Are We There Yet? vol. 88

This week began like most others with a full calendar of activities, both work and personal.  One event on the personal side was that my son, Matthew, had high school basketball tryouts which brought a combination of nervousness and excitement.  On Wednesday afternoon, the final day of the tryouts, we got a call from the school that Matthew was injured. Xrays confirmed that he fractured his arm and will be in a cast for at least a month.  The tryouts were going well for him, but, as of right now, we don’t know how his injury impacted him being selected for the team.   We are obviously very happy that he wasn’t injured more seriously, but I felt for him because I know he wanted to play for the team. I woke up with that sadness this morning until I listened to the news and heard about the devastation in the Northwest from the storms this week.  People’s homes and cars have been destroyed in mudslides and flooding. There will undoubtedly be loss of life.  Those impacted will have to re-build their lives which may take years and some may never fully recover.  

As I have noted before, even when events that happen to us personally may seem insignificant relative to what is happening around us, they bring out emotions of sadness, disappointment, and sometimes fear, that are very real until we can put them into perspective with respect to the suffering that others are facing. I’m not scolding myself for my own feelings but once I can get past the initial emotion, I’m trying to gain that perspective. What has really helped is for me to think about all the blessings in my life and the people who have helped me and my family over the years.  Often thinking more broadly about others and their circumstances makes me realize how minor my issues may be and how fortunate my family and I have been.   

This week’s selection is:

BOOK:

Abundance: The Future is Better Than You Think by Peter Diamandis and Steven Kotler

In Abundance, space entrepreneur turned innovation pioneer Peter H. Diamandis and award-winning science writer Steven Kotler document how progress in artificial intelligence, robotics, digital manufacturing synthetic biology, and other exponentially growing technologies will enable us to make greater gains in the next two decades than we have in the previous 200 years. We will soon have the ability to meet and exceed the basic needs of every person on the planet. Abundance for all is within our grasp.