Honestly Thinking

Honestly thinking (& rethinking) about God, the universe, and everything in between

Category: Doing Life

XYZ: Your Arrogance is Showing

May 2, 2021 / / 0 Comments

The World’s #1 Leading Expert on Arrogance Weighs In

As I have tried desperately to educate you all before, I hold the distinguished honor of being the most arrogant person in the world — which, of course, makes me the number one leading expert on the subject of arrogance.

Despite my superior article on the subject, I’m still continuing to see an extreme amount of arrogance throughout the world, and I am sure you all have been waiting with bated breath for me to weigh in once again.

But first, a story from my remarkable life:

What was intended as a beautiful and diverse representation of the entire student body experience instead became an open display of egocentric arrogance.

It was my last year of high school and the entire senior class of nearly 600 students had gathered in the gymnasium for its final assembly of the year … and final assembly of our secondary school life. It was a time for recognition awards and for celebrating the four years we had spent together. **

At one point our school’s vice-principal stood up to announce that two senior girls had managed to put together a slideshow for us to be able to look back fondly at those extraordinary four years. “Fantastic!” I thought, “This ought to be fun.” Continue reading

Life on Pause in the Time of Corona

March 22, 2020 / / 0 Comments

It happened the other night.

After spending the last week barraged by constant news of the impending coronavirus pandemic heading our way, rushing out to Boston to help my son quickly pack and fly home as his college suddenly shut down, working overtime on the weekend in order to keep up with my workload, and various meetings at work to determine how best to respond to this crisis, I came home one evening, headed to the porch, plopped myself in the big brown, cushy office swivel chair (now repurposed as a “porch” chair), took in the warmth of the humidity gifted to us by the light drizzle of rain that had visited us earlier that day, appreciated the unusual silence from the lighter street traffic due to “social distancing,” intermixed with the sound of crickets happily chirping away apparently unaware of the potential calamity us humans faced, and for the next hour I thought about…….nothing.

I needed my nothing moment.

I needed my life to be on pause… just for a moment.

And it was good.

Of course, none of us can truly think about nothing; but with no agenda to accomplish, no pressing questions requiring immediate answers and no media to distract, it at least allows for your brain to sort of reset.

And I couldn’t help but walk away from that moment thinking that perhaps that is exactly what’s going on. Perhaps with all of us forced into solitude and with many of us either forced to stop work or to at least change our usual routines, this is God’s way of putting all of our lives on pause.

And not just my neighborhood or my country, but the whole world.

As a meme I recently read on Facebook stated, “I can’t help but feel this is like the earth sending us to our rooms to think about what we’ve done.”

This is not the first time I’ve had to have a “pause” moment. In fact, it’s become a more routine part of my life lately. I’ve shared openly on this blog about some of the mental health crises my immediate family has struggled through. What I haven’t shared is my own mental health crisis I experienced a little over a year ago. Continue reading

9 Signs You Might Be Arrogant and Not Know It

November 23, 2019 / / 14 Comments

I am the most arrogant person in the world.

Really, it’s true. Don’t believe me? Then clearly you aren’t nearly as intelligent or wise as me to be able to figure it out.

And being the #1 most arrogant person in the world, I figure that makes me the world’s topmost leading expert on the subject.

The truth is God has really been kicking my butt over the last few years (especially this last year), progressively revealing my level of arrogance. Like peeling layers of an onion (each producing a few more tears), I’ve come to discover areas of egotism I never knew existed before.

We are all familiar with the braggadocios, narcissistic personality types – the ones who very openly make every conversation and outward action about themselves. But what we are not as acquainted with is the much more subtler symptoms of pride – the ones that often go undetected but are ultimately just as destructive to you and those around you.

In discovering these signs, I’ve learned that they are detectable when you analyze your motivations and ask yourself if they are centered around one or more of the following: self-importance, self-preservation, or self-empowerment. Each one, of course, makes it all about you. And as I’ve come to find out, I’ve made life a lot more about me than I previously realized.

