by Emma Atkinson

Hello lovely readers!  Can you believe it’s February already?  We hope 2021 is going well for you.  Spoiler alert:  it’s not so much about consent this time and I’m flying solo.

Last time we talked about change and its myriad challenges.  I’ve just discovered that one of my favorite concepts about change is technically incorrect. Maybe you’re more well-informed about this than I am.  That’s likely true in many subject areas.  Just in case you’re not, here’s what I’ve recently learned.

Apparently the Chinese character for the word for “crisis” (or “change”) does not consist of the characters for the words “danger” and “opportunity”.  John F. Kennedy is credited with creating this concept and it has become a truth in much of the Western world.

No less an authority than Wikipedia debunks this idea, and other Internet sources call it Pollyanaish.  These sources note that the idea comes from misinterpreting the characters as they’re written.

Please feel free to consider me a Pollyanna.  There is a gift in every situation.  Sometimes you have to wait a while to see that gift.  Sometimes it may seem like ages until you see that gift.  Years ago I was denied tenure at a prominent East Coast university.  At the time, it seemed like the worst thing that could possibly have happened.  Today, it’s a gift.  I wouldn’t be here in the spectacular Pacific Northwest and I wouldn’t know you.

Sometimes you have to look hard to see a valuable lesson in adversity.  Sometimes you have to decide to laugh instead of cry.

Feel free to maintain a grateful attitude in life, just because.  And, feel free to share your thoughts at:  info@thecspc.org.

“Be excellent to each other” - Bill and Ted