So Far

Classes going well so far. Reading several facinating books some history, some English Lit, some spiritual, but one in particular deals with Grace. Unmerited favor or kindness to another. What has happened to us as a world that we would rather bring violence rather than peace and Grace? History is being revised, otherwise the learner would understand we repeat it instead of changing it. We are better than that. Just sayin...

Terry Grondahl (27)

Memorial Day Thought

Nice day. We celebrate those who volunteered to put themselves in harms way and did not come back. In harms way they had no illusion of what was important. We can only hope that our leaders have no illusion of what is important also.  Terry Grondahl (20)

The Future, The Past, The Now

So here we all are, being seniors, when once we were young. For me it is difficult to adjust to growing in wisdom, but this I do know, mistakes I made are not isolated because I and you see them daily. Can we learn to not decieve ourselves and to be gentle? Can we build love where love has not existed? Seems like a good quest and adventure. What do you think?

Honor, Joy

 

I am enjoying the challenge before me, and am enjoying this class on motivation theory; no text just pure research. Love it. I am transitioning to a place called Birchwood; so many possibilities, time will tell. All is good. Love your life, love this day, love to others as yourself; to much hatred, wrongness. Choose joy, love and honor. Also, have a cup of coffee. Be kind, just and vision/goal oriented. Get a hug.

Terry Grondahl (21)

An Act of Joy in a Land of Shadows

Learning much about organizations, more about business and even more about myself. I like who I have become and I like my ability to read the patterns of people. How do some in the light of good step into the shadow of darkness? When I think about it values come into play depicting where our heart truly lies. Despite our humanity we seek goodness, joy, love but are challenged by greed, power and distrust. Such is humanity and such is the world we are in. Do an act of joy today.

Terry Grondahl 

Stuff to think about

Financial Control

Measurement is what culture is grounded in and from a measurement there is an output. Generally listed as Social Indicators, Results measures and Process Measures (Anthony & Young, 2003). An example of Social Indicator would be the US Governments impact on our nation, to include the communities and it’s peoples. It does not have a good track record as it is better at splitting than uniting. Even as far away as Alaska the government doesn’t understand the people, nor seek to win their hearts, they just want to rule. Currently the government ruled that dirt roads in remote areas be called trails. The designation of a trail means no motorized vehicle travels on it. How are folks getting home or to their mine?

Results Measures is an attempt to express output related to an organizations objectives (Anthony & Young, 2003) or a way of patting itself on the back due to goal attainment (Anthony & Young, 2003). It is to my way of thinking that when a goal is achieved an individual moves on to the next goal. For instance when I earn my doctorate I do not see myself spending much time patting myself on the back as I have other goals with which this one relied on. Gung Ho!

Process Measures, also called productivity measure relates to an activity carried on by the organization (Anthony & Young, 2003) and relates back to what was discussed earlier in class in the discussion of responsibility centers (Anthony & Young, 2003). For instance Residential is a Profit Component of a larger team matrix which is a responsibility center.

What is interesting is that depending on the function follows the name under the umbrella of a theme whether it be sociology, manufacturing, of leadership all seem to have similar ideas under different headings. One unique example of that is inclusive of all of the above would be the business of Prisons. Here we have a multi-billion dollar industry with supportive businesses like courtrooms, attorneys, probation and a plan to recycle humans back into prisons by denying them gainful employment. The product is people. This would be difficult to outsource, but perhaps we will “insource” from other countries eventually.

Anthony, R. N., & Young, D. W. (2003). Management Control in Nonprofit Organizations (7th ed.). New York: McGraw-Hill Irwin.

Terry

A Thing of Beauty

Is there anything wrong with beauty? This is a very broad subject and has been filled with tall tales, none of which are worth a hoot. Guys look at girls and girls admire men. That’s it. A book is beautiful also, pages filled with wonder and knowledge such as Anthem. Awesome book and beautiful. Now is the time to appreciate, and contribute, not be a couch potato, passive staring at the wall. Get into life and live...those family members in Iraq...duck.

Terry Grondahl (29)

The Past…

Life is funny. There is a time for everything under Heaven. Scripture I have found to be sound, fixed. The variable is me, driven by currents I cannot fathom. Now though is time to take care of some things from the past. It is time. Have you ever had something you wanted to do but knew you had to pace yourself little by little? Anything worth building takes time, patience and a determined heart, wouldn’t you agree?

Terry Grondahl (27)

Terry Grondahl (24)

If I am correct we are involved in Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya, Bosnia, did I leave anything out? Since I have walked the earth there has been war, never a peace. Would peace be boring? War would not be boring. Can an act of kindness exist in war? America has young men and women leaving whole but coming back needing prosthetic devices. We have not one a war since WW II. If we are involved with the military lets seek a win/win. 

Terry Grondahl (24)

Make it real by saying it?

Social Consturctism say it and make it real.

I Wonder 2

I wonder why blogs vanish and why at times they seem charmed. I wonder about many things in life such as our ability to be absurd and our ability to design a war, implement it and as our young come back fit them with prosthetic devices. Life needs to be to live, love and laugh and perhaps think. I do more thinking than feeling at times, but there was a time I Greek danced in California. I think the place was called La Plaka in Santa Barbara. It was a time I enjoyed. Now the world of course has changed and there seems to be more fear that people have to live through.