The thing is, while you will never surpass me in arrogance (not even close), it’s possible that as you analyze the three motivators in relation to your life, you might discover you too have arrogance and didn’t realize it.

Thus, I present to you at least 9 Signs You Might be Arrogant and Not Know It: Continue reading

Dude, Seriously, She’s Just Not That Into You

December 2, 2017 / / 7 Comments

OK, guys, so there’s this 2004 book called He’s Just Not That Into You, popular with women because it exposed the lies they often tell themselves in order to be in relationships with jerk men.

With the recent wave of sexual assault and harassment allegations against so many prominent men, it’s obvious there are also lies men tell themselves, causing them to act horrifically stupid toward women and girls.

With the trending of #MeToo, it’s also clear the problem isn’t just famous men – it’s a whole bunch of you “regular” guys, too.

If you are one of those guys, I’m not quite sure how to get this through your thick skull, as I’m not sure if it’s because you’re brain dead or you just don’t care, but this notion that she somehow “likes it” is a bunch of crock. She doesn’t.

So let me just tell you man to man…or perhaps in this case, man to boy…dude, seriously, she’s just not that into you.

  • She works for you or is trying to get hired. With a few flirtatious hints you think she’ll be impressed by your power. While it’s true she might be intimidated a bit by your force, in the end she’ll just think of you as weak and pathetic. She’s there to get a paycheck and she’s just not that into you.
  • You’re at a gas station and see an attractive woman all alone pumping gas. You decide to randomly approach her with “smooth” verbiage about her looks. What you see is a girl fawning over your flattering words. What she sees is some scary, pervert coming at her, and debates about pouring gas on you and lighting a match. She’s there to get fuel and she’s just not that into you.

Continue reading

Wash

August 21, 2016 / / 0 Comments
Photo courtesy of Chiceaux Lynch

Photo courtesy of Chiceaux Lynch

It was the most demeaning of tasks, performed by only the lowliest of servants – often slaves in the households of the rich.

The roads were dirty and dusty and likely covered with animal dung.

Thus, with nothing but sandals to wear, one’s feet were often coated in filth.

The hosts would, consequently, provide a bowl of water for cleansing – particularly before a meal in which the guests would lean back on the floor and prominently display their feet.

In ordinary households, guests would wash their own feet; but in wealthier households the lowly servants and slaves would crouch before the honored guests and wipe the grime off for them.

Thus an extraordinary thing happened this particular day when the I Am –

…the very law that had the power to form an entire universe with numerous galaxies billions of light years apart

…the law that had existed since before the beginning of time and would be there to the very end

…the law that was responsible for light and energy and atoms and the creation of life itself

…the most authoritative law there ever was

– rose, removed its garments, wrapped a towel around its waist, bowed down before each of its disciples and proceeded to wash their feet. Continue reading

The Political Correctness of being Politically Incorrect

February 14, 2016 / / 13 Comments

Back in high school, my best friend Mike and I were riding in my oh-so-cool blue 1978 GT Toyota Celica, most likely with Phil Collins music blaring in the background (because that’s pretty much what we always listened to in those days – if not Peter Gabriel, Bryan Adams, or anything from my “Miami Vice” soundtrack).  I don’t remember the exact context of the conversation, but most likely as a wanna-be-filmmaker I had been dreaming up another idea for one of our many VHS camera recorded mini-film adventures, when I proposed,

“And then one of the Japs comes flying down with his plane…”

Mike suddenly turned to me with that wry half-grin of his and said, “Japs?”

“What?” I responded, clueless at what he was getting at.

“Japs, Steve?  Really?”

You see, a little background here: Mike was (or I guess still technically is) half-Japanese – his mother, an immigrant from Japan after marrying Mike’s American military dad.  If anything, Mike somewhat more favors the Japanese side in terms of looks.

But to me, Mike was just…Mike.  My best friend. Continue reading

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