Erich Stauffer

Category: Pop Culture

  • This is Our Time

    Like the kid said in the Goonies under the wishing well, this is our time, down here.  Down here in the recession is our time to shine.  The CEO of Cisco, John Chambers, thinks this moment of our lives will shape the next 25 years.  The decisions we make now are the ones that people will be telling stories about for years to come.  It’s make or break time.

    Humans have a way of evolving faster when they have to.  What I mean by evolving is probably more like innovating, but its innovation for survival’s sake, which is more closely related to evolution.  Necessity is the mother of invention.  If you need to eat, you just might start thinking harder about all the different ways in which you could make money to buy food.

    This is a period of paradigm shifting.  People are rethinking everything they do.  They are starting to ask themselves, “Why am I doing this?”.  On a national scale we are asking ourselves, “Tell me again, why are we at war?”  And when we go to do something we normally do, we notice our habits are changing.  I’m reminded of the old poem:

    Use it up

    Wear it out

    Make it do

    Or do without

    I think there is a lot of people making their cars run longer, upgrading their computer parts instead of buying new, cutting back on cable programming and spending more time at home.  But if you take each one of these scenarios, there is a flip-side for the economy.  Car maintenance shops have increased business.  Computer repair shops are now busier than ever.  Low-budget entertainment like Red Box rentals and Netflix are increasing.

    How many of you are starting to eat all of the food in your pantry? How many of you are selling your unused goods on Ebay or Craigslist? How many of you have started a second job or business? How many of you have gone through your home and unplugged unnecessary appliances to save money on electricity? How many think that these are things you should have been doing all along but never did? How are you going to live going forward? What will you do when things turn around? Will you go back to your old ways? What can you do to improve the life of yourself, your family, or a neighbors life today?

    This is our time.  How we spend it is up to us.  Lets make it memorable.  Lets improve things for all mankind.  Lets bring developing countries up with us.  Lets unite as a world and stop tearing each other down.  Lets use the economy as an excuse to do the things we should have been doing all along.

  • Sacrifice for the Greater Good?

    I saw a film last night about sacrifice.  Sacrificing the lives of a limited number of people in order to save an even greater number of people.  President Obama also lifted the stem cell reseach ban which prevented human stem cells from being destroyed and researched for possible future organ growth.  Again, sacrificing the lives of a limited number of people in order to save an even greater number.  They both raised some interesting questions in my mind.

    Why can’t we just have everything that we want, all the time?  Why must there be a cost associated with such a great good as saving human lives?  What other costs do we have with the good that we want for ourselves and our loved ones?  Well, if we decide to get married, then we put away the complete freedom to to what we want with our time.  We now have to share our time (among other things).  The same things happens when we have a child, and another child, and another child.  For every new relationship that is added into the family, there is a trade off of the kind of time that can be spent with other members of the family.  For many people, having children is the goal of the marriage, but that same goal can end up poisoning the marriage, since the kind of time spent working on the marital relationship changes so drastically.

    Time is limited.  We cannot just add something new without subtracting something current, in most cases.  Any changes that we make to our live will be adding or subtracting something.  When we subtract something, usually we see the replacement as greater than what was subtracted.  But, that doesn’t mean that thing that was subtracted is without value.  In fact, it may be something of HUGE value.  We just have to understand what is truly important to us on a core level and always work toward the greater good.

    Be careful sacrificing things for others, it may not be your place to do so.  Even so, we have to be willing to accept the consequences.  Go on and see what your changes will cost, and if it is worth it.

  • A Legacy of Managing Actions

    If you followed the news this week, you probably heard the story of the 4 men who were knocked out of their boat by a wave off of the coast of Florida.  Two of the men were NFL players.  One of them was from my hometown and a childhood friend of my brother.  His name was Marquis Cooper.  Many people in the metro Phoenix area followed the story.  Not as much for Marquis and his football career, but because of his father and the relationship he had with this community through being a sports broadcaster here for over almost 20 years.

    Bruce Cooper’s most recognizable quality was his love for life.  His next most obvious quality was his love for his family.  Bruce always spoke of the respect of the game and the honor of being a good sport.  He coached his son in community sports all the way up to high school and always supported Marquis in what he chose to do with his life.  They were more than father and son….the were best friends.

