“Transitions are almost always signs of growth, but they can bring feelings of loss. To get somewhere new, we may have to leave somewhere else behind.” Fred Rogers.

“As work grows out of play, an attitude toward works grows with it -an attitude that may persist through our workaday life. That attitude can have a lot to do with how we accept challenges, how we cope with failures, and whether we can find in the jobs we do, the inner fulfillment that makes working worthwhile, in and of itself.” Fred Rogers

Today is a double header. Fred really nails two important topics that seem to be very much interconnected. Changes in life seem to come every day in different ways and magnitude. I think both of the quotes from Fred this time have the key to overcoming challenges and change in one simple word ATTITUDE. Attitude toward the future events of life and more importantly how you handle the challenges of each day, really is what makes the difference. With that positive attitude along with finding those small moments of lifes fulfillment is what can carry you through the next challenge. I think that is another example of how true Fred’s famous song lyrics (Its’ Such a Good Feeling) really are.” And when you wake up ready to say, “I think I’ll make a snappy new day.” It’s such a good feeling, a very good feeling, The feeling you know that we’re friends.” It is the mental attitude to wake up ready to say, I’ll make today a snappy new day because of that small thing. It can get you through it.

“A high school student wrote to ask, “What was the greatest event in American history?” I can’t say.  However, I suspect that like so many “great” events, it was something very simple and very quiet with little or no fanfare (such as someone forgiving someone else for a deep hurt that eventually changed the course of history).  The really important “great” things are never center stage of life’s dramas; they’re always “in the wings.”  That’s why it’s so essential for us to be mindful of the humble and the deep rather than the flashy and the superficial.”

Fred Rogers

I think one of the things that Fred continues to remind me is taking more time to be quiet and think. Slow down and have more moments of quiet humility.  I think Fred is right on the money; most of life’s big decisions especially the life changing ones are done in those still quiet moments.  I think one of the best examples of this is the acceptance speech Fred gave when he received his lifetime achievement award. This is one the most moving and inspirational video I have seen. If any video can change history I think this is one can. I hope you enjoy it.

Fred Rogers Lifetime Achievement Award

“Often out of periods of losing come the greatest strivings toward a new winning streak.” Fred Rogers

This seems to stand true for me. The first thing that comes to mind for me is sports. I have played many sports, coached sports, and watched sports. The desire to push yourself, others or just cheer for your winning team is what we all desire. We all like feeling like a winners. Sometimes like Fred said is it takes a series of losses to really figure out what you are doing and how to fix it. One of the greatest examples I can think of in terms of losing but winning in the end is Louis “Red” Klotz.

Louis “Red” Klotz, an outstanding basketball player and scorer at South Philadelphia High School. He led the school team to city basketball championships in 1939 and 1940, both times earning Philadelphia Player of the Year honors. After attending Villanova University and serving in World War II, Klotz played one season for the Baltimore Bullets, getting into 11 games and scoring 15 points. He also played in six playoff games, scoring six points. At 5′ 7″, he is the third shortest person to play in an NBA game.

Klotz is probably best known for the most losses as a coach in basketball. As coach/player/owner of the Washington Generals, the perennial opponents of the Harlem Globetrotters for many years, Klotz boasts to losing more than 13,000 games during his coaching career. He has played the Trotters in front of four popes and queens, kings and princes, lost on an aircraft carrier, lost in a leper colony and lost in 113 countries and 1,341 towns throughout the United States. With that kind of record you might ask where is the where is the winning streak?

Answer:
He has coached thousands of basketball clinics around the globe and has influenced and helped introduce the sport to millions of people throughout the world. His face and basketball style are known to millions of fans who have seen him play on basketball courts in arenas, prisons, bull rings, soccer fields or almost any flat surface.

Red Klotz is a legend in the field of sports entertainment. And anyone throughout the world who has ever come in contact with him knows that Louis “Red” Klotz is anything but a loser. Klotz was inducted into the Philadelphia Jewish Sports Hall of Fame in 2001. He became the first non-Globetrotter to receive the Globetrotter’s “Legend” award on March 10th, 2007.

