Thanks and Wishes

It’s the time of year when we engage in a lot of reflection.  We should do this all year but it’s nice to have a traditional season to sort out what we are blessed with, what we aspire to, and what we’re going to do about it.  Beginning with Thanksgiving here in the US and continuing through New Year’s Day, we are all taught to look back and then forward (and are subjected to an avalanche of commercial messages instructing us in how to do so and how much to spend) in order to achieve our primary goal in life: happiness.

So without further ado, and with minimal commercial content, here are a few things I’m thankful for and some of my wishes for the 2011 holidays.

What I’m Thankful For

• I am gainfully employed.  In this economy, that’s something to be thankful for indeed.  I am very fortunate to have a good job doing something I love.
• I am economically secure (related to the above).  Materially, my family wants for nothing (if you don’t count ridiculous desires).  We have a nice house, enjoy good food and wine, and can fix or replace stuff when it breaks.  I’m not “in the 1%” – far from it – but I truly couldn’t ask for more.  If I do so on occasion, indulge me; I’m American, after all.
• There is enough left over that I can be generous with my family, my friends and the causes I believe in.  This, to me, is the essence of economic security.
• I am in relative good health.  I’ve had a few challenges this year but I have absolutely nothing to complain about and a lot to be thankful for.
• I have an amazing family, and they are all doing well in their lives and health.
• I have equally amazing friends of all shapes, sizes and ages. I feel that after many years I’ve finally become part of the community that I live in, despite my ridiculous business travel schedule. This is in no small part because my friends make an effort to reach out to me and because we have the social communication tools to do so.  So yes, among other things, I’m thankful for Twitter.
• Despite all of our problems and challenges I still believe that this is the greatest country in the world to live in.  I’m thankful I was born to it and can participate in our great national roller coaster.

My Holiday Wishes

I already have the iPad; I made my lovely wife give it to me early.  Anything material beyond that is superfluous.  So a few non-material things that I’d love to see for the holidays:

• I want the people in my life who are in poor health to get better.  Now would be good.  Above all, this is my most fervent wish.
• I want my family and friends to smile a lot.  And to reach out for help when they feel they can’t.  And I want the power to correct that.
• I want our elected officials to collectively grow a pair and start acting in the interest and service of the country instead of in the service of ideology, maximum campaign contributions and the next election. Sometimes I ask too much but this is about my wishes, right?
• I want the Patriots and the Ravens to win out their regular season schedules, and meet in the AFC Championship.  Then I want the Pats to win BIG on their way to a Super Bowl victory.  This may be partly inconsistent with my second wish -- sorry Baltimore.
• I want to never forget for a moment what I have (see “What I’m Thankful For” above).

If you want to do something for me this holiday season (and I know you do!), there is something on my list that you can help with.  Please give whatever you can to the American Cancer Society, or any other organization that helps fight cancer.  This disease is affecting many of the people I love and care for and we need to keep making progress towards a cure.  I’d appreciate that a lot more than a sweater.

Happy, warm, peaceful and joyous holidays to everyone!

Mobbies!

The voters have spoken, and the 2011 Mobbies awards are now behind us.  For the uninitiated, Mobbies are the annual awards sponsored by the Baltimore Sun celebrating the great community of bloggers and social media stars in the Baltimore metro area. 

 

This blog was nominated for Best Personal Blog – whoever you were, thank you and I was flattered, but I had no hope or expectations of winning; there were so many more blogs that not only have broader appeal, but are authored by people much more dedicated to the little things, like posting with some frequency.  So I spent the voting period promoting other nominees.  A few of them, I’m happy to say, took home the gold from the party on November 15^th.  My fondest hope was not to finish DFL in my category (DFL being a sailing term meaning “behind all others” – figure it out).

Congratulations to all of the winners, and indeed to all of the nominees.  But I’ll offer a few special congratulations here to a few of my favorites among the winners.  You got (some of) my votes and you are among the people that make Baltimore’s social media scene special and vibrant.  The City of Baltimore and our lives are richer for your efforts!

Best New Blog: Jessica Platt, for Get Jessed Up.  This blog chronicles Jess’ attempts (mostly quite successful) to invoke the fashion style of the stars for women with real bodies and real budgets.  Even for the fashion-challenged (I am president of that club), her blog is entertaining and fun.  Jess is a delightful person and - if you can believe this - is even more lovely in person than in her photos.  She’s promised a special Puerto Rico Edition of GJU when she comes to visit the island in December and I’m holding her to it.  Jess also placed 2^nd in Best Lifestyle Blog. Follow Jess on Twitter at @JessCPlatt.