    On Tuesday night, a prayer service was held at Central Christian Church in Mesa, AZ.  It was to pray for the rescue and/or recovery of the 3 remaining men still lost at sea.  I was moved by the entire situation and attended the service.  Leading the prayer and scripture reading was a young man that I knew from my younger days.  He was even a couple of years younger than Marquis.  He spoke with poise, respect, care, and compassion.  He was no longer the boy I knew from my youth.  He was now a man.  There was little doubt where he had learned so much of his touch as a pastor.  His name was Jeremy Jernigan, son of the church’s senior pastor, Cal Jernigan.

    As I watched Jeremy comfort the family and indeed all of us who were hurting, still reflecting on how all of this was affecting Bruce, I was struck by how proud of his son Cal would be if he were in town, and not away on church business.  There was so much of Cal in Jeremy.  Both were gifted speakers, but there was also the clear evidence of repetition and refinement of their speaking craft.  I could almost see the father as I looked up on stage at the son.  As we bowed our heads for prayer, I asked God to give strength to Marquis to hold on, and that help was coming.  I prayed for his father to have strength to lead the family through their fears.  I prayed for God to give comfort to everyone.  I particularly thought of Bruce.  Then, to my surprise, the voice from the stage was no longer Jeremy’s.  Cal had broken from his business trip to be back for this service.  He was now speaking of comfort and hope to the family.  He prioritized this service over everything else, and came to give support to a grieving family.

    The legacy of both fathers is clear.  Marquis will have a memorial fund set up in his name, and his father will oversee and support its impact on the community that he had lived for all of his life.  Jeremy will continue to grow into his own kind of pastor, but will cling tightly to all that he has assimilated from his mentor, his father.

    The least we can do is be responsible for our own actions.  If we are blessed, we will be able to see what legacy will remain from those actions.  What can we do today that will remain?

  • Partnerships, Helpful or Hurtful?

    I’m sure that most of us have a certain picture come to mind when the word “partner” is said.  It could have to do with the game of patty cake.  It could have to do with a business endeavor.  It could have to do with an alternative lifestyle.  Maybe you see a man with a cowboy hat saying: “Howdy partner!”

    However many different ways that you see it, it will always involve another person.  Nobody can be a partner by themselves.  One of the cheesiest examples of this is the Lone Ranger and his trusted pal….Tonto.  What particular partnerships come to you mind in the realm of sports?  What about in romantic relationships?  Music?  Business?  Comedy?  Do you mostly envision healthy partnerships where the two together are stronger than they would be apart?  Or do you tend to imagine broken partnerships that didn’t pass the test of time?  You may discover some of your own prejudices towards your own partners by examining these.

    For Growth and Creation

    Great partnerships will typically cause growth for both parties.  There is a clear demarcation of who one was at the beginning of the partnership to who they are in the midst of it, over some amount of time.  Sometimes we are only aware of this subconsiously.  We may not even conciously plan to grow.  We just know that it is worth our time and energy to be a part of something, so we continue to do it.  Partnerships created around a certain task are often to create a solution to a problem, or simply to create something that the individuals could not do apart.  Maybe the clearest illustration of this is the conception of a child by a man and a woman.  Neither could create a child by themselves, but only by both having a common goal and an enjoyable (ahem) task.

    The transfer of knowledge can never happen without two people making an agreement.  One must agree to give, and the other to receive.  Here is something that I saw this week:

    httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qTrrv-Fe3aM

    If you give a man a fish, he will eat for a day.  If you teach a man to fish, he will eat for a lifetime.  If you throw a man a fish, if he is your partner, he will catch it!

    The risk…

    Of course, partnerships only succeed over time if you count on somebody to do their part.  This means that there is the risk of failure and pain.  So, to avoid this possible pain, just avoid all partnerships!  It’s easy, right?  But, life will be utterly lonely.

    You have made a partnership with every person in your life on some level.  Maybe its just a partnership to be friendly in social situations.  Maybe it is a pledge to take care of another’s physical or emotional needs.  It can be an agreement to avoid each other (like an enemy).  Partnerships are everywhere.

