Day 40 of 365 Tiny Changes
It’s time to add another virtual member to my Master Mind Group.
In my posting titled “A Life of Purpose”, I chose Napoleon Hill as my first member. He is considered the father of the modern self-help movement. He also struggled personally and financially throughout his life time, which, in my opinion, lends credence to his writings. He believed that in order to lead a successful life, one needed to discover or choose his purpose for being here, and then pursue it tenaciously, but morally.
I agree with him and have become a huge fan of his writings.
To balance Mr. Hill’s disciplined, principled advise, I need someone who is able to see the lighter side of life. Someone who understands the life and times I was raised in, and can see the fun and irony of day to day living.
I also need a woman’s point of view. Mr. Hill did a lot of his research and writings while women were fighting for the right to vote, and men controlled almost everything in America. I need a woman with a little more modern point of view.
The woman I have chosen for my virtual Master Mind Group is Erma Bombeck.
Erma Bombeck was a American Humorist, who wrote a newspaper column 2 to 3 times a week. Her column was one of the first things I learned to enjoy reading in a newspaper, after the funnies, of course.
When I was growing up, we received our newspaper in the late afternoon. Waiting for dinner, I would often open the paper to the funnies, read them, then move on to Erma Bombeck’s column, and then, if I had time before dinner, I might read the front page. Obviously, the lighter side of the newspaper held more interest to me then the current events.
Her column held much more allure for me, when I found out she was a home town girl, she even went to the same high school as my ex-husband, and the same college my Mother graduated from. She got her start in the very newspaper I was reading. She was “discovered” while living in a suburb about 20 minutes south and very similar to the one I grew up in. During my research of her life, I discovered we also share the same birthday.
She was my parent’s age, so I think her writing started to open my eyes to how my parents were viewing the world, but with a funny twist. My parent’s rarely pointed out the irony of situations that Erma did.
During her career, she wrote books, appeared as a regular guest of radio and TV shows. She even wrote a couple of sitcoms.
Mrs. Bombeck was also very involved with the Equal Rights Amendment. As a female entering the work force during the 70’s I was very aware of this Amendment and the political turmoil it was causing. There were a lot of strong voices supporting this Amendment, and in the end, when it didn’t get ratified, both Mrs. Bombeck and I were very disappointed. To this day, with women still earning 70 cents to every dollar men earn, for the same job, I believe we need an Amendment like the ERA. But I digress.
Erma Bombeck was a household name while I was growing up. She died in 1996 of complications from a kidney transplant. She was 64 years old.
While researching her life I ran across the following quote:
"When I stand before God at the end of my life, I would hope that I would not have a single bit of talent left, and could say, 'I used everything you gave me.'"
I truly believe she had a lot more humor to share when she left us, but I know she did her best to share everything she had.
It is through her sense of humor and irony that I hope to gain a lighter perspective of my life and what I am trying to accomplish during my life time. I hope that I will be given enough time to use up every bit of talent I have.
Tiny Change 40: Begin to build a library of Napoleon Hill and Erma Bombeck books for reference purposes.
Who do you turn to when you need to find the lighter side of a situation?
Best Regards,
Linda
Tiny Blessing of the Day: I am blessed to have access to good eye care, so that I can see clearly and am able to enjoy the skill of reading.
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