Filed under: A Bit Of Inspiration, Asia, Attitude & Aptitude, Comment, Contribution, Corporate Evil, Craft, Creative Development, Creativity, Culture, Emotion, Empathy, Environment, Finance, Government, Imagination, Perspective, Resonance, Respect, Values, Vietnam
Over the last year, I have fallen in love with walking.
What once I considered a waste of TV/Gaming/Eating time, now I prioritise it.
I take client calls on walks.
I do team catch-ups on walks.
I do a lot of my work thinking time on walks.
Walk, walk, walk, walk, walk.
And the benefits of this approach to life are plentiful.
I’m healthier – physically and mentally.
I have a skin tone that no longer makes me look like an anemic Dracula.
And I have got to connect more to the places I live and work.
I am not suggesting in any way others need to be doing this, just highlighting how it has had a lifechanging effect on me.
But one of the things I have really got to appreciate with walking is seeing the communities and streets around where I live and how – every now and then – you come across something that makes me stop walking and stare.
This is one of them …
Someone did that.
Someone decided to do that.
To make a little part of the pavement, a jewel.
And I have no idea why … and I have no idea who … but I love someone did.
Not just because they took the time, but they thought is was worth the time.
And that’s the thing I worry about where we’re heading.
Because everything is seemingly evaluated and valued by greatest and fastest ROI.
We’re seeing companies do it with their endless mergers and acquisitions.
We’re seeing tech firms do it with their blinkered focus on optimisation over possibility..
And we’re seeing governments do it with their disregard of the arts in favour of business.
And while, of course, money is hugely important … when the impact and value on how society feels and interacts is disregarded, the economic benefit ends up being even more short-term.
Some people won’t care.
Some people are only focused on what they can get out of something rather than what they can give or enable for someone else.
Which is why I’m so grateful to whoever made this piece of literal street art.
Because it’s far more than just decorating a bit of the pavement, it’s a reminder of the choice we have. Because while the ‘economically functional’ may be easier, cheaper, faster and more convenient, its the stuff that you know is born from someone’s passion that leaves the most lasting impression.
Talking of passion, I’m away next week in one of my favorite places in the World, Vietnam.
[I say that, it all depends on what the doctors say about my eye at today’s check up. Eek]
It’s exciting for 3 reasons.
1. I’ve not been there for years.
2. It’s where I helped create the ‘4×4 on 2 wheels‘.
2. It means that after 3 months of pain, my eye is doing well enough to travel again.
And before you ask, it is for work – even though I get to see friends there at the same time.
So while I’m off experiencing the place with the most infectious spirit, unstoppable energy and relentless optimism in Asia, I hope you have a week finding and celebrating the things that may make no economic sense to an accountant but make so much sense to your soul.
Because in these days of beige and boring, creativity is not so much about art, but an act of rebellion on behalf of the human spirit.
See you in a week.
Filed under: Collegues, Comment, Context, Culture, Emotion, Empathy, Family, Friendship, Honesty, Love, Loyalty, Parents, Perspective, Reputation, Resonance, Respect
Maybe it was because I was in a sentimental mood.
Maybe it was because some feelings were triggered.
But one day, I found myself feeling very emotional.
There were two things that did it …
One was the mother and son rendition of Creep that I wrote about recently the other is what I am writing about today.
In essence, it’s a love story … albeit a tragic one.
A story about friendship rather than romance or family.
And while there are many twists and turns spanning over the 12 years of the story, you never doubt that the driving force behind it is to honour an increasingly complex relationship.
I appreciate it is almost an hour long. I appreciate its a Thursday. But I do hope you watch it.
Because while the film is defined as ‘a crime documentary’, it is so much more than that.
It certainly isn’t as the hyped-up, click-bait, thumbnail suggests.
It’s not bombastic or dramatic.
In many ways, the whole thing feels in slow motion.
I don’t mean that in terms of it how long it takes for the story to be told, but in how gentle and caring the people involved reveal themselves.
In many ways, it’s an important reminder that love, family, friendships and life are made up of beauty, fragility and – more often than we may want to accept or acknowledge – mystery.
And while we may not intend it.
And sometimes, may not even realise it.
The choices, actions and behaviours we make can leave the people we care about with questions they may never get to resolve.
Questions that can turn into scars that will never heal.
Or, like in this story, scars that can finally start to recover.
What is beautiful about this documentary is that it radiates humanity.
Everyone in it comes out of it with your respect and compassion.
You want these people in your life. You want more people like this in all of our lives.
And this is a reminder they’re there.
They’re all around us.
We just have to see them. Before it’s too late.
I hope it touches you as much as it touched me.
Recently I was walking around where I live when I saw this …
Apart from being proud/relieved that the pranks from my childhood are still thriving [although, given I live in NZ, some may say it is evidence the country is running 20 years behind everywhere else] I couldn’t help think this could be a Mini ad campaign.
