Yes, I realize it’s not Friday, but I was sick, and I still haz links to share.
10 Lessons from Angry Birds that can make you a better CIO
I love Angry Birds & thought this was a very insightful article on leadership. Point #3 resonated with me personally, in terms of my temper. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve hit the reset button before my first bird even hit the target – I just KNEW it was a bad launch! Likewise, I feel like I’m finally in a place where I can abort my temper before it really even hits its intended target. Not all the time, but enough to make me think I really do trust this Jesus guy after all.
The article came to me by way of Geek Wire.
Ben Kingsley, on portraying Holocaust history (NPR)
“I think it’s just very important to embrace tragedy as a real part of our lives….Western civilization is a civilization determined to outlaw tragedy. If removed, the interpretation of tragedy, and the presentation of tragedy, promise shaman, who’s sitting by the bonfire – you’re telling the tribe nothing of real life. And it doesn’t prepare us as adults. It’s infantilizes us, and it dodges an enormous responsibility.”
When Ruthie was three, her grandpa died. A few years ago our beloved dog died in our living room as the kids snuggled around her. Elderly women stand outside a nearby abortion clinic with signs, and my son asks why that baby in the picture is turned inside out. They now have friends whose parents are divorcing, and they ask why so-and-so’s mom and dad don’t live together anymore. Earthquakes and tsunamis are wiping out thousands of lives.
My kids observe tragedy all the time. I can’t hide it or protect them from it – or maybe I can, but choose not to. I think it’s possible for my kids to keep their innocence without becoming ignorant. I don’t go looking for scary stories to tell them, but when they see the scary stories being written all around them, they need a language to interpret them through. Jesus gives us that language in the Bible, which is full of death & betrayal & murder & tragedy. But he also gives us a language of hope & life & grace. They can’t truly appreciate the Easter moments of life without somehow experiencing or understanding the tragedy of Good Friday.
Changing Education Paradigms
I’ve watched this video several times since it was posted. I feel like I need to keep reminding myself how important it is to be involved in my kids’ learning, even if we’re not called to home school. It also made me realize that Thomas is an innovator, and at barely six years old he blows me away with his curiosity, creative problem solving, and ability to MacGuyver his way through a challange.