What a challenge – My Social media story this week! – Web Site goes down! Blogs seem to link together in a way that makes them unreadable – can’t load a Blog – my coach is away! – this is not how it is meant to be!!
Five Blogs in and still going – progress is slow!
Tweeting and Retweeting – is easy! – but not understanding the working of the technology is a challenge – limited by incompetence –how I hate it!!
This last week I had a couple of colleagues tell me they had read my Blog!! So what! – there is no doubt this is a marathon!
The reaction of friends is interesting when I tell them – some are benignly interested – some don’t care – some think I am wasting my time! the next step – based on previous feedback I probable need to up date my web site which is now two years old – or more!
Action: Update website by Christmas
Tweeting is interesting – I am not sure just what it is supposed to achieve – creating the following is an interesting challenge.
In different tweets I have articulated a number of Tweet purposes – all relevant to me – but the whole tweeting thing is curious – all these “smart” people tweeting! Positioning themselves for their businesses – their lives!
There is no doubt in my mind that the whole social media thing – is changing the way we learn – I have discovered information – and ideas I may never have uncovered if I had not been doing this!
And the purpose of this Blog is?
Still searching for an authentic purpose but I have articulated earlier that I will meander through a number of topics – and one which has always challenged me is the “clash” between work and family. While I could never claim I achieved a balance – I never stopped working at it.
It is interesting what influenced me over the years –certainly my parents and their commitment – but I remember reading a story in my very early working (married life), which I have included below:
An Olympic Story
Bob Richards “What man can be!”
The International Olympic Committee
Had accepted canoe racing for the first time.
Bill Havens of Arlington, Va., was a member
Of the Washington, D.C. Canoe Club,
And his four-man team was going to Paris.
But as time drew nearer,
It became clear that Bill’s wife
Would have her baby while he was away.
In those days there was no commercial flying
Back and forth across the oceans! Bill hesitated.
His wife implored him to go!
But the more he thought, the more he felt
His first responsibility was to be near her.
He withdrew.
The canoe team went to Paris without him,
And news of their win arrived
A week before Bill’s son Frank was born.
Bill Havens never mentioned his disappointment
Over missing out on the Olympics,
And the years passed. Then came July 1952
A cable arrived from Helsinki Finland
Where the Olympics were on:
“Congratulations Pop!” the cable read
“I won. I am bringing home the gold medal
You lost while waiting for me to be born.”
That baby, Frank who had been responsible for Bill’s turning down the Olympics of 1924
Had won the main event in the singles canoeing.
You – Prayer for Beginners and those who have forgotten how!
Mark Link SJ Argus Communications 1976
At the time this story had a profound impact on me and it came back to “haunt me” at different times.
I am not sure I was ever so courageous but I am still married to Sally after 37 years and our children and grandchildren are still an important priority in our lives
Ben Kehoe
