Grief Fatigue

<p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEg1UkEietmwopXf_1jQXr9GrD_ca0Tm1KDPk8gR0UUX-ZXryrVlozDZgQmFopbGTbXZ-Y-vMXRQtr5tCODThQxTem-zCa76OXjEZRgvysJzl-JXu5J2gapCeGL1MVmPOOaJwb_ULFTnTHzUjS01XvssH_KPv8_UbJ-tdyP0PaI4UhWdhqx5qQJNLzgl=s1024" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="794" data-original-width="1024" height="496" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEg1UkEietmwopXf_1jQXr9GrD_ca0Tm1KDPk8gR0UUX-ZXryrVlozDZgQmFopbGTbXZ-Y-vMXRQtr5tCODThQxTem-zCa76OXjEZRgvysJzl-JXu5J2gapCeGL1MVmPOOaJwb_ULFTnTHzUjS01XvssH_KPv8_UbJ-tdyP0PaI4UhWdhqx5qQJNLzgl=w640-h496" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><i><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Niobe#/media/File:Niobe_JacquesLouisDavid_1772_Dallas_Museum_of_Art.jpg" target="_blank">Apollo and Artemis Attacking the Children of Niobe</a></i> by Jacques-Louis David, 1772 (public domain - Wikipedia)</span></td></tr></tbody></table><p><label class="hide-text" contenteditable="false"></label></p><div class="preformatted-block"><pre class="text"> </pre></div><blockquote><p><em><strong>“Grief, loss, regret are not the end of the story. They are the middle of the story. Memory does not look backward, it looks forward.”</strong></em> </p><p style="text-align: right;"><em>— Anne Michaels, 2020</em></p></blockquote><div class="preformatted-block"><label class="hide-text" contenteditable="false"></label><pre class="text"> </pre></div><p>We’re in the middle of a story, alright. One that seems like the film <em>Groundhog Day</em>. The pandemic rages on, and too many of our fellow citizens are going about their lives like nothing’s any different.</p><p>And it’s causing a good deal of grief.</p><div class="preformatted-block"><label class="hide-text" contenteditable="false"></label><pre class="text"> </pre></div><p>If you want a sense of the ultimate grief, take a look at the image above.<em>  </em>Jacques-Louis David depicts a scene out of <em>The Iliad</em> and ancient Greek mythology.</p><p>Niobe was the daughter of Tantalus and the queen of Thebes. She had 12 or 14 children (depending on which story you read) and showed her hubris by chiding Leto for only having two children.</p><p>Well, when you’re a daughter of Titans and your two children are the gods Apollo and Artemis, and (get this) you’re the goddess of <em><strong>motherhood </strong></em>— things are about to get messy really quickly.</p><p>In this case, Leto sent her children to teach Niobe a lesson: Apollo killed all of her sons and Artemis killed all of her daughters. Niobe refused to eat for nine days, and her children went unburied during that time.</p><p>Finally, the gods buried them on the tenth day, and Niobe was turned into stone, perpetually weeping. She is supposedly represented by the nearby <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Niobe#/media/File:NiobeWeepingRock_AglayanKaya_MountSipylus_ManisaTurkey.jpg">Weeping Rock</a> on Mt. Sipylus in Turkey, which looks like the face of a woman and features a natural spring.</p><div class="preformatted-block"><label class="hide-text" contenteditable="false"></label><pre class="text"> </pre></div><h2><strong>A Modern Tragedy</strong></h2><p>If 2021 were part of a Greek tragedy, it would seem that we have taunted the gods.</p><p>Having spent the previous year and a half struggling against a raging pandemic, you’d think we would have the basics figured out by now. And yet, we have people still refusing to wear masks and refusing to get vaccinated.</p><p>Meanwhile, there’s a palpable sense of frustration, exhaustion, and grief.</p><p>We’re on a never-ending hamster wheel of the Kübler-Ross stages of grief as we cycle from denial to anger to bargaining to depression and finally to acceptance. Lather, rinse, repeat.</p><div class="preformatted-block"><label class="hide-text" contenteditable="false"></label><pre class="text"> </pre></div><h2><strong>Pandemic Grief</strong></h2><p>In the spring of 2020, we were all forced into a situation in which we had to mourn for the loss of the normal: we abandoned our offices, we stopped commuting, family events had to be postponed or canceled, and even funerals were put on hold or limited to parties of no more than ten.</p><p>In the essay “<a href="https://www.laphamsquarterly.org/memory/mortal-soul-moral-soul">Mortal Soul, Moral Soul</a>,” Anne Michaels wondered about this collective grief that we’re now facing:</p><blockquote><p><em><strong>“What does it mean when one’s most private, most profound experience, the cataclysm that shapes one’s life, is also the most intimate experience of thousands of others? What place can be found for our private grief when set against the losses of entire nations?</strong></em><strong>”</strong></p></blockquote><div class="preformatted-block"><label class="hide-text" contenteditable="false"></label><pre class="text"> </pre></div><p>There are those who have suffered the loss of friends and family members to this pandemic. In one degree or another, we’ve all lost something.</p><p> As a parent, it’s been difficult to watch our teens deal with the new reality. Having to socially distance or wear masks—particularly at a time in their social development when doing or wearing anything different makes them pariahs on the level of Hester Prynne—is causing them frustration about the theft of their adolescence.</p><p>When we try to convey our understanding and share their frustration, they don’t believe we can truly understand it, because we didn’t have to live through a pandemic in our own childhoods.</p><p>While this is true, I found that when I became a father, I was bestowed with so many complex layers of emotions I didn’t realize I had before. And as my children grow, I feel them even more deeply.</p><p>I tear up more while watching movies, TV shows, or even commercials sometimes. I feel a flutter in my chest when I peek into my kids’ bedrooms to see them sleeping. I’m torn by angst when I see them hurting.