"The quicker picker-upper."
"Kid tested. Mother approved."
"Easy, breezy, beautiful."
"Babies are our business."
"The breakfast of champions."
"The toughest job you'll ever love."
"Save money. Live better."
"When you care enough to send the very best."
"Melts in your mouth, not in your hands."
"I'm lovin' it."
"Think different."
"Just do it."
"Got milk?"
"Where's the beef?"
"Don't leave home without it."
"You're in good hands."
"Taste the rainbow."
And those are just the tip of a very huge iceberg of tag lines and slogans that have helped to make brands such as Bounty, Cover Girl, Wheaties, Hallmark, Apple and Skittles not only recognizable but successful as well.
I suppose it shouldn't have surprised me several years ago when churches began jumping on the tag line bandwagon, but yet it did. Though I understand the reasoning behind a church wanting ... perhaps even needing ... to distinguish itself in some way from the vast sea of religious establishments from which a person can choose, it still seems rather ... well ... just suffice it to say that a church having a tag line is a bit too commercialized and marketing-oriented for my liking. But ... that's just my opinion ... and my opinion and a quarter won't even buy you a stick of gum nowadays. I don't know if they still use the same one, but the church I formerly attended for many, many years before I came out had a tag line, you know ... it was "People Who Care."
All the teams in my office have been participating in a really cool appreciation exercise for the last week or so ... each member on the team is asked to write what he or she appreciates about each of their teammates. I can't speak for anyone else, but for me, seeing myself through the eyes of the people I work with every day has had a real impact on me. I was surprised by what others said they appreciated most about me ... only a couple of the comments mentioned my Ninja-style proofing and editing skills, maybe because they know I already know they appreciate that about me. Most of the comments were about the love I have for the company and the people there ... they were about about paying attention to the needs of others ... caring what's going on in people's lives away from the office ... listening when they need to talk ... being a shoulder to cry on when they are sad ... hugging them when nothing but a hug will do. I've read the comments several times since we did the exercise, and every single time, my eyes fill with tears and my heart is overwhelmingly humbled by their words.
I've cried a lot of tears today ... more than I have in a while (though I know that's difficult for many of you to believe, it's true). Today I bid farewell to a young man I've grown to love like a son over the last two years since he came to work at our office. I'm not going to say much about him this evening, because I'm planning to write more about him in my next post. My young friend (he's younger than my youngest child) is wise far beyond what his chronological age would lead you to expect. As he sat at my desk and chatted for a bit before he left, we talked about how important it is to be people who care ... we agreed that there is truly no better thing we can do for others than to care about them. We agreed that we want to be people who care ... we want to have hearts that scream from the rooftops, "You matter to me! I care about you!" We agreed that the true meaning of life isn't about money or security or titles or power or houses or cars or any of the multitude of other superficial things by which we often measure our successes or failures. The true meaning of life is about whether or not we are people who care.
People often ask me what I want my legacy to be (which, by the way, always makes me wonder if they're trying to tell me they think I'm old and about to die), and my answer is always the same ... I don't even have to think twice about what I want to leave behind when I leave this world. I want to leave love behind. I want to be a person who cares ... a person who really and truly cares about other people ... that's how I want to be remembered and that's the legacy I want to leave behind. I told my young friend today that I believe with all my heart there are great things ahead for him, I really and truly do. I believe that because he is one of them ... he is a person who cares. And it's those people ... the people who care ... the people who get that love and caring for others is what matters most of all ... those are the people who will change the world.
So what about you? Are you one of them? Are you one of the people who care?
I suppose it shouldn't have surprised me several years ago when churches began jumping on the tag line bandwagon, but yet it did. Though I understand the reasoning behind a church wanting ... perhaps even needing ... to distinguish itself in some way from the vast sea of religious establishments from which a person can choose, it still seems rather ... well ... just suffice it to say that a church having a tag line is a bit too commercialized and marketing-oriented for my liking. But ... that's just my opinion ... and my opinion and a quarter won't even buy you a stick of gum nowadays. I don't know if they still use the same one, but the church I formerly attended for many, many years before I came out had a tag line, you know ... it was "People Who Care."
All the teams in my office have been participating in a really cool appreciation exercise for the last week or so ... each member on the team is asked to write what he or she appreciates about each of their teammates. I can't speak for anyone else, but for me, seeing myself through the eyes of the people I work with every day has had a real impact on me. I was surprised by what others said they appreciated most about me ... only a couple of the comments mentioned my Ninja-style proofing and editing skills, maybe because they know I already know they appreciate that about me. Most of the comments were about the love I have for the company and the people there ... they were about about paying attention to the needs of others ... caring what's going on in people's lives away from the office ... listening when they need to talk ... being a shoulder to cry on when they are sad ... hugging them when nothing but a hug will do. I've read the comments several times since we did the exercise, and every single time, my eyes fill with tears and my heart is overwhelmingly humbled by their words.
I've cried a lot of tears today ... more than I have in a while (though I know that's difficult for many of you to believe, it's true). Today I bid farewell to a young man I've grown to love like a son over the last two years since he came to work at our office. I'm not going to say much about him this evening, because I'm planning to write more about him in my next post. My young friend (he's younger than my youngest child) is wise far beyond what his chronological age would lead you to expect. As he sat at my desk and chatted for a bit before he left, we talked about how important it is to be people who care ... we agreed that there is truly no better thing we can do for others than to care about them. We agreed that we want to be people who care ... we want to have hearts that scream from the rooftops, "You matter to me! I care about you!" We agreed that the true meaning of life isn't about money or security or titles or power or houses or cars or any of the multitude of other superficial things by which we often measure our successes or failures. The true meaning of life is about whether or not we are people who care.
People often ask me what I want my legacy to be (which, by the way, always makes me wonder if they're trying to tell me they think I'm old and about to die), and my answer is always the same ... I don't even have to think twice about what I want to leave behind when I leave this world. I want to leave love behind. I want to be a person who cares ... a person who really and truly cares about other people ... that's how I want to be remembered and that's the legacy I want to leave behind. I told my young friend today that I believe with all my heart there are great things ahead for him, I really and truly do. I believe that because he is one of them ... he is a person who cares. And it's those people ... the people who care ... the people who get that love and caring for others is what matters most of all ... those are the people who will change the world.
So what about you? Are you one of them? Are you one of the people who care?
1 comment:
i certainly hope so.
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