I like the story I saw on the news a couple of days ago:
Starbucks Customers Pay It Forward
What I particularly liked was the catalyst that started a continuous stream of people paying for the next customer’s drinks at the drive thru.
According to the interview I saw with the person starting the chain-reaction, Arthur Rosenfeld, a Tai-Chi master, did it not out of holiday spirit or with the intent to start a pay-it-forward day at Stabucks. He did it out of simple anger for the person honking and yelling at him next in line. Instead of stepping into and confronting the other driver’s rude and confrontational attitude, he “stepped to the side”, redirected his opponent’s anger by deciding to pay for the guy’s drink.
“[I]t was a change of consciousness,” he said. “Take this negative and change it into something positive.” (South FL NBC6)
This simple change of response altered a whole day for a whole bunch of Starbucks customers.
Think how much could be changed for the better if we all responded to the negative events in our lives in a similar way.
What is Tao?
It is just this.
It cannot be rendered into speech.
If you insist on an explanation,
This means exactly this.- Lu Tung Pin
A strong conviction that something must be done is the parent of many bad measures.
- Daniel Webster
I said I wouldn’t speak much of politics, but something stuck on my craw over yet another news report I saw (which is why I generally ignore the news and only keep it on in case my subconscious wants to pick up something).
In the last off-year election, there was a tax levy referendum meant to finance the school district by raising property taxes in our area. In a grand moment of going against my normal inclination, I actually voted against the referendum.
To set the records straight, I generally vote for tax levies when it comes to education. In this case, however, I thought the referendum overreached the actual need when my property tax was destined to increase by 70% (or 170% of what I am paying now), I have problems with the request.
That, and the proponents of the referendum used a “scare campaign” to encourage people to vote for the measure — schools would close, classroom sizes would increase, football would be cut, basketball would be cut, hockey would be cut (see the sports trend here?), etc.
The referendum failed.
The district is closing an elementary school.
What sticks in my craw is this — it was implied that there are consequences for not funding education through taxes according to one school official.
If the referendum hadn’t been a money grab attempt (well over twice the current tax levy), there are many people in the district that would have voted for it. The sad fact is, if the district is currently being paid $500 in property taxes from a given house, you can’t expect the same home-owner to willingly fork over $1200 without better goals than to maintain extra-curricular activities (the main focus of the scare campaign). This is why the referendum failed, not because we aren’t willing to pay taxes to provide good education.
The news report got my blood up at this official. I might have to write me some letters.
I really must quit watching the news.