Well - one day you are high on the horse, enjoying a Steeley Dan concert , next you are in the hospital with severe abdominal cramps. Do not yet know what the obstruction in the intestine is - right now I am blaming it on Od'g on tasty peanuts at the concert. They will know once the probe goes to work tomorrow. Regardless, here I am at a moment of uncertainty as to my health. They say "live each day like it's your last". I have done so mostly, but am aware that many times the efforts were expanded for the approval of others and not for my own and took my attention away from my loved ones. I do not believe I am going to experience some life altering awareness due to fear of dying due to the fact that I do not fear death. I am not going to experience some mystical clarity because I do not fear the judgement or approval of a higher power. I believe in goodness and freedom, in my desire to help others be successful and in my own motivation to change the given reality within my sphere of influence. Lastly I do know of the unconditional love of my children, my wife and family.
The people in my life know that I love them, I have told them so. The opportunities of life, in most respects, I have taken and made something of them and many have benefited by it. I have an awareness of the world in my time and am very hopeful of the increasing freedom and quality of life my children will enjoy.
Finally, for now, I am most clear in my belief of mankind. We have created a world of progress driven by freedom. This trajectory will not change. Of this I am most certain this afternoon sitting here at Frederick Memorial Hospital. I am at peace.
In the final analysis, your attitude determines your effectiveness in everything, every time! LGL www.LuisLobo.Biz
Thursday, August 04, 2011
Thursday, May 19, 2011
How Values are Practical
The Value of Reality is one of the most challenging to embrace. This is because we want Reality to be what we want it to be as opposed to what it is. You can only understand the given Reality by being objective and that requires us to understand our bias and prejudices, it is only then that we are able to "see" Reality for what it is. Once we have clarity as to the Reality that we are facing, we use the Value of Reasoning to understand how we relate to the given Reality. If I am behaving inconsistent with the given Reality, then my results are not going to be what they could be and this judgement is only possible by Reasoning , thus understanding the precepts and concepts of the Reality I am facing. Once I understand this context, then the Value of Independent Thinking is triggered. I can not understand the context and not take action. Yet, Independent Thinking requires me to evaluate all the possible outcomes of the action I desire to take so as to act consistent with Reality. Therefore, the baseline of understanding and acting lie with first Reality, then Reasoning and Independent Thinking.
The continuing understanding and acting create the existence of the Values of Honesty and Integrity. We are acting in unison with the given Reality and therefore we are being Honest with ourselves and with others. Integrity is the Value that is attributed as holistic character due to our consistent and Honest behaviors. The result of this continous loop is the Value of Productivity. Some result will occur from the behavior we exhibit. If the behavior is grounded in this loop, then the outcome, Productivity, will emerge. Then the Value of Justice is evident. If I produce more, then I deserve more; if I contribute more then I will have a greater impact. We judge ourselves and we are judged by others relative to our contributions to one another into a broader societal ripple. When this judgement is positive, due to the contribution made by our consistent behaviors, then we earn the Values of Pride and Self Esteem. No one and no thing can give us Pride and Self Esteem, these we must earn on a daily basis in every aspect of our life. When we earn Pride and Self Esteem, we find happiness and are more likely to continue to exhibit the behaviors that ultimately reward us psychologically. It is then, and only then that the Value of Teamwork is created. Likeminded individuals creating Pride and Self Esteem for themselves, now begin to collaborate and the outcome of this collaboration will create outcomes more significant than those of an individual. The leverage created by groups and organizations acting in this manner create more "Just" societies in communities and organizations. Here is where we find progress for humanity.
In the final analysis, your attitude determines your effectiveness in everything, every time! LGL www.LuisLobo.Biz
Saturday, April 16, 2011
Jerry Lobo could have never imagined....
It is interesting for me to imagine what was traveling through my father's mind when he decided to come to the U.S. Only the politically, ethnically and economically oppressed ever leave their home, and then only a small number of them. He experienced none of these growing up in a middle-class mercantilist family. Some years after the passing of my father, at the age of 52 in 1994, I was visiting with his father at his beach rancho in Mata Limon, Costa Rica. I asked him to explain to me why. I told him my father always told us he came to the U.S. to give his children an American education and to raise them in the greatest nation in the world. My grandfather did not disagree with my statement. He said: your father was a very bright young man and a driven individual, but he did not want to work with me. (Back story: in many places around the globe, the U.S. included, the oldest male child normally took over the family business from his father and became head of the family as time and circumstance changed).
In time I have understood that both stories are true. My father in his early youth viewed American films ( a huge fan of Audi Murphy) and interpreted the freedom to be what one chose to be as something he would accomplish. He and my mother married at 17 in 1959 and he worked for his father for several years in their store and then when they opened "Monterey" restaurant in the airport complex Juan Santamaria. He took his leave in December of 1963 after a cousin, Horacio Lobo, and William Montero had moved to Amsterdam, N.Y. to seek their fortune, they unmarried and my Dad with me and my mother expecting Carlos.
What was coursing through his mind when he boarded that plane, kissed me and my mother good-by, knowing that he would never return, because to return would be to admit defeat. Therefore my father decided that defeat was not an option. Within 6 months he was employed in the textile industry and 18 months after his arrival was 3rd shift supervisor when we reunited in Amsterdam. He had his own car, his own apartment and now his family with him. My father was all of 23 when we joined him. His organization expanded to Lincoln County NC in the late 1960's (Mohican Mills a sub of Fab Industries) and there he raised his children.