</p><p>Which brings me back to the complaint: can I truly understand the flood of emotions this pandemic is making my high school senior feel?</p><p>From a practical perspective, no. But my empathy reading is off the charts. I suppose the question is: can we experience grief via empathy?</p><p><br /></p><div><hr /></div><p> </p><blockquote><p><em><strong>“Bereavement is a darkness impenetrable to the imagination of the unbereaved.”</strong></em> </p><p style="text-align: right;"><em>— Iris Murdoch</em></p></blockquote><p> </p><div><hr /></div><p><br /></p><p>For an answer to that, I turn to the medical field. Consider the healthcare workers dealing with Covid patients. They’re beyond burned out. This is an ongoing acute situation with no end in sight. They’re losing patients and having to hold difficult conversations with family members—conversations that are devasting and impossibly frustrating.</p><p>It’s not too different from what oncologists have to deal with:</p><blockquote><p>“Oncologists are exposed to suffering, loss, and death, which can potentially lead to grief reactions. Although grief over patients may be a natural consequence of the close and longstanding oncologist-patient relationship, the empathy that oncologists feel toward their patients may put them at risk for compassion fatigue.”<a class="footnote-anchor" href="#footnote-1" id="footnote-anchor-1">1</a></p></blockquote><p></p><p>Grief isn’t just for healthcare workers during the pandemic. You’ve likely witnessed it in retail workers, fast food employees, and in the well-documented poorly-behaved citizens who create viral scenes in some of these establishments.</p><p>The pandemic has unleashed not only a virus among the workforce, but aspects of grief as well Whether through depression, loneliness, anxiety, stress, or survivor guilt, it's more likely than not that members of your team may be dealing with grief.</p><p>We often see grief expressed as anger. We’re all on edge and are being pushed even further as the variant of the virus spreads.</p><div class="preformatted-block"><label class="hide-text" contenteditable="false"></label><pre class="text"> </pre></div><h2><strong>What To Do for a Grieving Colleague</strong></h2><p>There is no question that grief is real, and has physical as well as mental impacts. You may be able to pick up on this from your team. Indeed, if you’re doing regular video calls, you should be attuned to their demeanor, picking up on the nonverbal cues as best you can.</p><p>You don’t need to be their therapist, but you do need to be there for them: Simply asking them, “Hey, how are you holding up?” is enough to let them know that you’re sensitive to the current situation. Acknowledge it and allow them to have their feelings.</p><p>We all have different personal situations and we each need to deal with our unique grief in our own way; not everyone processes things at the same pace or in the same manner. </p><p>If you feel like this is beyond your ability to handle it, let them know what resources are available to them, or offer to help them track down what they need.</p><p>If we come together in times of grief, we’ll find that it unites us and brings us closer. Having a shared experience—particularly one that is typically private—might seem awkward at first, but it's a gift. A wonderful unifier.</p><p>Sharing grief and showing support for each other when we’re down builds trust. It takes vulnerability on the part of those who are suffering, and empathy on the part of those who want to help. Think of those who reached out to you when you were at a low point, and how that made you feel.</p><p>What was once intimate is now a shared experience, and what was pain and grief becomes joy and trust. What you might call “good” grief. And that’s not the end, either.</p><p>We’re still in the middle of the story.</p><p><br /></p><p></p><p>Thanks, and I’ll see you on the internet.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhS1LTvoxuHJ77PfWISiItVC8l750N2GKiP-0XIb2rNNU-kNOF7Xlu7pC1G_70mx-qCA138mE6EcuOsDu7h0CxCuiLwq_P-8ljkWUOH95rDjs8yu_qpzQbWJ6P4qmXROUu4p9IRtqA4XTSFVlf0OcD2Co1K4y92BcXpDjadT5_nULAr7YoEJysRTfil=s325" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="141" data-original-width="325" height="87" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhS1LTvoxuHJ77PfWISiItVC8l750N2GKiP-0XIb2rNNU-kNOF7Xlu7pC1G_70mx-qCA138mE6EcuOsDu7h0CxCuiLwq_P-8ljkWUOH95rDjs8yu_qpzQbWJ6P4qmXROUu4p9IRtqA4XTSFVlf0OcD2Co1K4y92BcXpDjadT5_nULAr7YoEJysRTfil=w200-h87" width="200" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><div><hr /></div><p>The related <b><i><a href="https://pod.link/timeless" target="_blank">Timeless Leadership</a></i></b> episode was unusual; <a href="https://www.timelesstimely.com/p/the-art-of-reassembly" target="_blank">I spoke with Peg Conway</a>, whose mother died when Peg was just seven years old. The lessons of grief and self-awareness are powerful for anyone, including leaders who need to recognize grief in themselves and their teams.</p><p><iframe frameborder="0" height="170px" loading="lazy" scrolling="no" src="https://www.listennotes.com/podcasts/timeless-leadership/the-art-of-reassembly-ikUnYMcpv5S/embed/" style="min-width: 100%; width: 1px;" width="100%"></iframe><br /></p><p> </p><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"><hr /></div><p style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">👉 Premium Members receive an additional related essay plus curated links, stories, and audio and book recommendations every Friday.</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"></p><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; text-align: center;">Join the club by signing up below:</div><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; text-align: center;"><iframe data-dashlane-frameid="5525" frameborder="0" height="320" scrolling="no" src="https://www.timelesstimely.com/embed" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border-color: rgb(238, 238, 238); border-style: solid; border-width: 1px; max-height: 450px; max-width: 100%;" width="480"></iframe></div>

