“I wake up in the morning asking myself, what can I do today, how can I help the world today?” – Julia Butterfly Hill
The Children of Israel
At the Henry Street Hebrew School, Goldblatt, the new teacher, finished the day’s lesson. It was now time for the usual question period.
“Mr. Goldblatt,” announced little Joey, “there’s something I can’t figure out.”
“What’s that Joey?” asked Goldblatt.
“Well, according to the Bible, the Children of Israel crossed the Red Sea, right?”
“Right.”
“And the Children of Israel beat up the Philistines, right?”
“Er–right.”
“And the Children of Israel built the Temple, right?”
“Again, you’re right.”
“And the Children of Israel fought the Egyptians, and the Children of Israel fought the Romans, and the Children of Israel were always doing something important, right?”
“All that is right, too,” agreed Goldblatt. “So what’s your question?”
“What I wanna know is this,” demanded Joey. “What were all the grown-ups doing?”
Shots
Working as a pediatric nurse, I had the difficult assignment of giving immunization shots to children. One day I entered the examining room to give four-year-old Lizzie her shot.
“NO! NO! NO!” she screamed.
“Lizzie,” her mother scolded. “That’s not polite behavior.”
At that, the girl yelled even louder, “NO, THANK YOU! NO, THANK YOU!”
Challenging Our Assumptions
“When we work alone, our assumptions go unchecked. We do the best we can with what we know. However, when we work in teams, our assumptions and limiting beliefs are revealed through our expressed attitudes, choices, behaviors, and results. When someone says to us, ‘What are you thinking,’ or ‘Why would you do that,’ they are challenging our assumptions, a very important habit among healthy teams. This is not a comment or question to take personally. Consider it a gift, perhaps even a blessing in disguise. It could save the whole team.” – Michael McMillan, John Murphy