I Wonder

I wonder why in my life humans have not learned, or for that matter want to live in peace. Read history and see that since the begining of recorded time we are doing the same things over and over. Have you ever thought about this? I wonder why it is that people are so easy to decieve as a group and the group just follows blindly? I wonder why are leaders lack ethics, lack wisdom for that matter and cannot work together for their people, all people? I wonder...about a lot of things and someday maybe I will write about this in depth, but I fear the volume would be so thick that it would go unread; what about solutions? If a problem is spoken it should be spoken with a solution. I wonder what my solutions could be for without the cooperation of man nothing will change much. Yet, I have hope if we will but just speak out....

Alaska

I have been in Alaska now for almost 2 years. In that time I have met fine people from different persuasions in life. I have seen moose wander the streets, bears from afar and caught a Halibut out fishing. I have received a new leg and that is good. I plan to continue my course of gaining knowledge and help people have better lives. I say on Facebook that each day try to do an act of kindness and that includes for you also. For some reason some folks are not kind to themselves and I don't understand this. Be kind to all including yourself. I haven't written in a long time. I should write more often. I can be a turtle sometimes.

In Repose

I have often wondered at the word repose, often used, sometimes context rules with it though. For instance:"It was a tough week and the weekend will soon rule so I can repose." Repose is to rest, to be a peace with your spirit, your mind and your body. How many rest these days? Single moms work 2+jobs paying half to daycare centers. Thats after taxers take single moms for a ride. But getting back to your spirit, how do you bring rest to it. Many cultures promote a higher power that some may not be familiar with. My higer power is Jesus Christ. No change, no compromise, no judgement of others whose certainty in spirituality lies in a different place than mine. I am certain of my choice as they are of theirs. Certainty is like an anchor holding us to reality.

Repose in resting your mind through sleep, through reading or creative leisure. You and I need to rest. Let us repose this weekend.

Repose in your body means doing something physically different from your work week. Walk, or a physical leisure activity that is different from your work.

Light at the End of a Tunnel

One final push and this class will be done! I will be invisible this weekend. Next week it ends. Huge papers to complete but then its over. Tough but good, I hit the wall a couple of weeks ago and my brain has been running on determination, like running the last five miles of a marathon. I sure miss running! But the weight room is proving a contender for my favorite one. Do your act of kindness!

Thinking Our Actions

I like human dynamics, there is always the good, those with good intentions and a good spirits that do acts of kindness. Then there are those meaning well but tend to not think things through, and leave in their wake a wounded humanity. Which are you? Do you continue to do an act of kindness each day? Sometimes being patient can be that act.

You know, people are reading watered down literature. When you study the classics the depth of dialogue, the complexity of story no longer seem read in today's world. My opinion. I would like to see more complex story lines.

More thinking in conversation would be nice.

Jab We Met

Each Days Challenge

The depth of a person's heart is reflected in their action. Each day a person can choose an attitude that will determine the choices of the day and results will be action. I wonder if you have the courage to make a choice consistant with good sense, justice and kindness, laced with mercy.
Terry

Something To Think About...Again...

This is going to be an off the cuff comment about a few things that have become a concern to me... The first is the oil...pouring out of hole in the gulf...not containable at this point. Doesn't matter who is to blame. At this point preserving the underwater environment would be a good goal that all would benefit from. From my perspective all the data is not being revealed about the situation. Also a concern is that the passing of time may desensitize people from really being concerned about the situation and this will pass into faded memory. I also think that there are all types of flavored political spins being applied that are not helpful. Listening to people who have knowledge of this type of thing would be good. We should not try to preserve the hole but close it entirely. This is a disaster of epic proportion.

Second concern: War. What are we doing? Whats our purpose in these countries we are in? I really believe we need to bring troops home. We are becoming enmeshed in two different cultures and this gives us a myopic view...unless these lands have something we want...do they? This cannot be about terror anymore..something else a foot....the greater the terror the more liberties are reduced...

Third Concern: Where are the Americans who will stay the course set in Action when the Constitution was formed and framed and signed?

Fourth Concern: With all that is of concern in this country why are we involved in other countries. We are broke. Yet, America seems to spend money it does not have. We need to fix this.

Fifth Concern: Why are you not reading and discussing and sharing your ideas?

I know you have some too.

A State of Illusion

Over the past 20 or 30 years, even longer there has been a process of complex policies affecting American living, specifically our educational system. Who started it is uncertain, but today we can see the outcome of it's policies. American literacy has decreased significantly in 30 years as well as our ability to educate children. It is so bad that there are some advocating home schooling only. Teachers get the brunt of negative feedback, being judged for their competency rather than the policies that have tied their hands. But who stands up to be counted? We are silent. I believe cultural change is necessary, but all Americans must be on board, and not waver. We are the result of 30 years of designed cultural change in our nation, now what do we do about it? I try not to make assumptions without the data, but in living the outcome in our cultural groups we have a strong sense of the data. It is like smoke and mirrors. Maybe we need to go back to the fundamentals modified for our outcomes. I don't know. It would be nice to have a staff of 30 people and the funding to collect data and then...implement the change. Change would take about 100 years to get our dignity back. It would be by educating new generations. It will not happen in our day, but it could start in our day. New beginings are nice.