Grief Fatigue

Apollo and Artemis Attacking the Children of Niobe by Jacques-Louis David, 1772 (public domain - Wikipedia) “Grief, loss, regret are not t...

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All in the Family

<p> <table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEg2oQbNyKK7yyr_Uyqgl2L4SmFsLUnz0qV6xhZoFiFxR6x1K72tMhzujP9gukdpufw6lvqGvGuIMFh9tJAuNWgmnFl6vK43iv4c3nl-JIChcExIvgFPGhMRkG5ya4Us1QYCRSKzmJHTNu0KrqRxI-INvmM7SmkC-b9HXYD8S42fHuXFJfkqRdnQ01fS=s1200" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="866" data-original-width="1200" height="462" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEg2oQbNyKK7yyr_Uyqgl2L4SmFsLUnz0qV6xhZoFiFxR6x1K72tMhzujP9gukdpufw6lvqGvGuIMFh9tJAuNWgmnFl6vK43iv4c3nl-JIChcExIvgFPGhMRkG5ya4Us1QYCRSKzmJHTNu0KrqRxI-INvmM7SmkC-b9HXYD8S42fHuXFJfkqRdnQ01fS=w640-h462" width="640" /></a></td></tr></tbody></table></p><p style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><em><a href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Saturn_Devouring_His_Son.jpg">Saturn Devouring his Son</a></em> by Francisco de Goya, c. 1820 (public domain - Wikimedia Commons)</span></p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><div class="preformatted-block" style="text-align: left;"><label class="hide-text" contenteditable="false"></label></div></td></tr></tbody></table><p><label class="hide-text" contenteditable="false"></label></p><div class="preformatted-block"><pre class="text"> </pre></div><blockquote><p><em><strong>“The family is the test of freedom; because the family is the only thing that the free man makes for himself and by himself.”</strong></em> </p></blockquote><blockquote><p style="text-align: right;"><em>— G.K. Chesterton, 1919</em></p></blockquote><div class="preformatted-block"><label class="hide-text" contenteditable="false"></label><pre class="text"><br /></pre></div><p>This is not a pop culture blog—something that should be painfully obvious even if you only glance at the artwork in every issue.</p><p>Pop culture is akin to a digital watch. It gives us a precise measurement of the time we’re in, but, as David McCullough observed, <em><strong>“is the perfect symbol of an imbalance in outlook in our day. It tells us only the time it is now, at this instant, as if that were all anyone would wish or need to know.”</strong></em></p><p>These essays are a bridge that spans time, abutting the past on one end and the future on the other, firmly set on footings embedded in the present.</p><p>Therefore, when I wrote about <em><a href="https://www.timelesstimely.com/p/hope-for-the-future">Ted Lasso</a></em><a href="https://www.timelesstimely.com/p/hope-for-the-future"> and hope</a>, it was tied to <strong>William James</strong> and his study of athletes and their mentality at the turn of the 19th century: the concept of precursive faith.</p><p>So today, when I refer to <em><strong>Succession</strong></em>, you’ll understand that this is more than a pop culture reference.</p><p>HBO’s Golden Globe-nominated series concerns the Roy family, whose patriarch Logan runs a media conglomerate with an iron fist. Every one of Logan Roy’s four children is so wildly offensive, conniving, self-serving, inept, and unable to show love, you wouldn’t be mistaken if you thought that they put the “F.U.” in dysfunctional. (<a href="Tweet this" target="_blank"><b><i>Tweet this</i></b></a>)</p><p class="button-wrapper" data-attrs="{"url":"https://ctt.ac/UYR16","text":"Tweet this","action":null,"class":null}">This is a far cry from the scrubbed innocence of <em><strong>Father Knows Best</strong></em> from the 1950s, in which Robert Young’s Jim Anderson offered sage advice to his children. Indeed, if the HBO show were named for Logan’s paternal abilities, it would be <em><strong>Father Knows More Than You Ever Will, and Don’t Even Think About Asking, You Little Ingrates</strong></em>.</p><p>Each of his children is vying for some piece of the family fortune, some aspect of their father’s love, all while clawing their way to supremacy in the chain of command and receiving nary a shred of affection or tutelage in the business.</p><p>It’s a modern twist on <em><strong>King Lear</strong></em>, in which Shakespeare’s destitute and insane king plans to divide his kingdom between his three daughters, bequeathing the largest share to the child who loves him most. Except in the modern edition, the elder Roy is looking for competence and killer instinct; his offspring are the ones who are looking for love.</p><p><br /></p><p>Ironically, for a show called <em>Succession</em>, by the end of Season 3, not one of Logan’s children has been a success in their efforts. It’s hard to imagine any one of these Machiavellian misfits surviving a corporate structure that didn’t involve bloodlines.