Why do you do what you do?

Topic of the week

Humility

The quality or condition of being humble; imitate Jesus and Socrates.

Ahh humility. What a great topic! I thought I would share about the haircut the girl gave herself in today's post but I think I'll save that for Wednesday... perfect wordless Wednesday fodder... although I expect I'll have something to say on the matter. So much for wordless!

Anyway, I suppose today's post is a bit of a follow up on my last post. I don't think that many people read it but I am still fired up. Last night I watched this 60 Minutes story on the so called (incorrectly, I might add) "Mosque at Ground Zero" and am more convinced then ever that the hateful rhetoric about the Community Center is racist and does nothing to  honor the poor people who lost their lives that fateful September day. 

And then today I read my online friend, Chris Guillebeau's Art of Nonconformity Dispatch  in which he says, "It All Starts with Asking Why, and Not Enough People Are Asking." Now he wasn't talking about the NYC Community Center but I think the question is so profound and worth asking in EVERY context I thought it was worth sharing here. 

Regarding the Mosque a few good why's might be, 

"Why has the local community already said yes, 4 times, to the project?" 

"Why has it become a political issue at all?"

Here is an interesting post that may answer these questions for you.

Chris shared the prolog to his new book in the dispatch:

When you were a kid and wanted to do something your parents or teachers didn't like, you may have heard the question, "If everyone else jumped off a bridge, would you?" The idea is that it's not good to do something stupid, even if everyone else is doing it. The logic isthink for yourself instead of following the crowd. It's not bad advice, even if it's sometimes used to exert control more than to support independent thinking. 

But one day, you grow up and suddenly the tables are turned. People start expecting you to behave very much like they do. If you disagree and don't conform to their expectations, some of them get confused or irritated. It's almost as if they are asking: "Hey, everyone else is jumping off the bridge. Why aren't you?"

As many of you are aware, my Everyday Bliss feed was hacked so I stopped blogging over there. My idea was to start again once it was "fixed" and/or when I decided what I want to do with it. I am using the interruption as inspiration for redesigning the whole thing and now, as I am considering what it is I want to do with the whole thing, there again is Chris Guillebeau's question. "Why?" Why do I want to re-make the Everyday Bliss blog and what will that accomplish? I did my year long experiment, is it time for something else? 


I've already put feelers out for redesigning the whole thing and adding a bunch of cool features I had wished were there from the beginning and have even thought of a few, *gasp* e-commerce sort of components that could be added but as I sit here today and ask "Why?" I realize my answers are not quite so forthcoming.  Given the sate of the universe is "Bliss" where I should be concentrating? Could I make a bigger difference and/or have more fun if I did something different? As I sit here now I'm not sure but I want you to know I am asking myself why. When I am satisfied with my answer, I'll be sure to let you know! 


Have you asked yourself "Why" today?


Next Post: Parenting Humility

My Thirteen Virtues of Great Parenting are:

Fun, Discipline, Creativity, Love, Wonder, Listening, Curiosity, Compassion, 

Trust, Acceptance, Empowerment, Humility and Flexibility

This week is all about Humility. Next week 's topic is Flexibility.