    As you manage your life and the actions of your life, be aware of the partnerships that you have and how you are utilizing them.  Don’t manipulate people, but be a good partner.  Give your partners what they ask for and don’t be afraid to ask for what you need!

  • People Watching in Utah

    I’m sitting in the Salt Lake City airport.  I’m casually doing some people watching.  There is a women’s college basketball team that has gone back and forth in their matching kelly green hooded sweat shirts and sweat pants.  They seem to be on their way to play a game, but they could be returning.  They are loose, laughing, casual, and seemingly a bit boy crazy.  They look my way now and again, maybe wondering if I am married or not.  It’s flattering, but I can’t really see myself “with” any of them.  It’s not that they aren’t physically attractive, they just can’t capture my attention at this point in my life.

    I have also noticed a good amount of older couples meandering through the terminal.  It’s interesting to notice all of their similarities, and not see too many differences.  They seem to move in tandem, with one leading the other.  So far, more men leading than women.  Both seem a little resigned to be with the other.  They probably want to go to the same place, but they don’t seem to be enjoying the journey to get there.  I look at the women and try to imagine them as girls once again.  Maybe they played on a basketball team at some point, “back in the day”.  Maybe they were boy crazy at one point too.  Maybe they latched on to one of these boys and ended up marrying one of them.  Walking down the aisle with stars in their eyes.  An end of innocence, a turning of the page.  But a page that they turn willfully, proudly, passionately even.

    The group of people I have been most struck by today have been the middle aged mothers.  I have always been drawn to young children.  Their joy for life is often impossible to contain, even in a sterile airport in February.  But its their mothers that are speaking to me today.  Not literally, but in the looks of pride on their faces.  There is a tangible sense of “I’m doing it!” beaming from them every time someone mentions how cute their son or daughter is.

    I’m not sure if it is this place, or my perspective that is different today.  Typically, the mothers I see tend to be worn out, beaten down, and ready for a break.  Perhaps it is the completion of the flight that is reason to celebrate, or at least smile for a bit.  Maybe it is the anticipation of the destination and the impending joy for their children and the trip that is almost upon them.  Maybe it’s none or all of these things.

    Maybe they saw the green machine basketball girls too.  Maybe they remembered what it was like to have such a fun and enjoyable task as a “job” and the excitement of a possible flirtatious encounter.  Maybe they saw the older couples as well and felt a different sense of pride for them, like an appreciation of a race well run.  That comfort of a companion who has cheered the same victories, and fought the same fights.  It’s something they look forward to, although with the same longing for love that they had as a young woman.  They seem to know that either way, there is a lot of life left to live, especially for their kids.  I’m happy to believe that these women still have for their own fulfillment and joy to long for and live in.

    The Joy of the Journey

    It is a long way from beginning to end, but there isn’t time to wish you were somewhere else on the journey.  Maybe you have kids, maybe you have a career, maybe you are student.  If you have starting something that you know will continute in the the future for a considerable amount of time, it only makes sense to enjoy it.  A lot of things in life feel like you “have to”.  The solution is to change your thinking into understanding that you “want to”.  Search around the site to find more ways to grow into this way of thinking.

  • Climbing up the Mountain…Literally

    The Challenge

    So, I put a challenge before myself: to hike to the top of the Upper Yosemite Falls Trail.  According to the official description on the National Parks website, it is a 3.6 mile trip up, with 2,700 feet in elevation gain.  You are told to plan on 6-8 hours of hiking time, with the grade of the trail listed as “strenuous”.  Being the middle of winter, it was also going to be cold, icy, and AWESOME.  I was eager to get started at noon.

    I brought a backpack filled with bottled water, triscuits, spray-can cheese, and some beef jerky.  The essentials, of course.  I took my time on the first few switchbacks, resting every 5 minute or so.  I figured that if I caught my breath, I could keep a good rhythm of work, rest, work, rest, etc.  It was very manageable and I made it to the halfway point.  Here was the view:  httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=58a7mGfQ0bY

    Now, It had been about 2 hours, and I had enjoyed a lot of great view of the Yosemite Valley on the way.  But honestly, it hadn’t been much of a challenge.  I was barely hungry, thirsty, or tired.  I was staring at an amazing waterfall and rainbow, and I wanted to see the source of what created it.  After taking that video, I decided to eat the rest of my rations, chug some water, and just push it out the rest of way up the steepest part of the trail.  On the way up, I saw about 20 people at different levels of hiking and resting.  After the halfway point, I only saw 3 more people.  For a lot of people, the halfway point of the trail was the finish line.  I mean, that’s a pretty incredible view of the falls right there.  But for me, I had not been challenged enough yet, so I decided to go the rest of the way without stopping for more than 10 seconds at a time.