</p><div class="captioned-image-container"><figure style="text-align: center;"><a class="image-link image2 image2-254-480" href="https://cdn.substack.com/image/fetch/f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fe65bb420-0ba4-4b0f-9e80-d2dab5c60fe9_480x254.gif" rel="nofollow" style="display: inline; height: 0px; padding-bottom: min(52.9167%, 254px); width: 100%;" target="_blank"><img alt="Cousin Greg from Succession, wearing a suit and tie and testifying before a Congressional committee, saying "If it is to be said. So it be. So it is."" class="sizing-default" data-attrs="{"src":"https://bucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/e65bb420-0ba4-4b0f-9e80-d2dab5c60fe9_480x254.gif","fullscreen":false,"height":254,"width":480,"resizeWidth":null,"bytes":1595156,"alt":"Cousin Greg from Succession, wearing a suit and tie and testifying before a Congressional committee, saying \"If it is to be said. So it be. So it is.\"","title":null,"type":"image/gif","href":null}" height="254" src="https://cdn.substack.com/image/fetch/w_1100,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fe65bb420-0ba4-4b0f-9e80-d2dab5c60fe9_480x254.gif" style="max-height: 254px; max-width: 480px;" title="Cousin Greg from Succession, wearing a suit and tie and testifying before a Congressional committee, saying "If it is to be said. So it be. So it is."" width="480" /></a></figure><figure style="text-align: center;"><br /></figure></div><div><hr /></div><blockquote><p><em><strong>“He that hath wife and children hath given hostages to fortune; for they are impediments to great enterprises, either of virtue or mischief.”</strong></em></p></blockquote><blockquote><p style="text-align: right;"><em>— Francis Bacon, 1625</em></p></blockquote><div><hr /><br /></div><h2>Family Values</h2><p>There are certain family values that are passed from one generation to the next. But which family and what values? These vary from era to era and from place to place.</p><p>It could be the arts endowment proclivities of the <strong>Medici</strong> in 15th century Florence, or the political aspirations of the <strong>Kennedys</strong> in Brookline. Or even the murderous tendencies of the <strong>Corleones</strong> in New York.</p><p>As much as genetics play a role in our values and culture, so do our surroundings. We are by-products of the cosmic blend of each, mixed with a dash of luck and a pinch of opportunity, served up to us on a platter not of our own choosing.</p><p>When we do have an opportunity to surround ourselves with people of our own choosing, we tend to gravitate toward people whose values are similar to ours, who fill a gap in our knowledge or abilities, and who make us feel good about who we are.</p><p>My friend <a href="https://lauragassnerotting.com/">Laura Gassner Otting</a> calls these people <em><strong>framily</strong></em>.</p><p>You might even consider your work colleagues like family. There are employers who call their teams “family.” They would be wise to avoid that, however.</p><p><br /></p><div><hr /></div><blockquote><p><em><strong>“The strength of a family, like the strength of an army, is in its loyalty to each other.”</strong></em> </p></blockquote><blockquote><p style="text-align: right;"><em>— Mario Puzo, 2001</em></p></blockquote><div><hr /><br /></div><h2>Family Loyalty</h2><p>Typically, loyalty in employment situations is one way. You may buy into the family analogy of the workplace, but most people are at-will employees, meaning they can be fired at a moment’s notice.</p><p>I have friends who have put in nearly a decade of work at the same company—an unheard of tenure these days—who were then unceremoniously dumped. What kind of family treats you like that? What family values does that represent?</p><p>We have our home families and our work associates. While we may spend more time with our colleagues, it’s the blood ties that are the strongest.</p><p>These are the people who will laugh with you when you’re on vacation, bring you chicken soup when you’re in bed with a fever, and stand at your gravesite to remember you at your funeral.</p><p><br /></p><p>When you reach your twilight years and, like Logan Roy, have bladder control issues, who will help you find the restroom or clean you up? (<em>There’s a big hint for the season finale right there.</em>)</p><p>The relationships you invest in will be the ones that manifest themselves at the end of your life.</p><p>In short, figure out which people matter most to you.</p><p>Now ask yourself: do they know it?</p><p><br /></p><p>Thanks, and I’ll see you on the internet.</p><p><br /></p><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"><hr /></div><p style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">👉 Premium Members receive an additional related essay plus curated links, stories, and audio and book recommendations every Friday.</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"></p><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; text-align: center;">Join the club by signing up below:</div><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; text-align: center;"><iframe data-dashlane-frameid="2673" frameborder="0" height="320" scrolling="no" src="https://www.timelesstimely.com/embed" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border-color: rgb(238, 238, 238); border-style: solid; border-width: 1px; max-height: 450px; max-width: 100%;" width="480"></iframe></div>

