Subject: Listening to the Message, Reasonable Creatures, and Jerry Seinfeld
Hello All!
A special greeting to the new readers this week.
What I’ve Been Up To:
A couple of my friends living in Collegeville are running in the Twin Cities Marathon.
They asked if I wanted to join them on a Sunday morning long run.
I’m not planning on running any marathons, but couldn’t turn them down.
Their plan was to run 18 miles.
Around 2 miles in, they had dropped that to 15.
Then 13.
We arrived in St. Joseph around mile 7 and they decided to stop for coffee at the Local Blend (never a good sign).
30 minutes later, Logan had a ride back to SJU lined up for us.
7 miles feels pretty good when you signed up for 18.
3 Things From Me
An Idea:
Pay attention to powerful messages, even if they aren’t engaging.
Lenore Boyd, founder of Alfajiri, gave a talk at SJU on Sunday.
She told stories about street children that Alfajiri has helped over the years.
Some make miraculous recoveries, going on to live full and happy lives.
Others are killed by the community or tough living conditions they’re in.
Unfortunately, most of the audience didn’t register these stories.
They had their phone pulled out or had stopped paying attention.
It wasn’t engaging enough for them.
There were no flashing lights, visually-appealing slides, or catchy slogans.
Just one lady quietly talking about the work she does.
Unable to focus on her storytelling, many in the audience lost out on the incredible opportunity of hearing Lenore’s message.
A Quote:
“So convenient a thing it is to be a reasonable creature, since it enables one to find or make a reason for everything one has a mind to do.”
Ben Franklin
A Speech:
I watched Jerry Seinfeld’s Duke 2024 Commencement Speech a couple days ago. Great blend of humor and life advice. Only 16 minutes long.
A quote from Jerry:
“We’re embarrassed of things we should be proud of and proud of things we should be embarrassed about.”
For the week-old readers, you know that I was going to be boxing for the first time last Monday. The boxing gym in St. Cloud is completely booked out for the foreseeable future, so I wasn’t able to train. Looking into a gym in Eden Prairie now.
Peace,
Jacob Lipke
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