Beauty is in the eye of the beholder–Margaret Wolfe Hungerford, aka The Duchess.  

This quote basically reminds us that everyone has an opinion and it might very well be very different from ours.  Unfortunately, what we have seen evolve through Covid, is extreme polarization.  Employees from the entry level jobs suddenly feel it is their right or place to tell the owner of the company how to run the company, as if they have any experience in running an entire company.  Yet when the said owner does not heed their supposed wisdom, they go on a public rant all over social media, yelp reviews, etc anywhere to gain an audience to see only their point of view.  Yet their point of view is only looking through their tiny window of life, where the owner of the company is looking at it from the top of the skyscraper and seeing it much more clearly and all the other people affected by it as well.

I can remember getting together with friends and hanging out for hours and actually talking with one another about each of our different perspectives on any number of topics.  Yes there were even debates at times, as some of us were more passionate about topics than others.  But we didn’t storm out or stop being friends, we just agreed to disagree and allowed the other person to have their own opinion, even if it was different than ours.  Our relationships were much more deeply grounded so that we didn’t need to talk every day, or get mad if the other person didn’t answer the call, we just knew they were busy and we would try again later or they would reach out when they were free.  We had peace knowing our friendships were not fickle but rock solid.  

I have the pleasure of having many such friendships like that in my lifetime.  We can go years without hearing from each other, while we still pray for one another, when we finally get in touch again, it’s like the years melted away and we never missed a beat.  Those are true friendships that are founded on something solid.

So what does this picture have to do with friendships and Covid?  Well it is a picture of a model we had set up.  Whether you think it is perfect or not, or you like it or think it is appealing to you does not matter.  What does matter is what was OUR goal as a company and does this set up accomplish it?  If it doesn’t then we need to adjust it, or like in this photo, we can already see adjustments made not by us and how it changes our end product which may no longer meet our goal.  You see sometimes it has nothing to do with opinions and viewpoints and everything to do with a goal and whether or not it is accomplishing that goal.  

Do our relationships bring positive value to our lives?  Do those relationships bring positive value to their lives?  Do they benefit or impact our communities that we live in?  Maybe we should take a step back in time and go back to asking ourselves questions that really mattered and getting back to purpose in our relationships and our communities and remembering we were all designed with a unique purpose and that will often not be the same as ours, and that’s ok.  That’s what makes our lives and communities vibrant and abundant.  Now get back to living abundantly and celebrate those different relationships.

Until the next adventure!!