MediocreMan

Give It Away · 12 October 2019

We should all give something away every single day.

I think we should all give something away every single day. No. I am not talking about material possessions, even though that might be good too. Getting rid of clutter is always a good thing to do. (Says the man with too much clutter.) But like I said, I am not talking about giving away material possessions. I am talking about something we can all give away each and every day. And it does not cost anything.

I am sure there are skeptics out there, but I know of at least one thing that we can all give away each day. And you do not even need to get anything back in order to give the same thing away the next day. We can all give a compliment to somebody. Every single day.

I know. I know. It sounds corny. It sounds Pollyannaish. And it is. But the truth of the matter is that a compliment does not cost anything, and it means so much to the person receiving it. Besides, it is truly more blessed to give than to receive. (Acts 20:35) Even if the other person gives a “Bah humbug,” in return.

I have been thinking about the act of giving compliments because the people on our staff are passing around a compliments book at our school. We are giving compliments to our co-workers. Just because. Yes, it is nice to read what others think of you. But it is so much more fun to give compliments to others. And much less embarrassing for those of us who do not really like to get compliments. (Okay. Everybody likes to get compliments. Even if it is embarrassing to get them.)

Of course, you must be sincere when giving a compliment. And there might be a cost associated with that sincerity. After all, there are probably people who you find it hard to compliment. (I do.) But if you look. If you really look, you can find something to compliment in anybody. And who knows, you might even find more to compliment when you look closely. You might go from a cursory glance to find a shallow compliment to looking deeper to find something truly amazing about a person. And it is always a bonus to find out anything about somebody. Especially, something unexpected and wonderful.

Besides finding out wonderful and amazing things about others, giving out genuine compliments does something for the giver. Not that the giver needs anything in return, but giving compliments makes the giver of compliments truly appreciative of others. Which makes that person feel good inside.

It truly is more blessed to give than to receive. And the giving of compliments can certainly be a blessed thing. Which is why I say that we all should give something away every day. And that something should be a sincere compliment.

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A Man Cold · 5 October 2019

Coughs and Sneezes Spread Diseases
published by Central Council for Health Education
This work is in the public domain.

I am sure that I have had a man cold before, but I had not heard the term before.

If you are a wife, you probably laugh when you hear the term man cold. If you are a husband or might want to be a husband someday, you either cringe when you hear the term or you are appalled that somebody would actually write about it. Or maybe you never heard the term and are as amused as I was when I first heard it used.

Apparently, wives have been making fun of husbands for years with the term man cold. It is a source of amusement for them. I found this out when I was talking to a couple of the women I work with.

The conversation was something to the effect that one of my co-workers was making fun of another co-worker’s husband who was lamenting about his man cold. He had not called it a man cold. But his wife and our other co-worker did. And they both laughed. Which begged the question (even though it made me look stupid): What is a man cold?

Sarah, whose husband was the one with the man cold smiled as she explained. A man cold is when a man feels sick and expresses that he feels like he is going to die. He curls up in bed and sweats out any fever that might be there, but is essentially worthless as far as parenting or partnering is concerned. But if a wife (whether she was a mother or not) was that sick, she would just soldier on. She would buck up and just do whatever needed to be done. That difference in attitude and performance is what classifies the sickness as a man cold.

I know. I should have been appalled that my and every husband’s manhood was taken so lightly. Was made so much fun of. But I had to laugh. I had to laugh because I knew what she meant. For I have had those man colds before. I have been sick and curled up in bed to sweat it out. I have been worthless while my wife soldiered on and kept the family going.

I hope that I can follow in all those wives’ and mothers’ footsteps and just soldier on next time I get sick. I hope that I can just keep going when I feel a little under the weather. I hope that I can stay away from getting a man cold. Or at least I hope that I can stay away from getting made fun of when I do get sick.

Which brings me back to my third co-worker’s plight. In his defense, he was at work. He was doing his job. He did not seem to be complaining too much. And he certainly was not curled up in bed sweating out his fever. At least not during the work day. I feel for him because he not only had his wife, but a friend making light of his health. And now he has another friend writing about it. (At least I never mentioned his name.)

When all is said and done, I am sorry for my friend’s illness. And I am sorry that I joined in making light of his plight. But at least I got to learn a new term. Now I know what a man cold is. I just hope I do not get one anytime soon. After all, I do not know that I could stand getting made fun of for getting a man cold.

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Reading Your Own Stuff · 28 September 2019

I do not do it very often, but sometimes I read my own stuff. And sometimes I cringe.

I have been blogging since 2007. (Actually a little longer than that, but who is counting.) Since that time, I have written hundreds of posts. And from time to time, I have even gone back and read some of those posts. Some of them are okay. Some of them are not so okay. And like I said, some of them make me cringe.

The nice thing about blogging for a long time, or for that matter doing anything for a long time, is that you can see your progress over time. You can see whether you are getting better or worse as time goes on. At least if you check yourself. If you can stand to read your own writing.

There are times when I read my own writing and ask, “Did I do that?” Sometimes it is in a good way. As if maybe my stuff really does belong out there with the real writers. And sometimes it is like the way Urkel used to say it on the TV show, Family Matters, when he did something wrong. “Did I do that?” (Maybe you can even hear his voice like I do.)

At any rate, I think I have made some overall progress in my writing. I do not put as much garbage on the internet as I used to. (At least, not that I have reread.) I do not wonder at my choice of hobbies as much as I used to. But I still end as many sentences with prepositions as I used to. All of which means progress to me. (Especially, the one about putting less garbage on the internet.)

Some might disagree with my assessment. They might say that I am still a long way from being a mediocre man. (And an even longer way from being anything like a supposed superhero MediorcreMan. Which is another story. One that I actually wrote.) Still, regardless of whether my friends or fans think I have gotten any better at writing, I will continue to write and post. And I will continue to get better. Even if it is just by my own assessment.

So even though I do not do it often, I do read my own stuff. I am just glad that I do not cringe as much as I used to.

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