    Holy crap, did this hike kick my butt!  I had to trick my mind on every turn.  I would look up a rock staircase and see all of the steep steps in front of me, and feel like stopping.  But, I would convince myself to keep on going until the next turn, and then take a rest.  When I got to the turn, I told myself to just keep going and rest on the next turn.  I did this for every turn for the next 2 hours, and made it to the top.

    The reward

    httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hmH2hKrECwU

    I felt so good that I had made it to the top.  I felt a huge sense of accomplishment.  The view from the top wasn’t breathtaking, but I had a real sense of how far I had come from the valley floor.  I had a ton of memories of all of the different turns and steps up the trail.  The journey meant so much more to me than the destination, when it was all said and done.  But, I wouldn’t have continued on the journey if I didn’t have something to reach at the end of the journey.

    Insert metaphoric language here.  During the trip, I was relating every step to a specific issue that I was dealing with.  It really made me examine how much ground I covered in a certain amount of time.  I was making progress.  I was moving forward.  I still am.  Do you have a way of measuring your progress on your journey?

  • Attitude…How You Lean

    In light of the US Airways flight that safely crash landed into the Hudson River yesterday, my mind raced through what I might do in such a situation, both as a passenger, and as the  pilot.

    As a passenger, I would probably break the “no cell phones during flight” rule and call my children, if there was even time for that.  I would assume that death was at hand and prepare to meet my maker.  Maybe my mind would flash back to scenes from the movie Castaway and how Tom Hanks’ character actually did survive a water landing.  The nearby island might be a little bit more inhabitable than his, but I digress.

    More than likely, I would assume the worst, until the plane stopped its free fall and I found myself still breathing and able to move.  Really, what can you do when you are trapped and strapped inside of something that heavy going against the force of gravity?

    Now, as the pilot, my brain starts spinning things in a more heroic direction.  Even though the plane is fighting a losing battle with gravity, I still feel some sense of power, since I can control the wings.  Perhaps I can see the terrain below and choose an ideal crash site, like a river.  Not only do I want to save my own life for myself and my family, but I have so many others who will benefit from my opportunity to steer us closer to safety and away from a more clear danger.  The goal would be to save lives and just plain (no pun intended) do my job.  But, as was the case with the pilot, C.B. Sullenberger, I might become a hero overnight.  Just responding the way that I knew I needed to respond would bring great appreciation and accolade.

    Repetition

    One thing that C.B. Sullenberger had going for him (and everyone else on the plane, for that matter), was that he was passionate for safety procedures.  Even though this was his first jet-airliner crash, it didn’t seem “new” to him, because he had rehearsed it in his mind so many times before.  He was aware of the risks of flight, and didn’t fly airplanes hoping that such a situation would never happen.  He was prepared for any possible situation and took the “responsibility” aspect of being a pilot as fully as the “fun” side.  Because he had practiced the crash landing mentally, his body knew how to respond, even though the stakes were much higher.  You can probably see where I am going with this, but it is absolutely true that practice and repetition will serve you better than just “showing up” for game time, whatever your game might be.

    Control

    The biggest difference between my response as a passenger and my response as a pilot is control, or at least, and understanding of control.  Is control an illusion?  Maybe.  But it is absolutely true that we can alter the course of our lives, every day.  Even in situations where we feel like we have no control, most often WE put ourselves in that situation.  WE chose to get on that airplane.  Yes, the odds are small that it could crash, but the odds are still there.  That was our choice.  We controlled that choice.  Just like we control where we work.  What town we live in.  What type of society we live in.  The value of money.  When we have freedom, we have control.  With freedom, there should be less fear.

