There is a change in tide that’s coming. Some say the wave will be blue. Others hope the Red Sea will part. But the wave I see is actually one my dad used to call “a Sleeper “.
From the distance these waves don’t look like much. You know they’re out there but you don’t pay much attention because they don’t look as dangerous as the one’s crashing around you creating all the noise. These Sleeper Waves start out smaller than their more formidable opponents but quietly build power and force as they ride between the others.
Change is coming. The usual experts will continue to predict and forecast based on the waves color because color is all they see. They fail to understand the depth of this “Sleeper Waves” power. It’s not where it ends that really matters. The secret it holds is in how it began and where it began.
Sleeper waves begin with dissatisfaction, frustration and turmoil far below the sea. But at some point, the tension becomes uncontainable and forces its way to the surface creating a movement.
Sleeper waves: you don’t want to mess around with this kind of change.
What I think doesn’t really matter. It’s what I believe that really counts. This is a discussion I had with a friend of mine the other day.
Here’s the difference.
What we think starts as an idea. We get those ideas from what we read, what we hear or what we experience from others. Sharing what we think is safe.
“What we believe” goes much deeper than what we think. Our beliefs start in our head and before becoming beliefs must find their way into our mouth where we can chew on them. Those thoughts travel to our stomach where we digest them and finally they end up in our blood stream and are lodged in our heart.
The heart is where idea’s become beliefs. It is there where they anchor themselves to our very being. The difficult thing about beliefs is they become part of us. Exposing those beliefs is like being naked in front of people. People can put up with our ideas and thoughts but when they become beliefs those same people can feel threatened.
I believe that is one of the problems you find in politics today. There are too many thoughts, rooted in polls, popular opinion and culture. At first the words sound good. Sometimes they even make sense. But the sweet taste turns bitter the longer you listen. The words that once brought perceived clarity sound more like a clamoring symbol or something out of my public relations class in college.
Here’s a test to see if your idea is a belief. The next time you have an idea say nothing. Swirl your thoughts around in your head like fine wine in a glass. Smell the thought to make sure it’s aged to perfection and before you let it slip off your tongue chew it, swallow it, digest it and let it enter your blood stream. That’s the only way to get your thoughts to your heart.
Maybe what I think really doesn’t matter. But what I believe makes all the difference in the world.
I keep hearing so much about Change these days. So what does CHANGE really mean?
Webster’s Ninth New Collegiate Dictionary says “Change” is:
to make different in some particular
to make radically different
to give a different position, course, or direction to
to replace with another
to make a shift from one to another
to exchange for an equivalent sum or comparable item
to undergo a modification of
to undergo transformation, transition or substitution
That’s the definition and it sounds good when you read the first line: to make different in some particular.
But keep reading down the list. Actually, stop at number two. That’s the tough one: To make radically different. Then if you keep moving down the list it gets even more difficult: to replace with another, to shift from one to another, to transform.
Change is good. In fact change is great. But before you go asking for change, you’d better make sure you are ready for what you are about to receive.
If my life was a book, spread across pages for people to read, what would it say? Page after page filled with seconds, minutes, hours, days and years. But what would it really look like?
We tend to look at our lives based on chapters. We measure success by standards decided by our culture. We put titles on the chapters and then try to fill them with things that sound good or with ideas society will embrace. So, is that still our life or at some point does the story start to sound like someone else’s?
We look back at our story’s beginning to try and figure out how it will end, failing to recognize that we are not the author but the co-author of this story. As we plot the next chapter, so that eleven is better than ten, we miss things. We overwrite and what can get lost are not necessarily the plot but the element of surprise. Surprise is the most interesting part of every story and yet when it comes to writing our own we prefer to know ahead of time what will happen. None of us really knows how our story will end or even take shape tomorrow and yet we try so hard to make it so.
Maybe it’s time to release our grip on the pen or in this case the computer screen. Perhaps the end of our story should not be based on how it began. Release the pen, open the story line and don’t allow those around you to feed or steal the plot.
We get one story you and I and we should write it not to impress or mimic what’s around us. Instead, we should give ourselves room to breath, be quiet, listen and remember we are not the lone author. This is a joint project. Now, go find out what the other half of the team sees and write it down.
The media is starting to talk about my race for Secretary of State. It’s talking about how much money I’ve raised. That’s the headline in the City/Region Section of the Register Guard. Yesterday there was an article in the Associated Press that talked about this place we all hang out together. That’s right, the media is talking about our blog.
It’s not a bad thing and it’s a very expected part of the process. Remember, I was part of the media for 23 years so I get it.
I have to say, it’s interesting to be on this side of the lens. In today’s Guard article they talk about how a big portion of my fundraising money is coming from the Timber Industry. As Secretary of State I will serve on the State’s Land Board. As a reporter I always covered Timber Issues with balance and that is why the industry would like to see me in this position. Our state lands need to be managed to protect and to prosper. The money raised off the management of these lands helps fund education in Oregon. I’m also getting a lot of money from farmers and agriculture and from people like you.
Gosh, this is starting to sound like a stump speech and for that I am sorry.
The other reason the Timber Industry, Agriculture, Business People and a lot of others I might add, would like to see me win this position is redistricting. In two years we’ll do another census in Oregon. The Secretary of State could end up in the position of redrawing state house and senate seats. The last time this was done it was done based on partisanship. In other words it was done unfairly to give one party an unfair advantage over the other. I think that’s wrong. If that responsibility comes to me, I would not go in and try to give Republicans and unfair advantage either. I would redraw those lines based on “Communities of Interest”. That’s the way it is supposed to be done.
Those backing me financially know that I’ve always been fair in my work. They know that they aren’t going to get an unfair advantage over anyone. With me they will have someone who will put the politics behind him and do what’s fair.I have a history of listening, not just to my party but to everyone. I did that in my job as a Journalist and will do the same thing as Secretary of State.
One interesting note from the article shows that my opponent has raised almost as much from union leadership, as I have from all my supporters combined.
Dancer Total $139,508
Opponents Union Total $135,191
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