All in the Family

  Saturn Devouring his Son  by Francisco de Goya, c. 1820 (public domain - Wikimedia Commons) “The family is the test of freedom; because t...

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Cultural (Il)literacy

<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-mbCdHskFUrE/YbJFOrABStI/AAAAAAABX6Y/lcQ2Ar-RusAVvrRbQ3pd57EzuQzUaLOdACNcBGAsYHQ/s2155/Anton%2BRaphael%2BMengs%2B-%2BThe%2BTriumph%2Bof%2BHistory%2Bover%2BTime%2B%2528Allegory_of_the_Museum_Clementinum%2529.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1815" data-original-width="2155" height="540" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-mbCdHskFUrE/YbJFOrABStI/AAAAAAABX6Y/lcQ2Ar-RusAVvrRbQ3pd57EzuQzUaLOdACNcBGAsYHQ/w640-h540/Anton%2BRaphael%2BMengs%2B-%2BThe%2BTriumph%2Bof%2BHistory%2Bover%2BTime%2B%2528Allegory_of_the_Museum_Clementinum%2529.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span face="sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #767676;">Detail from </span><em style="background-color: white; color: #767676; font-family: sans-serif;"><a href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Anton_Raphael_Mengs,_The_Triumph_of_History_over_Time_(Allegory_of_the_Museum_Clementinum),_ceiling_fresco_in_the_Camera_dei_Papiri,_Vatican_Library,_1772_-_M0tty.jpg" rel="">The Triumph of History Over Time</a></em><span face="sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #767676;"> (Allegory of the Museum Clementinum, ceiling fresco) by Anton Raphael Mengs (public domain - Wikimedia Commons)</span></span></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><p></p><div class="preformatted-block" data-pm-slice="1 1 []"><label class="hide-text" contenteditable="false"></label><pre class="text"></pre></div><blockquote><p><em><strong>“[C]ultural literacy—the grasp of background information that writers and speakers assume their readers and listeners already have—is the hidden key to effective education in America.”</strong> — E. D. Hirsch, Jr., 1987</em></p></blockquote><div class="preformatted-block"><label class="hide-text" contenteditable="false"></label><pre class="text"> </pre></div><p>America seems to pride itself on rugged individualism.</p><p>Steeped largely in the mythical cowboy popularized by the likes of John Wayne and Jimmy Stewart westerns, there is a wide swath of people who think hard work and <a href="https://www.timelesstimely.com/p/leadership-style-resistance-vs.html">determination</a> will allow anyone to prevail who’s willing.</p><p data-pm-slice="1 1 []">The reality is that we all owe our success to someone else, that nothing significant is accomplished without help, and that individualism comes at a price.</p><p>Whether it was our relatives, immigrants who arrived generations before we did, or their family situations overseas, someone made it possible for the next generation to accomplish what it did.</p><p>Someone took a risk on the unicorn CEOs, someone made introductions that mattered, someone fronted capital for the latest technological wonder. There is literally no one who is self-made. We all need help along the way.</p><p>But we operate under the false assumption that toughness and individuality will win the day. Doing so jeopardizes our future.</p><blockquote><p><em><strong>“Try to listen with your inner ears to those who went before you, parents, grandparents, great-grandparents and on and on, who all wanted to be good ancestors to you…the time has come for you to return the favor. You have to learn to be good ancestors to the future.”</strong> — <a href="https://news.stanford.edu/news/2006/june21/gregtext-062106.html?utm_campaign=Pro+Rhetoric&utm_source=UA-166835896-1&utm_medium=email" target="_blank">Vartan Gregorian</a>, 2006</em></p></blockquote><div class="preformatted-block"><label class="hide-text" contenteditable="false"></label><pre class="text"> </pre></div><h2><strong>Did You See _____?</strong></h2><p>It doesn’t help that we all have individualized news feeds these days.</p><p>Gone are the days when we experienced the shared reality brought to us by three or four television networks, nightly news programs with tens of millions of viewers, and <em>The Tonight Show</em> with Johnny Carson.</p><p>We all watched the same Saturday morning cartoons, and they shaped our view of culture. As Elaine <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hZdZq97AdUE">said to Jerry</a> in “The Opera” episode of <em>Seinfeld</em>:</p><blockquote><p><em><strong>“It is so sad. All your knowledge of high culture comes from Bugs Bunny cartoons.”</strong></em></p></blockquote><div class="preformatted-block"><label class="hide-text" contenteditable="false"></label><pre class="text"> </pre></div><p>What’s sadder is that our children don’t have the ability to relate to each other through common viewing experiences (with a few exceptions) because their YouTube, Instagram, and TikTok feeds are all different.</p><p>When we have fewer cultural touchstones, we become disaffected and disconnected.</p><p>And at a time when we have remote employees who don’t interact the same way or who don’t attend the same in-person meetings they used to, that lack of connection will lead to a breakdown of loyalty.