Time to reflect

Year in review. A look back at the decade that was.

We reflect so we don’t repeat the same mistakes.

Our brain can play trick: stand aside or step back, then press rewind.

I can still recall incidents when I was 4, or 7 and especially my first puppy love

(in this case, the song was “Super Star”).

The trick: embed those memories with a tune you heard during those times.

Do you remember where you were when you first heard the Bee Gee?

Or when I first heard “He ain’t heavy, he is my brother” performed by my high school band.

Quite impressive to a 6th grader at the time. (as of this edit, I finally entered the school after 41 years away).

Here were those guys, as tall as could be, with gadgets and instruments.

And they played well: no single person tried to stand out. One harmony one tempo.

I did not realize then, that’s team work at its best.

Later, we would learn team building (camping, school band and group white papers). Instead of intramural sports, we got inter-school fights.

But that’s part of esprit de corps (dared to wear the school emblem on one’s shirt while various high schools were at war).

Through school, work and families, I learned the value of being part of a team, which is more than the sum of its parts.

When team works out, there is nothing like it.

But it takes hard work.

A lot of chipping in.

Until it’s your turn to receive.

Then you realize, “he ain’t heavy, he is my brother” works both ways.

This past decade has been tough: two recessions, two wars, twin towers and two incidents in Louisiana.

We need to double our efforts. This is not a time to reflect. It’s time to act.

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