You see given how massive Mini’s are these days – at least compared to what they once were – I was surprised how small that one looked under that road cone.
With that in mind, maybe they could do a whole bunch of print ads that feature everyday objects from the road, which they then put next-to, or on, the car and – just like that – they’ve reinforced both the name of the brand as well as remind the car-buying public of its size advantage [albeit more because there’s so many bloody massive SUV’s on the roads these days, rather than because Mini are teeny-tiny]
You’re welcome BMW.
Please make your cheque payable to R Campbell.
Filed under: Comment
I find horoscopes fascinating.
Mainly because while the vast majority of people think they’re a bunch of hocus-pocus, the moment you read one that says something complimentary about your future or character … suddenly you become a full-on believer.
It’s similar to how you act when you meet someone you’ve not met before and discover you share the same birth sign.
Regardless of who they are, where they’re from or what they believe … you suddenly feel some weird kinmanship with them.
It’s utterly bonkers.
OK, I get some people are really into it but I definitely subscribe to the ‘more fiction than Harry Potter’ school of thought … especially when they go all pseudo-science with their ‘Jupiter rising’ type stuff.
Or so I thought, until I was going through some stuff and found this:
Now I must admit I don’t know who sent me this.
And I don’t know if the person who did, is a Virgo or Capricorn.
But not only are they obviously competitive – seemingly with me – they seem to believe that thanks to some weird online horoscope thing, they have empirical evidence I’m the sort of person who’d stoop to cheating to win.
I bet they feel really smug with themselves … but on closer reading, the ‘evidence’ they are hanging their reputation on, ends up actually being in my favor.
First it states that my unknown nemesis has bought a more powerful car than mine.
Then it points out I sabotaged their engine before the final race.
The emphasis here is on ‘final race’ because that means there must have been prior races before we got to ‘the final’. And that suggests – at the very least – I won an equal amount of races as my competitor, even though they had a more powerful car.
Which is my way of pointing out that the horoscope is basically acknowledging my driving skills were superior to my opponents, so maybe there’s more to this mumbo jumbo than I originally thought … acknowledging this also proves my original point in this post. Damnit.
As you can tell by this post, I am in desperate need of some sleep so have a good weekend and hopefully the quality of posts next week is vastly superior to the barrel-scraping of today.
Filed under: Comment, Dad, Death, Emotion, Empathy, Family, Love, Loyalty, Mum, Mum & Dad
I know, I know … I said I was away for a week – and I am – but I couldn’t let today pass without me acknowledging it, because today is the 10th anniversary of my Mum passing.
I’ve written a lot about this over the bast decade.
From what happened … to how it messed with me … right thought to how it changed how I do things and look at things.
And while all those things are still there … a decade later the feelings are far less connected to darkness and far more about the light.
I have to say, I am so relieved.
Mum was a wonderful human.
Full of compassion and curiosity.
Driven by a real sense of respect and justice for all.
For a very gentle, quiet woman, she was a force that you felt through her actions, her choices, her emotions and – when necessary – her words.
But most of all, I think of Mum as an incredibly dignified person and nothing reflects this more than how she prepared for what she feared most.
You see Mum was going into hospital for a heart valve operation.
It was a pretty common procedure, but at 83, she was aware things could happen.
She’d already delayed the operation by a few months to ensure I could be with Jill when Otis was born – another example of her selflessness – but even though things had initially gone well, sadly the condition of her heart was far worse than expected and within an hour of coming out of theatre, it ruptured and Mum died.
I’m so, so grateful I was with her and that she knew that.
She’d told me a few months before that her greatest fear was that she may die alone – like her sister-in-law had tragically experienced.
And while I would give anything to have her back, knowing I was there – as I was with Dad – has definitely helped me deal with the loss.
But it’s what happened after she passed that reaffirmed one of her greatest traits.
Her dignity.
Something she valued very much. Even in death.
You see, when she had died, we were going through some draws back at her house. In there, I found a book she’d been compiling featuring all the account numbers associated with her, all the contact information of her friends, and a compilation of stories and articles that she wanted me to see or know if the worst happened.
To do that both blows me away and breaks my heart …
Blows me away for the incredible generosity of wanting to ensure in my darkest hour, I am not being further impacted by the complication of trying to find or access information.
Breaks my heart because not only did it represent her acknowledging the potential of her death, but that she did it alone.
I don’t know how she felt doing this, I just hope that any emotional struggle she felt was softened by knowing she was doing something that was important to her. Important because I – as her only son – was her world.
She never left me in doubt of that. Ever. Even when we had little disagreements over the years …
Because the undeniable fact was she loved me and I loved her.
And I still do.
I’m so grateful and honoured she was my Mum.
Which is why, as much as today is a connected to something deeply sad in my life – she’d be very happy to know, the feelings I have today are far more associated with love than tragedy.
For all she did.
For all she was.
For all she continues to be in my life.
I love and miss you so much Mum.
Give Dad a big kiss from me.
Rx