</p><p>It should be no surprise then that <a href="https://www.profgalloway.com/the-great-dispersion">the Great Dispersion</a> is upon us, as Scott Galloway wrote:</p><blockquote><p>“The pandemic has given us a preview of our dispersed future. Today we have social distancing — tomorrow the distancing will be structural. In a dispersed world we’ll have fewer encounters involving diversity of skin color, economic status, and gender/sexual/political orientation. When we do have these encounters, they are in the wrong context. Arguing with a stranger over a mask isn’t likely to produce tolerance as much as it will reinforce existing stereotypes.”</p></blockquote><div class="preformatted-block"><label class="hide-text" contenteditable="false"></label><pre class="text"> </pre></div><h2><strong>A Civic Duty</strong></h2><p>The lack of common experience extends to our understanding of history and civics as well. You know the old trope about those not knowing history, and it’s largely true.</p><p>There seems to be a startling rise in ignorance over things that have been taught in school or that one might pick up along the way, when reading or relating to fellow citizens.</p><p>Of course, it would help if we read more. Twenty-three percent of Americans <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2021/09/21/who-doesnt-read-books-in-america/" target="_blank">haven’t picked up a book in the last 12 months</a>.</p><p>Our understanding of basic civics isn’t encouraging: more than half think that immigrants who are in the United States illegally <a href="https://www.annenbergpublicpolicycenter.org/americans-are-poorly-informed-about-basic-constitutional-provisions/?utm_source=news-release&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=2017_civics_survey&utm_term=survey&utm_source=Media&utm_campaign=e5f213892a-Civics_survey_2017_2017_09_12&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_9e3d9bcd8a-e5f213892a-425997897" target="_blank">do not have rights under the U.S. Constitution</a>. </p><p>And as far as religion, <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2019/08/21/among-religious-nones-atheists-and-agnostics-know-the-most-about-religion/" target="_blank">atheists and agnostics know more about religion</a> than most other religious groups.</p><div class="preformatted-block"><label class="hide-text" contenteditable="false"></label><pre class="text"> </pre></div><blockquote><p><em><strong>“Trying to plan for the future without a sense of the past is like trying to plant cut flowers.”</strong> — Daniel Boorstin</em></p></blockquote><div class="preformatted-block"><label class="hide-text" contenteditable="false"></label><pre class="text"> </pre></div><h2>What <em>Do</em> We Know?</h2><p>Popular culture and sports tend to capture the most attention. So it stands to reason that for a brief moment, we were united by Kobe Bryant's death; <a href="https://www.axios.com/kobe-bryant-death-viral-d4ee0e60-7b85-495a-a691-54416df93997.html">it transcended all other news</a> in early 2020.</p><p>We had the opportunity to be united and focused like never before on the global pandemic. All attention was on Covid-19, but vaccines and even masks became politicized, based on our news feeds. Is it any surprise? <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/journalism/2020/07/30/americans-who-mainly-get-their-news-on-social-media-are-less-engaged-less-knowledgeable/" target="_blank">Those who rely on social media for news</a> are less likely to get the facts right about the coronavirus and politics and more likely to hear some unproven claims.</p><div class="preformatted-block"><label class="hide-text" contenteditable="false"></label><pre class="text"> </pre></div><p>To be culturally literate is to possess the basic information needed to thrive in the modern world. A disinterested and culturally illiterate society lacks the context necessary to hold even the most basic conversations.</p><p>To achieve cultural literacy, we need more shared experiences and fewer instances of knowledge or entertainment that are unique to us.</p><p>Our tenuous grasp of present reality puts our future at risk.</p><div class="preformatted-block"><label class="hide-text" contenteditable="false"></label><pre class="text"> </pre></div><p>Thanks, and I’ll see you on the internet.</p><p><br /></p><div><hr /></div><br />The related episode of <b><i>Timeless Leadership</i></b> (released every Thursday) is now available. Our guest is Jason Steinhauer, author of <a href="https://amzn.to/3DyocjU"><b><i>History, Disrupted: How Social Media and the World Wide Web Have Changed the Past</i></b></a>. Listen to it below or <a href="https://pod.link/timeless">wherever you get podcasts</a>.<div><br /><iframe frameborder="0" height="170px" loading="lazy" scrolling="no" src="https://www.listennotes.com/podcasts/timeless-leadership/history-disrupted-KRD7BwynkEL/embed/" style="min-width: 100%; width: 1px;" width="100%"></iframe><br /><p style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"><br /></p><div><hr /></div><p style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">👉 Premium Members receive an additional related essay plus curated links, stories, and audio and book recommendations every Friday.</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"></p><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; text-align: center;">Join the club by signing up below:</div><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; text-align: center;"><iframe data-dashlane-frameid="20264" frameborder="0" height="320" scrolling="no" src="https://www.timelesstimely.com/embed" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border-color: rgb(238, 238, 238); border-style: solid; border-width: 1px; max-height: 450px; max-width: 100%;" width="480"></iframe></div><p><br /></p></div>

