each ending is a beginning

Last evening, I attended the Toastmasters Founder's District Installation Dinner for the 2004/2005 Toastmasters year.  It reminded me that every ending ushers in a new beginning.

There were many familiar faces in the crowd, and a few new ones.  Seeing those new faces keeps me energized about my involvement in Toastmasters.

At some point in your Toastmasters career, your focus will shift.  We each join the organization for our own reasons, and those reasons are almost always related to self-improvement in the areas of communication, leadership, self-confidence, etc.  But taking that step up into a leadership role, whether it be as a Club Officer or District leader, will eventually change your focus.  It did mine.

Seeing the growth in another human being as a result of some word or deed from you makes your own self-improvement pale in comparison.  How wonderful it is to know that you've helped to change a life for the better!

Last evening marked the end of the 2003/2004 Toastmasters year, and its Officers were duly discharged from their responsibilities.  But this ending led to a beginning, as the new Officers for the coming year were installed and charged with their duties.  Among them, yours truly was installed as Division G Governor.  I'll be sharing my experiences during the year with you.  My hope is to inspire you to take on a leadership position of your own.

Those new faces I saw last evening have taken that first step into District leadership.  Their beginnings will directly and positively affect thousands of Toastmasters members, some of whom will begin their new journeys with the end of the coming year.

Take on the challenge of leadership.  Create a new beginning for someone else.  The rewards will last a lifetime, you have my word on that.

explore or perish

With all this talk about a renewed interest in space exploration and changing the focus of NASA, one thing, one very important thing, is being left unsaid.

As human beings, we must explore or perish.  We must, because of three important eventualities:

1. self-destruction


2. global natural disasters


3. human stagnation

self-destruction

We've all seen what happens when urban areas become overcrowded:

• crime increases


• poverty increases


• counter-productive cultures arise

Over the years, countless psychological experiments involving rodents have shown that increasing their numbers within a fixed space (or decreasing the space available) makes them more aggressive.

In the case of humans under these conditions, political, social and religious disagreements tend to fuel increased violence.  Extremely dangerous factions can emerge from this soup and, given some of the nastier weapons we've designed, ultimately threaten man's very existence.

The world economy proves every day that it's not strong enough to properly maintain today's major population centers.  Where, then, will we find the added resources necessary to support the population of less habitable areas once the major centers reach their limits?  Overcrowding will cause society in general to degrade into madness.

Under these conditions, destruction at our own hands is a very real possibility and a likely outcome.

global natural disaster

As destructive as Mount St. Helens was, scientists have estimated that the eventual eruption of Mammoth Mountain in the Sierra Nevada will release around 150 times that amount of explosive power.  Several other large volcanoes have recently roused from their slumber to threaten life and property.  If indeed we are entering a period of renewed global volcanic activity, the effect on human life could be disastrous.

Were you aware that a cloud of gargantuan chunks of ice and dust - comets - envelopes our solar system?  The recent box-office hits dealing with terrestrial cometary impacts have actually painted a very realistic picture of the grave danger we face.  We have, in fact, experienced several recent near misses, and they've taught us something quite disturbing:  we sometimes don't receive warning of an approaching comet until it's too late to react.

We have still more problems:

• global warming


• deforestation on a massive scale


• air, water, soil and food pollution


• scientists tampering with genetics

... and the list goes on.

And if all this weren't enough, scientists now tell us that we're setting ourselves up for annihilation by overusing antibiotics.  The super bugs which manage to become immune to our drugs are a serious threat to the longevity of our species.

Human Stagnation

Man is at his best when he's exploring and establishing new habitats.  This has been shown repeatedly throughout recorded human history.

• the Romans created an empire that was the envy of all their contemporaries


• the British conquered the world and flourished far and wide


• America was at her best during the expansion across the Great Plains and the establishment of magnificent cities along the West Coast

We read heart warming and inspiring tales almost daily about the triumphs of the human spirit achieved by modern explorers and entrepreneurs.

But the majority of people, once they establish a local culture and successfully eliminate the struggle for survival, tend to lapse, eventually, into apathy and hedonism.  This, too, has been demonstrated by those very same world-conquering empires.

Just as with a withered human limb, the weakness brought on by lack of motivation leads finally to stagnation, atrophy and death.

what, then, shall we do?

Our only hope for long term survival is to begin now, today, to explore and colonize space and the planets.  Our seed must be spread and cultivated on as many worlds as possible, so that by sheer numbers we can outrun our certain fate here on Earth.

My challenge to humanity is to stop viewing science fiction as mere entertainment, and allow it to inspire and motivate us to reach for the stars.

There lies our last, best hope for survival.

stylish sheets cascading in a garden

Ever looked under the hood of your favorite web page? (From your browser's menu bar, choose something like "View->Source" or "View->Page Source", and then stand back.)

Chances are, what you see there will not be pretty. Sure, the page may look spiffy, but remember that it takes a lot of dirt and ugly-looking rocks to build an edifice.

What's more, it takes a bunch of in some cases significantly different versions of said page to be able to offer similar, accessible content to all users of the web (a half-dozen popular graphical browsers, text-readers, PDAs, cell phones, and more). An IT manager's nightmare, to be sure.

