I let few fellow pirates take o'er the Gobsmacked, but this week I give the wheel to Barb Sullivan. I once penned a letter of reference for her and in it I stated, if I were independently wealthy, I would pay all her expenses so she could do nothing but write, for she could lead this motley world out of its mess.
I still believe that. If ye ha'n't seen her blog, then you're still a landlubber, mate. And if ye believe as I do that a good woman is not hard to find, only hard to recognize in today's world, then ye might want to pass this parcel of wisdom on.
I be back next week. Until then ...
At your service,
Captain Val
Posted on June 19, 2011 by Barbara Sullivan
Special bonus this month in response to Val’s comment on the thing I wrote in May about judgment: Tell an INFJ she epitomizes the kind of person who can save the world, and here’s what happens: she will come up with a how-to list, just like the one she produces when grocery shopping, or prioritizing home repairs. (Actually, I think it’s a pretty good thing that only 1% of us seem to be wired as INFJs, because if there were more of us, we would drive the rest of you nuts.)
How to Save the World
1. Put the oxygen mask on your own face first: Sever relationships that are abusive; end, starve, or allow to wither relationships with people who subvert your healthy growth. You know who they are.
2. Put the oxygen mask on your children: Believe in them, especially when they screw up. Repeat until they believe in themselves.
3. Opt for faith over religion.
4. Do whatever you can to increase women’s literacy because it’s the most effective lever on population growth, and it works without regard to culture or belief systems.
5. Speak truth about power, not to it (don’t waste your breath).
6. Realize that not everyone is playing by the same rules. This explains so much, and makes solutions so clear! People who have a conscience are at an extreme disadvantage until they realize it’s optional equipment that the base-model, predatory human uses against them. Predators are still around in the gene pool because they are good at what they do, and at camouflaging their intentions, so…
7. Stop believing what people say. If you want to know their motives (and you should), look at the hard evidence.
8. Then wake up the chickens, get politically active, and chase those snakes out of the hen house because they are cold blooded reptiles with primitive brains who think global warming is going to be like a day in the sun on a nice hot rock.
9. Lower your expectations, but never your standards. There is such a thing as the way things really are; truth is not all that complicated. (Neither is love: when someone has loved you, you know it.)
10. Despite everything, try to live gratefully; it’s contagious.
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COMING UP!
“Oh, Google, My Name is …”
… and IN TWO WEEKS the interview with Jessica Maxwell of Roll Around Heaven
3 comments:
So I'm a "fellow pirate," am I? This must be the excuse I've been waiting for to go see Caribbean 4-—it's a business expense! It's writerly research! I don't have to feel conspicuous, with no kids in tow, sitting in the top back row so no one can see me drooling over Johnny Depp.
Additional hearty thanks to Captain Val for marching me on deck; I thought you were just going to post a link, but now I remember that you never do anything halfway--someday here you'll have to tell the story about the blouse with all the buttons, and how you made the guy take it off, if only because the outfit and the attitude possibly marked the beginning of your pirate career. (Uh oh...permission to delete, if I've revealed too much from the Captain's private log.)
Gratefully,
B.
Amen to each of those! Beautifully put!
@Barbara SullivanArrgghh, you're a scallywag. Captains must have their legends, mustn't we. Aye. And 'tis no shame droolin' o'er Johnny. I'm wi' ye on that one, only I be sitting smack dab in the middle o' the theater where I can look 'im straight in the cutlass ... I mean eye.
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