    Attitude

    Finally, our attitude strongly impacts our outcomes in life.  We all know what the word “altitude” means.  It is the relation between the airplane and sea level.  In the flight world, a plane’s “attitude” refers to whether it is leaning left or right.  With our choices in life, we can either lean in a positive direction, or a negative direction.  Think about magnets, and how a negatively charged magnet repels objects, while a positively charged magnet attracts things.  When you are charged negatively, you are pushing things and people away, saying “I don’t want to be a part of this.  I can’t help myself, so how can I help you.  Woe is me!”  When you are charged positively, you are drawing people and things to you, saying “I am in control.  Trust me.  We can do it!”

    I think that it is clear how we all want to lean in terms of our attitude.  There is something very attractive about a positive attitude.  Magnetic even.  Maybe that’s why I relate so much to this guy.

    This is a guest post by Zac Parsons.

  • Who Limits Your Success?

    This is a guest post by Zac Parsons. Enjoy. – Erich

    Seriously.  Think about that question.  Maybe first you need to look at how you define success, but that’s easy because the only person that this question matters to….is YOU!  Maybe you define success by how much money you make.  Maybe its how many people respect you.  Perhaps its how close you feel to God.  We all know of a place in our lives or a state of being that we wish we were at.  Something that we are working towards.  The closer we get to there, the more successful we feel.

    So, maybe your parents didn’t teach you the right things, or did teach you the WRONG things.  Maybe you didn’t have the best teachers growing up, or you couldn’t afford the right kind of schooling/training after high school.  Maybe your friends just don’t have the tools or attitudes that you need to move closer to “success”.  Is your town the right place you need to be in to achieve that success?

    Ok, now think about how many of those things are in your control.  How many of those problems are based on choices that you have made or continue to make?  Ok, so the parents doesn’t really seem like a choice.  But, if you can identify that some of the things taught to you were right and others were wrong, then you are close to identifying what you need to add or subtract in order to reach you closer to your goal.  Then, once you have identified those things, you have to ask yourself the question:  “How do I assimilate those things into my life?”  So, once you answer that question, it is a matter of choosing to follow it or not.

    Laziness

    It is nearly impossible to find a successful person that is lazy.  Now, there are some people that work HARD, and are not successful in the way that they say they want to be.  As we all probably know, the key is working SMARTER.  Creative thinking, and understanding WHAT you want are key to being successful on your terms.  But, once you have developed some ideas, you have to DO them!  This is where I have tripped myself up in the past.  Sometimes I call it fear, but a lot of the times, I know that it is just laziness.

    I have to understand and believe that I have the power to change the situations around me.  I live in freaking America in 2009!  I have the opportunity to change my location, my vocation, my education, my social compilation, my sexual orientation, and ANYTHING ELSE!  Who’s stopping me?  Who’s stopping you?  Quit being a victim.  Go change the world.  Start with yourself.

  • Sameness…Differentness…Humor.

    I have such an unusual fascination with being different.  (At least, I think that it is unusual)  I want to feel like I am truly unique.  But, I still have a considerable desire for other people’s approval.  I want others to connect with me in some way and say: “Yeah, him and I are the same in that way.”  How can both of these be true at the same time?  Is there one that I truly want and the other is fighting me?  Or do I need both sameness and differentness to achieve some sort of “balance”?

    Comedy and Humor

    That seems to be what makes stand up comedy work. Somebody says something, and we say: “Yes, that is true! I see it the same way!”  And we bond to them.  We connect with them.  This (I’m learning) is why I always used humor as a defense mechanism in school growing up.  Some kid would call me a name, or make fun of my clothes, somehow to point out how I was “different”, and I would look for some way to get attention from others so that I could feel “the same” again.

    Think about it. This is why we have “inside jokes”…and why they piss off the people who aren’t “inside”.  We are connected with someone in some specific way.  We share the same ________ (house, class, team, tribe, etc.), and it is only funny to those who share it with us.  We enjoy it because we are the same.  Others loathe it or avoid it because they are not the same, in respect to whatever is being joked about.

    So, why be different?  Why do we have Carrottop, Seinfeld, Chappelle, AND Ellen?  That’s what I’m trying to figure out!  Is variety a virtue unto itself?  Help me out here.