A few years ago (1998), the Web Standards Project was begun, with the goal of "promoting core web standards and encouraging browser makers to do the same, thereby insuring simple, affordable access for all."

Suddenly, web designers and developers were introduced to a whole new way of thinking and working, one that would eventually (hasn't completely happened quite yet) free them from the chains of having to create 14 different copies of one web site just to be compatible with the world.

That new way is centered on CSS. Using CSS, a web page contains primarily content (text, graphics and links to other web pages), and very little if any instructions about how the page should look.

"So what's the point of all this?" I hear you cry. My point is to share with you a web site that, once you understand its purpose, will blow you away.

The site to which I refer is called The CSS Zen Garden.

At this site, you'll see one, and only one, web page displayed in dozens and dozens of unique and captivating ways. Rest assured: the content of the site is the same for all versions. The only thing that is different between the pages is the Style Sheet, which tells the page how it should look.

So, go get a cup of your favorite java juice, plop down in front of your monitor, and prepare to be amazed.

After you've recovered from your amazing journey, I think you'll appreciate why CSS will someday free web designers and developers to do what they do best -- create.

Enjoy!

you've been warned

If either or both of your parents are sill alive, here's a handy tip: ask them if they've had a living trust drawn up by an honest, reputable, expert attorney in the field of trust and estate law.

If their answer is no, or is even the least bit vague, be afraid. Be very afraid.

I won't go into any gory details here, for many reasons. Suffice it to say that this is an issue with far-reaching and potentially devastating consequences.

It may not affect you today, or even a few years from now. But sooner or later, the chickens will come home to roost. And you know what chickens like to do.

Get some good books on living trust preparation. Study them. Visit some reputable legal advice Web sites and online forums. Learn what questions to ask and why you should ask them.

Then begin your search for that sometimes rare commodity, the honest attorney. (Sorry, couldn't resist -- let the flames begin.)

Don't be discouraged. It's often the last key in the bunch that opens the lock.

-- Anonymous

Be sure the professional you choose is an expert in both living trust preparation in particular, and estate law in general. Don't mess around with this. Don't' be lazy. Do it right the first time, or you'll live to regret it.

Don't say you haven't been warned.

taking on the challenge

Last evening, my home Toastmasters Club was asked to take on a challenge.  So we did.  We decided to form our own Speakers Bureau.  A challenge indeed.

For those of you not familiar with the concept, Toastmasters International allows us to form groups of members into what are called "speakers bureaus."  The express purpose of such a group is to provide the local, non-Toastmasters community with, you guessed it, speakers.

Typically, you'll find an entire Toastmasters District (composed of several hundred Clubs, each with an average of 20 members) forming its own speakers bureau.  A huge pool of talent from which to draw polished presenters, and loads of expertise in marketing said wares to the community.

So how can our little Club (presently sporting a total membership of 18) jump into such a large pond and expect to make anything more than the tiniest of ripples?  Simple, I suppose.  We start.

Under the capable direction of Competent Toastmaster and professional speaker Lee Pound, we'll start.

Lee has spent several weeks building us up to this point, telling us that each has a unique message to offer to others, that we can, in fact, "do it," and that if we prepare properly, speaking in public is a fairly predictable and even enjoyable pursuit.

Last night, after luring us into his well-crafted web, he sprang the trap:  "Your next step is to form a speakers bureau."  And we bit.

I, for one, am anxious to see what kind of lineup we can offer to our local organizations and service clubs.  We're in for a very interesting year, that's for certain.

Giving that first speech at our own home Toastmasters Club was a giant step out of the box for most of us.  Over the months and years, that box has grown tremendously in size, but we're still inside.

Time for another giant step.  Time to take on the challenge.  Film at eleven.

staying connected

Thanks to the folks at Google, owners of this free service, I'm taking the next step in interactive communications -- creating my own blog.

My hope is that you will benefit in some way from the sometimes random thoughts bouncing around in my head. If you do, please let me know, and if you don't, I'd appreciate hearing that, too. My aim is to be of service to you, my relatives, friends and acquaintances.

I'll publish my thoughts here on a more or less regular basis, so please check back often. Your input will help me to serve you better (my previously stated goal).

The inaugural topic? Staying connected. How appropriate.

More important than anything else in life (from a secular perspective, anyway) is the need to get and stay connected -- to people, not places or things. Without people, life would be, well, lifeless.

When we experience some success or some tragedy, what's the first thing we want to do? That's right -- tell someone about it. Sharing our hopes, fears and dreams with other human beings validates our own existence (sounds corny, but it's true).

Now to the other side of the coin -- being the receiver of that desire to share. Uh-huh. Not quite so easy sometimes, right? But vitally important in staying connected. Being a sympathetic, patient listener is a skill we should work hard at developing every day of our lives.

A good listener is not only popular everywhere, but after a while he gets to know something.

-- Wilson Mizner (1876 - 1933)

Find someone today with whom you can connect. A relative, a friend, an acquaintance -- even a perfect stranger if the situation presents itself. And when you do, ask them about their day. Then listen to them. That's all, just listen. If you're sincere while you're listening, they'll know it, and you'll have a friend for life. Guaranteed.