Thursday, July 31, 2008

Creating the LAME Studios Concert: Part 3

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lots of people helped out in various ways

lesson #4: everyone involved deserves to have a say.  for a 2 hour event, a lot of preparation and cleanup was required, and a lot of people helped out.  if people weren’t aware of or didn’t believe in the long term vision, i would not have their support.  people wouldn’t spend the afternoon baking vinyl records and molding them into bowls if the activity wasn’t worth their time.  they wouldn’t stand by the popcorn maker ensuring that nothing burns.  they wouldn’t drive in a couple days after the event to mop the floor.  they wouldn’t lug all 4,000 sq. feet’s worth of furniture back to its original position.  they especially wouldn’t lug that heavy furniture if they were by themself (thanks cyndi!).

just because they believe in the event and are willing to bust their butt doesn’t mean i can abuse their hard work.  no, i value and appreciate their effort, and i do whatever i can to express that.  sometimes that can be some money and a sincere thank you.  sometimes that can be a handwritten thank you card and fresh flowers.  sometimes that can be dinner and time spent together.  sometimes that can be a coupon to a massage parlour, to work out the soreness accumulated from physical labor.  the tricky part is that i risk being perceived as flippant with my thanks, or that i don’t value people enough for their effort.  i guess my rule of thumb is to do more than necessary to express my appreciation, rather than guess what’s “enough” and assume the floor mopper got the appreciation she deserved.  Shane Claiborne, a Christian who wrote down “professional lover” as his occupation on a high school alumni survey, said something in his book that i’ll never forget.  he believes that Christians have lost the desire to “love creatively.”  if all Christians went above and beyond in the way they showed their love and appreciation for others, whether these “others” are Muslims, homosexuals, pro-choice advocates, or terrorists, Christians would have a very different reputation than they have now.  Christians would be naive optimists, always believing that human beings are fundamentally good, even though there’s evil in the world.  sure, i don’t understand why there’s evil in the world, but i sure know how i can respond.

so back to lesson four, that everyone involved deserves to have a say.  i didn’t do the best job of keeping everyone in the loop.  after all, before i can form an opinion about anything, i need to at least be involved.  i didn’t involve everyone to the degree that they should have been involved.  involving people takes time, and often times i misjudge my time and rush things.  in retrospect, i should have spent more time with everyone involved and asked for their opinion.  great ideas come when people put their minds together, and ideas come to fruition when everyone believes in them and naturally acts on them.

Posted by Nehe555 on 07/31 at 10:11 PM
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