At the end of the day Klotz winning streak never happened on the basketball court or scoreboard, but happened in the hearts of millions who have come to love the game through his losing efforts. I love what Klotz said about losing.

“Failure is bad if you lose a war, but losing in a sport is not a tragedy. As long as you’ve given it your all, you just muddle through and continue to try to win. There’s always a chance. If not today, tomorrow. If not tomorrow, the next day, the next week, the next month, the next year…. Everybody loses. We just lose more……..Everybody wins sometime. It’s just taking my team a little longer than most.”

Fred and Louis, both have the same message at heart. No matter what happens don’t give up and you will win in the end.

“In the giving of help, a parent experiences one of the best feelings that any of us can have: that life has meaning because we are needed by someone else.  Watching a baby grow with our help tells us other things we like to feel about ourselves: that we are competent and loving.” Fred Rogers

I really enjoyed this quote. This one has multiple meanings to me right now. Being a father of a soon to be 2 year old I can appreciate both statements that my life has meaning by helping my son as well as I can feel competent and loving by doing so.  An interesting perspective I also took away from this quote is with my parents.  A couple weeks ago both of them were pretty ill, and not able to get up and do much outside.  I took the opportunity to mow my parent’s lawn for them.  However simple of a task it was and what little time it took me to actually do I felt more fulfilled by that one simple act than I do most days.  Now you could say I felt fulfilled because I was helping my sick parents, or it was because I did it without being asked to do it, but I think it was a little bit more than that.  This was a task that my father had spent many years battling me as a youth. It wasn’t until I got older that the battles weren’t so much of battles anymore.  I know how important his yard is to him.  I have seen him mow and rototill his yard over and over again just so it looked just right, even though the average person would say it looks like you just did it. In some circumstances he did just mow or till the yard a couple days ago, but to him it wasn’t in order.  The value of having a house of order has always been deeply rooted in my parents raising my brother, sister and I. It makes me think of the story of Hezekiah’s life. (Isaiah 38:1; or 2 Kings:20: 1) Hezekiah being sick had the Prophet Isaiah come to him and say ” Thus saith the LORD, Set thine house in order; for thou shalt die, and not live.”  I believe my parents live by that same philosophy that you need to make sure you life both physical and spiritual are in order. I have found that to be a principle in my life that I want as well. When you help someone put something in order like my parent’s lawn, or helping my son change his clothes; where they aren’t able to so for themselves you feel that great reward. The long and short of it is I need to find more opportunities to help others. I have found this site www.help.com to be a pretty amazing idea.  There you can  as they say “Reach out at Help.com to get personalized solutions to your problems and share your worldly insight with those that need your help.”. What a great idea. If you have some time check it out.

“What makes the difference between wishing and realizing our wishes? Lots of things, and it may take months or years for wish to come true, but it’s far more likely to happen when you care so much about a wish that you’ll do all you can to make it happen.” Fred Rogers

According to Wikipedia (One of my favorite sites) they mention the following: “Magical possibilities aside, the act of formulating a wish can be beneficial. The wisher has an opportunity to identify what they most desire of all the things in the world. Often, wishing is a time for first becoming aware of a previously-unarticulated hope. Once identified, these hopes can become personal goals.

Children in Western society are taught to wish from a young age, yet the ethics of teaching children to wish can be a gray area. When presented with the prospect of ‘wishing for anything’, a child is likely to misinterpret the reality surrounding desire and longing. Whereas most adults understand that the underlying theme of a wish is to articulate hope and to identify goals, a child often does not understand reality enough to distinguish between what is fantasy and what is reality. This miscommunication may result in a false sense of security, followed by an unfulfilled wish and disappointment. The miscommunication may also inspire a child’s distrust after being hurt.”

I find interesting the thoughts of both Fred and Wikipedia to be very true. The big difference is Fred’s thought brings hope and a better expectation for the future. Fred helps me to see that just because I wished for a Red Lamborghini Countach since I was old enough to know what sports car is doesn’t mean that someday if I really want it (the key word) and work for it I could have it. Although my goals have changed from this pretty car, to more practical ones; the principle of wishing and turning those wishes into reality is true no matter how old you get. Fred is right.. “You learn something old every day.”