If someone asks, “What’s the most important thing to carry with you?” some of us will slap our pockets for our key, wallet, pocket knife, handkerchief, or some tiny talisman. But on reflection, you’ll realize those are just the physical items we carry. It’s no quibble to point out that the non-physical counts for more than the physical. Growing up in New York City, I was always told to act as though I knew where I was, where I was going, and that I was where I belonged. Although how you carried yourself was important, attitude took you through…even if you did run at some point if the situation deteriorated into a brawl.
I rarely needed such chutzpah later in life, but the lesson of self-confidence stays with you. Committees in corporate or government bureaucracies may not handle switchblades and zip guns like the old-time gangs of my youth, but they can be every bit as thuggish and brutal.
There are very few circumstances where allowing thugs to smell blood is a good thing. And if you think that the only thugs around are the ones on dark streets, your education is lacking.
The folks in the board meeting may not be jiving, snapping their fingers, and singing the gang song from West Side Story, but trust me; they are just as much a bunch of thugs beneath the neat, professional clothing. What’s the most important thing you carry with you every day? Your attitude and self-confidence.
Self confidence…true
So true that board members etc can be as thuggish as gangs. I’m with you on how to show, as you said, this is where you belong.
Why after all this time following you do I still have to log in? Took me 5 minutes of running through the traces. I’m growing very tired of WP if after my posting over 10,000 blogs they still won’t recognize my presence. That said, I agree with your sentiments.. and would love to know about the woodcarving you use as an illustration.
I was truly hoping that someone would ask! It’s a sign for a Japanese Helmet makers shop. brought back to the the USA just after Perry “opened” Japan. A the helmet is a traditional kabuto, or helmet that a samurai would wear as part of his armor in battle. Signs like this were common in Japan at that time. This sign is part of the Morse collection. they collected widely of Japanese material culture at that time. Many of the examples in the Morse Collection are unique because other examples did not survive in Japan as it modernized.
I’m with you. The most important thing is attitude. As I read your post I thought of that kid’s song about carrying a smile in your pocket.
Bingo