Game One a Success!

I was nervous. I was angry. I was excited. I was happy. I was moody. I was all over the spectrum. But in the end - pure joy. Good to see the Packers win the first game of the 09 season.

Send It On

Ridiculous how a Disney song can get stuck in your head to the point that you actually start liking it. While watching Phineas & Ferb with the boys, I kept hearing the song "Send It On" by Miley Cyrus, the Jonas Brothers, and the other two chicks that I don't know. Well now it is stuck in my head and I find myself singing it. My goodness what has the world come to.

Propaganda

"Good propaganda must keep well ahead of actual political events. It must act as pacemaker to policy and mold public opinion with appearing to do so. Before political aims are translated into action, the world has to be convinced of their necessity and moral justification." -Erich Ludendorff-

As I study the Great War, I dwell continuously on the impact of propaganda in the war. It kept men in certain political/military positions far longer then they should have been there and helped prolong a war that was incredibly unpropitious and destructive. Despite the damning effects of the stalled war effort as assisted by the promulgation of its key leaders, propaganda remains one of the most often used tools in leadership today. Why is that? Are people so blind that they are willing to submit themselves to a plan of action that has no basis in truth simply because it is sugar-coated? The other side of the coin, is can a leader lead without the support and backing that propaganda can bring with it? Even if I am not convinced of the "necessity and moral justification" of something - that doesn't mean it shouldn't be put into action. Nor if I am convinced does that mean the plan should be executed. The line between words, decisions, and actions is a blurred one. As a leader, how does one handle the blurriness - especially in light of knowing that your molding of the public opinion might influence a decision that is both costly and completely unjustified at the expense of a blind following.

Glad its back!

Man is it great to see college football back! I especially loved seeing The U (anyone from Minnesota will know that is what our beloved University is called) win @ Syracuse and then watching ASU hammer Idaho State. Looking forward to watching football for the next few months!

Commitment

"There's a difference between interest and commitment. When you're interested in doing something, you do it only when its convenient. When you're committed to something, you accept no excuses; only results." -Kenneth Blanchard-

Extraordinary & Peculiar Aptitude

"The basic reason for German failure at the Marne, 'the reason that transcends all others,' said Kluck afterward, was 'the extraordinary and peculiar aptitude of the French soldier to recover quickly. That men will let themselves be killed where they stand, that is a well-known thing and counted on in every plan of battle. But that men who have retreated for ten days, sleeping on the ground and half dead with fatigue, should be able to take up their rifles and attack when the bugle sounds, is a thing upon which we never counted. It was a possibility not studied in our war academy.'" -Barbara W. Tuchman, The Guns of August-

What is inside of you? What will keep you going in the face of certain defeat? When everyone else would be willing and wanting to quit - what will keep you fighting? In the face of your enemies can you keep moving forward despite their advantages? The story of the fighting on the Marne in WWI is incredible to me. Not because the Allies won decisively (they didn't) and not because the Germans gave up a chance to end the war within 40 days of starting it (they did) - but because in the face of certain defeat the French (and their British allies) pulled together to display the needed "cran" (as the French call it) to fight back. The Germans were unprepared for it, the British had to be surprised by it. That is the spirit that I want to capture within me. That is the spirit I want to display when facing odds stacked against me. When the going is tough, I want to know that deep within me - there is a base level of cran that will keep me going. Will I stand or will I falter? Only in times of trouble, can I really find out.

Go Twins!

That's 9 wins out of the past 11 games! Go Twins! Nice hit Morales.