Book by Randy Pauch.

Wow. I am painfully aware that my blog at times turns into a series of book reports, but this short gem is well worth passing on. Randy's last lecture before his oncoming death by pancreatic cancer is quite moving and provocative, challenging us to live with risk, joy, and intentionality.

As a computer programmer, Pauch does not stay in his field to impart his last ideas. Instead he uses it as a launch pad for the bigger life lessons he hopes his children will learn.

Heck! I hope I learn them, and I am only a year younger than he is.

Highly, highly recommended. One of the best, most accessible and practical books I've read in a long time.

PT

I just finished Thomas Friedman's The World is Flat. It is cause for incredible thought. Friedman is quite counter intuitive in his politics. He does a large share of Bush bashing, but at the same time takes stances that democrat labor union protectionists would find appalling. Of course, the basic idea is that technology has leveled (flattened) the global playing field so that cheaper, but equally or more qualified people on the other side of the world can do some traditionally "American" work as easily as people next door. Friedman is, of course, right and outsourcing has proven it.

I recently heard that tombstones were now cheaper to ship from China than they are to make in Virginia. We aren't likely to have the same objections that we have with quality control in toothpaste. The auto industry is all we need to look at to see that we are being outbid on way too many fronts.

What Friedman carefully avoids addressing in depth is that as the standard of living is raised in other parts of the world, due to higher and safer employment standards, the leveling of the playing field will inevitably lower the American standard of living. He sidesteps the issue by claiming that creativity and collaboration will ultimately mitigate this problem. It sounds suspiciously like Isaac Asomov's claim that robots would free laborers up to do more creative and intellectually satisfying work. This may work over the course of centuries, or even multiple decades, but it doesn't make the poor sucker getting laid off any happier.

For my money, the best thing Friedman had to say was in discussing the state of education in our country. As other countries are gathering momentum to ride the flat earth prosperity train, we seem to by resting on our laurels. This is the same mistake many cultures have made and have suffered the consequences. I am hoping that Friedman's precaution will be heard. However, I think it is a precaution that needs to be taken personally rather than politically. We must ask ourselves what we are doing to encourage the kids in our lives to do well in school and to excel in subjects that will give them an edge over the global competition.

We must not fail them by employing assumptions (like "this is the richest, most powerful nation on earth") with which they are not yet capable of critically grappling. Instead we must feed them on the reality that only the proactive and prepared stand a chance in a dog-eat-dog market place. We need not encourage negative attitudes and practices to build in them good character and true principles of effectiveness (yes, Stephen Covey is a reasonable place to turn).

In the bigger picture, Dawn and I attended a coffee shop basement congregation of mostly 20 somethings this past weekend. The assumptions of their technical savvy, their green leanings, and hunger for spiritual things (like prayer and victory over sin) was heartening. In this new flat earth, I am praying for the wisdom to apprehend post-modern tools in reaching our neighbors for Jesus' kingdom.

In two days, Dawn and I will celebrate 17 years of marriage. I did not get her a card. This is my card.

Dawn has become over the years my very best friend. I cannot imagine being any closer to a person. She hears and understands my rantings and confronts my pettiness. She encourages me when I am frustrated.

She brings wonderful music into my life. I love to unexpectedly hear her begin playing the piano in the dining room. At that point, I quickly turn off the audio playing from my iTunes and listen to the live performance ... always preferable.

Dawn is very giving. She is quick to defer to my preferences when we are planning to do something. I get the impression that she truly wants to make me happy.

We share so many common tastes that it makes the tastes we don't share seem odd, even endearing. And we have developed a fun mutual past time of listening to audio books. It is a way to be, very literally, on the same page.

... and counting. With so many couples having deep trouble and splitting up, I am pleased to say that I see no danger on the horizon for us. It is likely that deference and not just sharing our commonalities but developing new ones that keeps us moving toward rather than away from each other.

God is truly continuing to make us one. Perhaps, someday, I will aspire to her better qualities.