Best on Twitter (Personal): Sarah Wainio for @SarahRachael.  Another delightful (and beautiful) woman, Sarah is friendly, witty, and has a superb aesthetic sense.  Following her imaginative and fun Mobbies promotion was hysterical and more than worth the price of admission.  Follow her for a never ending stream of optimism and charm.  She also has a cool cat.  And she understands very intimately the meaning of Honor.  Visit her in other social media venues by sauntering over here.

Best Photo Blog: Joe Sterne.  A gifted photographer and true Baltimore wit, Joe has a great eye, a wonderful sense of humor (visual and otherwise), a great body of work and he loves his city.  His city loves him right back.  If you are in need of a photographer in the Baltimore area, hire this guy.  Follow him also at @MrJoeSterne.

Best Sports Blog: the team at I Hate JJ Redick.  The definitive Baltimore sports blog – irreverent, insightful and quirky, just like our city.  This blog is a deserving repeat winner from 2010.  I won a free NFL jersey a while back from them and when I was asked to select my player, editor-in-chief Phil didn’t even flinch that I named Tom Brady (hey, I’m from Boston).  Follow them on Twitter at @IHateJJRedick.

Best on Twitter (Organization): @bad_decisions, the best friendly neighborhood dive in the city, and the best bartender (John) that I know.  Another repeat winner.

There were so many great people producing so much great media that to choose winners among the nominees seems almost unfair.  Voting was held over several days and you could vote every day for each category - many others got votes from me as well as the winners above.  Any omission above of any other winners does not imply that I didn’t love or vote for them too – congratulations to all of you!  Click here to see the complete list and check out some of the best that Baltimore has to offer.

And - for the record - this blog came in 23rd out of 46 in the Best Personal Blog category.  Top 50%! Among this company, I’m very happy with that!

-- Late Breaking! Molly White Marketing (@MollyWhite) was named Bloggers' Choice in the Tech Blog category - congrats Molly!!

Paterno and Principles

  Principles only mean something when you stick to them when it's inconvenient.

- Laine Hanson (played by Joan Allen) in The Contender (2000) 

I would like to take the preceding quote and put it on large billboards in State College, Pennsylvania – and in fact anywhere else in the country where anyone thought that Joe Paterno got a raw deal. 

I felt physically ill at the revelations coming out of Penn State about the long-term sexual abuse of children by assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky. This was only compounded by additional disclosures that several people at Penn State in positions of authority – including head coach Paterno – were aware of this behavior, but the allegations were not reported to anyone in law enforcement. For almost ten years, while additional children were allegedly assaulted by Mr. Sandusky, silence prevailed in State College. 

Finally, on the evening of November 9 (late in my opinion), Paterno as well as PSU President Graham Spanier were ousted from their jobs, effective immediately. On the previous day it was reported that Paterno would be allowed to retire at the end of the current season, and he announced that himself on the morning of  November 9; I am grateful that the PSU Board of Trustees reconsidered and did the right thing. 

Then came another affront which made me angrier yet. It seems that scores of people, both within and outside of the Penn State community, believe that Paterno should have “at least” been allowed to remain as head coach through the rest of the season, and retire in some relative dignity. After all, hadn’t he built this football program into a national power? Had he not been responsible for the development of hundreds of young men into sportsmen and citizens, emphasizing scholarship and principle? Wasn’t he now the winningest head coach in NCAA Division I history? 

Does he deserve a break? He didn’t, after all, break the law. Even Pennsylvania's attorney general said that it appeared Paterno had met his obligations under state law; he reported the allegations to his boss. This is JoePa after all, right? A track record of 45 years of inspired leadership! The words “raw deal” and “he is a victim too” surfaced. 

No! No, no, no, NO. What are we thinking? 

Yes, Paterno was a coach, mentor, builder, winner, and arguably fulfilled his obligations under the law – all of that. And none of that matters any more with the revelation that he was aware of children being abused, and did not do everything in his power to make sure that it would not and could not continue. And all it would have taken is a single phone call to the police. Yes, it would have caused immediate scandal. It would have sent the University and the local community into turmoil. In a word, it would have been inconvenient – to say the least. 

This is where the quote I started with resonates. I had a great deal of respect for this man before this horrid affair came to light. And I get it that he was idolized by many. And 45 years is a long time. But on one occasion, he (among others) abdicated his responsibility as a leader and as a citizen and thereby allowed a predator to continue raping children. And he then stood on the posture that he had followed organizational procedure in dealing with this tragedy. Every last shred of any principles he once exhibited for his entire career was thereby rendered meaningless for me. 

The final tragedy is that so many people still venerate this man and think he deserves any consideration whatsoever, as a reward for the balance of the good he did. To those people, I say: read the billboard.