Y'dig?

You have to feel some compassion for overly large people, but, if you look at this, these passengers could make room on a crowded train for one other person by just occupying two seats instead of three. However, to do that, their butt would be in the uncomfortable place between two seats so they occupy three instead.

WestSide HS

Problems. A boy, a popular boy, was knocked down by a taxi and killed on Friday and there was an altercation between the police at the security check in and a teenage boy who was charged with a felony and if convicted, he’ll go to prison.

It’s hard to avoid the conclusion that if the police weren’t there, none of this would have happened.

It’s fascinating to see how the teenagers perceive the staff. I wish they could see them through my eyes. They’re dedicated and put up with all sorts of unreasonable abuse because the teachers understand that it’s not personal, it’s not aimed at them. Even so I wouldn’t want to endure this week in and week out, with only an occasional thank you, or small indication of recognition coming your way.

What’s incredible is how limited the perspectives of teenager really are. They think they know so much, but how can they come to see how narrow and flawed their opinions are? Through meditation of course, but it’s a slow process.

As I walked into the school I saw these posters, there’s a job fair tomorrow and I wonder if these students have any idea of how they would look to a prospective employer?

I overheard my daughter in law talking to my wife yesterday. My wife had asked her why didn’t she….. I never heard the rest of the sentence, but the answer was that “I don’t have the experience for that.” That’s so common a way of thinking and how come people still believe it, say it like it’s a mantra. Nobody ever hired anyone because of their experience or technical skills. Any boss worth her salt hires because of the personal qualities that the applicant has or hasn’t. Of course, bits of paper matter, they indicate that the person in the interview room has been able to successfully pursue a course of study or training, but that’s not what the hiring process is all about.

I once asked a guy in London, who was the UK Sales Director of a paperback company, why he’d taken a job as an Export Sales Director at another company. “Because”, he said, “I wanted to get some experience of the export markets. When I was hired as Marketing Director of Bloomsbury, I had no direct experience of marketing or of the export areas, which was to be part of my remit. Nor did I need either - this isn’t brain surgery, the principles are simple enough and with the right personal qualities in place, previous experience is close to irrelevant. Similarly, when Bloomsbury started, instead of hiring some boring old chap with ten years experience, we hired a 23 year old woman who’d been working as a Sales Admin executive in the office of another publisher. We taught her what she didn’t know and she was spectacularly successful and was made Sales Director within 6 months. And that’s at the tough end of the business, either you beat the sales targets or you don’t and failure isn’t acceptable - there were far too many people in the company who’s jobs relied on her exceeding those targets. And it wasn’t experience that helped her, for she didn’t have any, it was her guts, intelligence, determination and a refusal to fail that did. And none of that was written on any piece of paper she had to offer.

And back to our students, to get that sort of job you have to look the part. 

The meditation today was excellent - we listened to Spem in Alium by Thomas Tallis. At the end I asked who meditated and all but four said they did.

Joke: A new sport will be showcased at the London Olympics next month. Young men, boxer shorts fully showing, will run 100 meters and the winner will be the one who gets to the finishing line with the top of his pants no lower than his knees.