Cultural (Il)literacy

Detail from  The Triumph of History Over Time  (Allegory of the Museum Clementinum, ceiling fresco) by Anton Raphael Mengs (public domain - ...

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Ars Gratia Artis

<p> <table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-n9OMjkMhZa4/YajXoFaZGJI/AAAAAAABXw0/GikbAfmAC8URkHTYyRbgajdJVUB-OThiQCNcBGAsYHQ/s907/Leo_the_MGM_lion_1928.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="673" data-original-width="907" height="474" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-n9OMjkMhZa4/YajXoFaZGJI/AAAAAAABXw0/GikbAfmAC8URkHTYyRbgajdJVUB-OThiQCNcBGAsYHQ/w640-h474/Leo_the_MGM_lion_1928.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><em style="text-align: left;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leo_the_Lion_(MGM)#/media/File:Leo_the_MGM_lion_1928.jpg">Photo of "Leo the Lion" being recorded for his roar to be heard at the beginning of MGM films</a></em><span style="text-align: left;">, 1928 (public domain - Wikipedia)</span></span></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><br /></p><blockquote><p><em><strong>“If we pretend to respect the artist at all, we must allow him his freedom of choice, in the face, in particular cases, of innumerable presumptions that the choice will not fructify. Art derives a considerable part of its beneficial exercise from flying in the face of presumptions.” </strong>— Henry James, 1884</em></p></blockquote><div class="preformatted-block"><label class="hide-text" contenteditable="false"></label><pre class="text"> </pre></div><p>You’ve seen the famous MGM lion, right?</p><p>But have you taken the time to read what’s on the frame around him?</p><p>A quick story about the history of MGM’s famous lion, “Leo,” and then I’ve got a story for you about growth.</p><p>MGM was formed by Marcus Loew in 1924 by combining Metro Pictures, Goldwyn Pictures, and Louis B. Mayer Pictures into a single company, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, or MGM.</p><p>To date, there have been <a href="https://www.logodesignlove.com/the-mgm-lions">eight lions</a> who have been filmed for the MGM production logo. The first was Slats, in the silent era (1924–1928), who didn’t roar; he just looked around (I mean, what else do you expect a silent lion to do, right?).</p><p>Between 1928 and 1967, there were five others used in overlapping timeframes, for different subjects (animated shorts, Technicolor, sound-enhanced silent films, etc.). MGM experimented with Bill, Telly, Coffee, Tanner, and George.</p><p>But it’s the eighth lion that we all know. Leo (born in the Dublin Zoo as Slats) has been under contract since 1957, and is still shown today.</p><p>If you’d care to watch all of them over time, here’s <a href="https://youtu.be/Y0b0flbq7Ac">a comprehensive 10-minute video</a> featuring the entire history:</p><p style="text-align: center;"><iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Y0b0flbq7Ac" title="YouTube video player" width="560"></iframe></p><p><br /></p><p>Back to the frame around Leo’s head. Have you ever read it? It says <em><strong>ARS GRATIA ARTIS</strong></em>. For you non-Latin majors in the back, that means “Art for art’s sake.”</p><p>When we undertake certain pursuits, whether they’re categorized as art (music, painting, writing), or not (fishing, chess, podcasting), we do them because we like them. And maybe because we’re good at them — or our expertise grows over time.</p><p>But that’s the point, isn’t it? To learn. To grow. To continually educate ourselves in one way or another. And maybe to be inspired along the way.<span class="embedded-post-publication-name"></span></p><p><br /></p><div class="embedded-post-wrap" data-attrs="{"id":32404561,"url":"https://www.timelesstimely.com/p/improvisation-as-inspiration","publication_id":28922,"publication_name":"Timeless & Timely","publication_logo_url":"https://bucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/6b0b5664-8343-4c87-a050-1a89626389ec_1280x1280.png","title":"Improvisation as Inspiration","truncated_body_text":"“We start then, with the Muses, who delight / With song the mighty mind of father Zeus / Within Olympus, telling of things that are, / That will be, and that were, with voices joined / In harmony.” — Hesiod, c. 700 BC When you’re searching for an idea, wh…","date":"2021-02-10T15:36:03.243Z","like_count":2,"comment_count":2,"bylines":[{"id":429,"name":"Scott