by Marty Coleman | Jul 8, 2014 | Promises Promises - 2014-16 |
Hello Napkin Kin!
I am back from an awesome vacation to Colorado to have a family reunion on my wife’s side. I drove back solo (11 hours and 42 minutes) and had some time to think (ya think?!?) One of the things I thought about was promises so I decided to do a little series on them.
Little Things
A few years ago I made a new years resolution that consisted of only four words, ‘Do Every Little Thing’. It was my way of refocusing my attention on big promises I make by making sure I didn’t let the little things fall through the cracks. I knew that if I wanted to fulfill these promises (to myself or others) I needed to take better care of the small things that the big things were made up of.
Promising Small
I actually started doing much better about the small things. I have a long way to go but I think I am much better about doing what I promise I will do. ‘Much better’ doesn’t mean I am great at it, it means I started a long way off and am now better, more consistent than I used to be. I still have a long way to go.
What do you do to help yourself keep your promises?
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Drawing and commentary by Marty Coleman
Quote is Anonymous
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Promise little, do much
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by Marty Coleman | Jul 4, 2014 | Independence Day |
This is what I celebrate when I celebrate the 4th of July here in America.
Worth Celebrating!
If you live in the US and aren’t sure this is worth celebrating, if you are cynical, sarcastic or simply filled with anger about this or that aspect of American life (and trust me, I understand there is plenty to be angry about) then take a moment and consider how much more angry or cynical or sarcastic or DEAD you would be if you lived in a different country and weren’t the right religion or the right gender or had the right sexual orientation or were in the wrong political party or read the wrong book or were the wrong nationality or had the wrong color skin or were in the wrong tribe or didn’t have the right amount of money or were born into the wrong family or…. You get my drift.
Worth Celebrating?
BUT, what if one of those things were true AND you lived in the USA? It happens here too. Just ask a gay person or a disabled person or a woman or a person on welfare or an overweight person or a communist or an atheist or a Muslim or even a Christian in certain circles, or an African American or….you get my drift again. What then?
Yes, Worth Celebrating
What then is we are an imperfect country. That isn’t said as an excuse. It’s said to state the baseline truth. The further truth is, though we are an imperfect country, we are one dedicated to becoming better. We do make progress, we do arch in the right direction, arch towards justice and equality. It may not look it if you are in the wrong group because progress can be slow, and it can even back up at times. But it is happening.
That is why I am always proud to be part of the American fabric. This commitment to becoming better, more liberal and accurate in our understanding of rights and justice, is not an accident. It was deliberately set forth at our beginning and it’s continued to develop successfully for well over 200 years now. That’s worth celebrating.
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Drawing and Commentary by Marty Coleman
Quote By George Washington, 1732-1799, Signer of the Declaration of Independence, General of the Revolutionary Army, President of the Constitutional Convention, First President of the United States
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by Marty Coleman | Jul 1, 2014 | Independence Day, Quote Authors |
I am on vacation this week so I am going to post some past 4th of July napkins. The drawing that will publish on the 4th this year is new.
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by Marty Coleman | Jun 26, 2014 | Marcus Aurelius |
Don’t be insulted but it’s the last day of The Illustrated Insult.
The ‘Slut’
There once was a woman, Natalie, who found out, second hand through her friend Sandy, that another friend, Lisa, had called her a slut. This was said because Natalie had gone out on a date with Ben, who bragged to a mutual friend, Sam, about his conquest. Sam in turn told Lisa. Lisa was upset about this and and ranted to Sandy. Sandy then mentioned it to Natalie at a party the next night.
Response #1
Natalie was hurt by this. The reason she was hurt was she knew that Ben had lied. He had not ‘conquered’ her (meaning had sex with her). She also knew he had told Sam he had done so as to make Natalie look bad. She didn’t know why, but he obviously hated her for some reason. Sam had to hate her too and also wanted to wreck her reputation. As a matter of fact all four of her ‘friends’ weren’t her friends at all, they hated her.
Natalie left the party, cried long into the night and isolated herself for the rest of the weekend. She stayed distant from them all and others in her circle of friends. When she did return to the fold she wasn’t the same. She remained angry and eventually she drifted away from the group and spent the rest of her year pretty much on her own. She found it hard to make friends for a long time, always suspicious that her trust was misplaced.
Response #2
Natalie was hurt by this. The reason she was hurt was she knew that Ben had lied. He had not ‘conquered’ her (meaning had sex with her). But she also knew he had told Sam he had done so as to make himself look good. She didn’t know why, but he obviously felt inferior to Sam and wanted to prove himself somehow. It wasn’t good that he had lied, but she felt bad that he would go to such lengths. He had some issues he needed to deal with that had nothing to do with her. She know that Sam always felt on the edge of the group of friends. Him finding out about this supposed conquest would give him an in with a girl he had a crush on, Lisa, so it made sense he would tell her. This also wasn’t good, but it certainly didn’t say anything about how he felt about her. She knew Lisa had just had a pregnancy scare earlier in the year and had preached to her about making sure she didn’t make the same mistake she had made. Now Lisa had heard Natalie HAD made the same mistake and so had likely just gone off on a rant, calling her a slut the same way she had been called a slut by some just a few months earlier. Natalie also knew Lisa had a short temper and that her parents were extremely judgmental of almost everyone. Natalie also knew Sandy was everyone’s confidant and she would listen to anything. The fact that Sandy had told her what Lisa said was more about Sandy thinking she was being a friend that it was her trying to hurt anyone.
Natalie stayed at the party. When Ben showed up she brought him aside and told him what she had heard. She looked him straight in the eye and told him that not only was their friendship over but she would expect to hear from Sam, Lisa and Sandy that he had gone to them all and said he had lied. She doubted he would really do that but she wanted him to know she was in control, not him. She eventually talked to Sam and Lisa, explaining what actually happened. She left it at that. It made her a bit wary of her friends for a while but she not only kept their friendship over time but rose high in their eyes as a woman of character and someone they admired and trusted.
Rejecting Injury
How did Natalie reject this injury? She did it by assuming the best motives and understanding the weaknesses of her friends. She approached them, in spite of the hurt, with love and kindness instead of hatred and anger.
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Drawing and Story by Marty Coleman
Quote by Marcus Aurelius, 121AD – 180AD, Roman Emperor, Stoic Philosopher
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Reject your sense of injury and the injury itself disappears
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by Marty Coleman | Jun 25, 2014 | Fitness & Health |
Hola Napkin Kin,
Hey, look who got profiled in Oklahoma Sports and Fitness magazine. Many thanks to Betsy Penturf for writing an article that makes me look better than I am!
Check it out, let me know what you think. http://www.oksportsandfitness-digital.com/publication/?i=213773&p=18
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