What’s It Supposed To Be Like Today?

What’s It Supposed To Be Like Today

Friends,

“What’s it s’posed to be like today?” they ask.  It’s totally understandable why they do – in Michigan, especially in August.  Summer dwindles. Most are hoping for sun and heat, and crisp and starry nights. For a decent sized minority (who would die in New Orleans or even D.C. or St. Louis), they’re “hoping it won’t be so humid.” Up on Mackinac Island – as Pure Michigan as you can get – I don’t ask, look, or even wonder what it’s supposed to be like.  For too long, the predictions have been wrong as often as they’re right.  But there’s a bigger reason why it matters not what they say it’s supposed to be like.

That reason comes beautifully expressed in this quote from the German writer Goethe that my friend Joe D sent me about the weather, broadly speaking:

I have come to the frightening conclusion that I am the decisive element. It is my personal approach that creates the climate. It is my daily mood that makes the weather. I possess tremendous power to make life miserable or joyous. I can be a tool of torture or an instrument of inspiration; I can humiliate or humor, hurt or heal. In all situations, it is my response that decides whether a crisis is escalated or de-escalated, and a person is humanized or de-humanized. If we treat people as they are, we make them worse. If we treat people as they ought to be, we help them become what they are capable of becoming.

Funny, that Goethe calls it a “frightening” conclusion.  I guess some little part of us would rather leave the thanks or the blame to chance or to Willard Scott or Al Roker, rather than create our own climate. We’re scared a little of the fact that we might have that power and responsibility. But gray skies or blue, we possess the power “to inspire. . . humor. . . heal . . . humanize [and] help [others] become what they are capable of becoming!”

So, what’s it gonna be like today, if you

Lead with your best self?

Dan

  • I find this article to be sunny with a chance of opportunity. I love the idea about creating one’s own climate. And it also helps to know that every storm passes, and we need occasional showers to keep things alive. I’m going to apply this concept to my activities for today. Thanks!

  • Beautiful quote!
    FYI: I think the credit for the quote belongs to Ginott, H. (1965). Between parent & child: New solutions to old problems. New York:MacMillan. rather than Goethe

  • The forecast is “happiness ahead”— as the cloudly days, when an employer took care of us, have gone away and it’s an internal job during a “new normal” time — discovering some things about ourselves where happiness is and custom-tailored success can be achieved.

  • The sunrise drives shadows away.
    The clouds dance majestic, and play.
    A new chance to live,
    To learn, laugh, and give:
    So, how could it be a bad day?

    Mick McKellar

  • Reminds me of an old commercial for outdoor gear, that muses something to the effect of: “There’s no such thing as bad weather, only bad preparation.” It has served me well through virtually every type of weather imaginable . . . literally and figuratively.

  • Dan, “If we treat people the way they ought to be” is an incredibly powerful statement.
    Think for a moment that if all of us from the rich and powerful to the average Joe and Sally adopted that concept. What an entirely different civic culture we would have in our nation. One could only imajine what the tranquility level in this country would be if everyone treated each other with respect. Many of the ethnic divisions would be mnimized and we could experience a collaboratve effort to address the issues of the day and move the USA into a new era of social harmony to ahcieve common goals. How utopian is that?

    • Well, Jim,
      We’d change the global climate, wouldn’t we?
      The great news is that most of us “live in our own worlds” anyway, so in many respects we can change the world.

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