If my artistic well weren't so dry, would I really enjoy all that I read and learn at school so much? It seems pretty unlikely. It's really a delightful thing to be aware of one's gratitude. Gratitude begets joy. I just don't really think I'd select for myself the progression of misery->gratitude-> joy.
  

Progressivism

In my AP class, we have been digging at the nature of Progressivism, a time in the early 20th century heralded for its tremendous social, political, and economic reform.

• Was it really a movement by the people to curb powerful interests? (The actual success of the efforts indicate otherwise).
• Or was it just an effory by a small, displaced elite to restore its authority?
• Was it a product of status anxiety in the middle class, representing the efforts of a nationalized middle class to secure their place in society?
• Or was it a movement where corporate leaders use the government to protect themselves from competition?
• Was it just a quest for women to attain cultural and political prominance?
• Or was it a broad effort by professionals and other middle-class people to bring order and efficiency to political and economic life?

We have been going over the causes and effects of the developing capitalist hold on American society from this period, and the by-product problems of the excruciating changes brought by industrialization, urbanization, and immigration. We have also been looking at the dire poverty of the tenements and the graft and corruption of what is supposed to be the most democratic economic and political systems.

We are taught how free competition is what's fairest, and that controlling the equality of outcome produces defective results. But it seems like the defective results of the current system go ignored. Where is the part of this glorious system that protects the voice of the broken, displaced, and destitute?

I am reading Isaiah again for the first time in five years. Its poetry and language has always moved me, but now, with the historical and political preoccupation that is one of my professional hazards, I am struck by how relevant it is. I am startled by the way its identification of defects in side-tracked Hebrew society so clearly reflects the ones in ours.


Isaiah 1:16-17 says,
"...Stop doing wrong,
learn to do right!
Seek justice,
encourage the oppressed.
Defend the cause of the fatherless,
plead the case of the widow.

Various social experiments have offered solutions that eliminate the competition in society as a way of preventing the creation of a group of "losers"--the poor and powerless. In Isaiah's first chapter, he identifies the qualities of societies that truly follow God and those that don't. It is important to note here that Isaiah doesn't call for the elimination of outcasts, but insists on their protection. It's not the system that is defective, it is the people.

The ambiguity and long-term ineffectiveness of Progressive reform is a function of the systemic approach to change instead of a personal one. The Progressives saw the need to take care of the oppressed, the fatherless, and the widows; there were so many, they could hardly be ignored. But I think they failed because they kept trying to change the system instead of the people. Is. 16-17 reveals that true reform is a process directed by God. "Wash and make yourselves clean." "Stop doing wrong [and] learn to do right." "Seek justice [and] encourage the oppressed." These are not synonyms, but steps.

It is not enough to just behave well personally, but good behavior must overflow into an outward acting against oppressors. The application of true justice doesn't just mediate the effects of the oppressor, but it fights to restrain him. Good works are not enough to make a real change in a broken society. Isaiah reveals that deep, lasting reform comes from an individual righteousness that overflows from a covenant with God.

On our best day, we might be able to wash away the grime of materialism and competition, but we won't be truly cleansed until we individually submit to the righteousness of God from the inside out.