Monty","photo_url":"https://bucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/9ea180a7-4ad6-4937-b37a-52810591c920_2717x2531.jpeg","bio":"Strategic communications and leadership advisor inspiring people to be better communicators, leaders, and humans. First executive at Ford to lead digital communications. Soothing voice available for hire.","profile_set_up_at":"2021-04-25T06:21:53.329Z","publicationUsers":[{"id":1595,"user_id":429,"role":"admin","public":true,"is_primary":false,"publication":{"id":28922,"name":"Timeless & Timely","subdomain":"scottmonty","custom_domain":"www.timelesstimely.com","custom_domain_optional":false,"hero_text":"This is a time machine. Jump ahead of the leadership curve by learning from the best from throughout history.","logo_url":"https://bucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/6b0b5664-8343-4c87-a050-1a89626389ec_1280x1280.png","author_id":429,"theme_var_background_pop":"#2879af","created_at":"2020-02-02T20:45:53.185Z","rss_website_url":null,"email_from_name":"Scott Monty","copyright":"Scott Monty Strategies","founding_plan_name":"Timeless Supporter","community_enabled":true,"invite_only":false}}],"twitter_screen_name":"ScottMonty","is_guest":false}]}"><br /></div><h2><strong>Kurt Vonnegut on Growth</strong></h2><p>In 2006, a high school English teacher asked students to write to a famous author and ask for advice. Kurt Vonnegut — a writer of some of the loveliest letters — was the only one to respond. And his response is magnificent:</p><blockquote><p>Dear Xavier High School, and Ms. Lockwood, and Messrs Perin, McFeely, Batten, Maurer and Congiusta:</p><p>I thank you for your friendly letters. You sure know how to cheer up a really old geezer (84) in his sunset years. I don’t make public appearances any more because I now resemble nothing so much as an iguana.</p><p>What I had to say to you, moreover, would not take long, to wit: Practice any art, music, singing, dancing, acting, drawing, painting, sculpting, poetry, fiction, essays, reportage, no matter how well or badly, not to get money and fame, but to experience becoming, to find out what’s inside you, to make your soul grow.</p><p>Seriously! I mean starting right now, do art and do it for the rest of your lives. Draw a funny or nice picture of Ms. Lockwood, and give it to her. Dance home after school, and sing in the shower and on and on. Make a face in your mashed potatoes. Pretend you’re Count Dracula.</p><p>Here’s an assignment for tonight, and I hope Ms. Lockwood will flunk you if you don’t do it: Write a six line poem, about anything, but rhymed. No fair tennis without a net. Make it as good as you possibly can. But don’t tell anybody what you’re doing. Don’t show it or recite it to anybody, not even your girlfriend or parents or whatever, or Ms. Lockwood. OK?</p><p>Tear it up into teeny-weeny pieces, and discard them into widely separated trash receptacles. You will find that you have already been gloriously rewarded for your poem. You have experienced becoming, learned a lot more about what’s inside you, and you have made your soul grow.</p><p>God bless you all!<br />Kurt Vonnegut</p></blockquote><div class="preformatted-block"><label class="hide-text" contenteditable="false"></label><pre class="text"></pre></div><p><br /></p><p>I love the thought of practiced art of any form making our souls grow. For isn’t that what makes us better people to those around us?</p><p>To grow is to know ourselves.</p><p>And if we know ourselves, we can share that true self with others.</p><p><br /></p><div><hr /></div><p style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">👉 Premium Members receive an additional related essay plus curated links, stories, and audio and book recommendations every Friday.</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"></p><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; text-align: center;">Join the club by signing up below:</div><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; text-align: center;"><iframe data-dashlane-frameid="5024" frameborder="0" height="320" scrolling="no" src="https://www.timelesstimely.com/embed" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border-color: rgb(238, 238, 238); border-style: solid; border-width: 1px; max-height: 450px; max-width: 100%;" width="480"></iframe></div>

Ars Gratia Artis

  Photo of "Leo the Lion" being recorded for his roar to be heard at the beginning of MGM films , 1928 (public domain - Wikipedia)...

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