In time there were one thousand Costa Rican's in Amsterdam, N.Y., several families followed my Dad to Linconton, and today the second largest expatriate Costa Rican community in the U.S. calls Linconton (LinconTico) home. Nearly 20% of the population of N.C. is today Hispanic. The Diamante Awards Foundation awarded my father posthumously the "Lifetime Achievement Award" for his work on behalf of the Hispanic community in western N.C. during his years in that area. He was the first and he was their leader.
Coming off that plane at Idlewild Airport (Kennedy) in the winter of 1963, at the age of 21, he could never have dreamed that he would help usher in the most significant demographic shift in the U.S. with the rise of the Hispanic population, now 25% of the population. That his children would carry on his philosophy that a "Hand Up is different from a Hand Out". That his grandchildren would be educated in the best universities is the world.
What my father knew was that his life and his happiness were his own. He took that responsibility and drove it against reality every day. My father changed his given reality. He would not allow circumstances to drive his future, he changed what would be into what became a new reality.
There are countless examples of individuals like my father; most unknown but to their contemporaries and families. However, what he chose to do, and the fact that he chose not to be defeated, and believe me he tasted the bitter taste of defeat many times, caused this outcome.
He was right, the U.S. is the greatest nation conceived by the mind of man, where an individual can cast his effort forth and has the opportunity to reach his dreams. He was right that an American education is viewed around the globe as a competitive advantage, that is why so many international students come to this country to accomplish their undergraduate and graduate degrees. He was also right not to suffer the dominance of his own family and customs.
When I boil it down,what my father exhibited was courage to confront conformity and tradition. To take himself through the change process (people really like change - tongue in cheek). To cast aside what did not matter and to take up what did. To place himself unsafe from failure, from criticism, and from racism. In doing so, he achieved the American dream. Many years ago, my mother's father noted: what Gerardo has done is worthy of admiration. Yet, anyone else's judgement matters little even as one appreciates hearing praise when it is earned.
It was his own judgement of what he had accomplished that mattered and gave him the values of pride and self-esteem. We earn pride and self-esteem through our words, behaviors and results; or we do not.
Congratulations Papi.
In the final analysis, your attitude determines your effectiveness in everything, every time! LGL www.LuisLobo.Biz
In time I have understood that both stories are true. My father in his early youth viewed American films ( a huge fan of Audi Murphy) and interpreted the freedom to be what one chose to be as something he would accomplish. He and my mother married at 17 in 1959 and he worked for his father for several years in their store and then when they opened "Monterey" restaurant in the airport complex Juan Santamaria. He took his leave in December of 1963 after a cousin, Horacio Lobo, and William Montero had moved to Amsterdam, N.Y. to seek their fortune, they unmarried and my Dad with me and my mother expecting Carlos.
What was coursing through his mind when he boarded that plane, kissed me and my mother good-by, knowing that he would never return, because to return would be to admit defeat. Therefore my father decided that defeat was not an option. Within 6 months he was employed in the textile industry and 18 months after his arrival was 3rd shift supervisor when we reunited in Amsterdam. He had his own car, his own apartment and now his family with him. My father was all of 23 when we joined him. His organization expanded to Lincoln County NC in the late 1960's (Mohican Mills a sub of Fab Industries) and there he raised his children.
In time there were one thousand Costa Rican's in Amsterdam, N.Y., several families followed my Dad to Linconton, and today the second largest expatriate Costa Rican community in the U.S. calls Linconton (LinconTico) home. Nearly 20% of the population of N.C. is today Hispanic. The Diamante Awards Foundation awarded my father posthumously the "Lifetime Achievement Award" for his work on behalf of the Hispanic community in western N.C. during his years in that area. He was the first and he was their leader.
Coming off that plane at Idlewild Airport (Kennedy) in the winter of 1963, at the age of 21, he could never have dreamed that he would help usher in the most significant demographic shift in the U.S. with the rise of the Hispanic population, now 25% of the population. That his children would carry on his philosophy that a "Hand Up is different from a Hand Out". That his grandchildren would be educated in the best universities is the world.
What my father knew was that his life and his happiness were his own. He took that responsibility and drove it against reality every day. My father changed his given reality. He would not allow circumstances to drive his future, he changed what would be into what became a new reality.
There are countless examples of individuals like my father; most unknown but to their contemporaries and families. However, what he chose to do, and the fact that he chose not to be defeated, and believe me he tasted the bitter taste of defeat many times, caused this outcome.
He was right, the U.S. is the greatest nation conceived by the mind of man, where an individual can cast his effort forth and has the opportunity to reach his dreams. He was right that an American education is viewed around the globe as a competitive advantage, that is why so many international students come to this country to accomplish their undergraduate and graduate degrees. He was also right not to suffer the dominance of his own family and customs.
When I boil it down,what my father exhibited was courage to confront conformity and tradition. To take himself through the change process (people really like change - tongue in cheek). To cast aside what did not matter and to take up what did. To place himself unsafe from failure, from criticism, and from racism. In doing so, he achieved the American dream. Many years ago, my mother's father noted: what Gerardo has done is worthy of admiration. Yet, anyone else's judgement matters little even as one appreciates hearing praise when it is earned.
It was his own judgement of what he had accomplished that mattered and gave him the values of pride and self-esteem. We earn pride and self-esteem through our words, behaviors and results; or we do not.
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