Today marks the 50th straight day that I’ve studied Spanish with the language app Duolingo. This app deserves a plug. It is crowd sourced which permits a fairly democratic exchange of information and a reasonable accuracy check. Independent studies show that it is more effective than Rosetta Stone – learning occurs faster. I’ve used both and I would have to agree. It is also free.

These 50 days have reinforced how poetic language can be. The differences between languages is very engaging if you have an interest in words and their meanings. The moment that really reinforced this was when I learned that the Spanish word for “window” is the same word used for “nostril”. When I was growing up my parents always described opening the windows as “letting the house air out”, or letting air in. With the idea of a window as a nostril, the house is personified and can even be seen as a living thing, a member of the family in many ways. The windows are its eyes, but also it’s airways.

I started in the last week of January with the goal of basic fluency by the last week in April when I go back to Mexico. I have also been using Pimsleur and listening to 30 minute tracks on my phone. My comfort level with the language has skyrocketed even though obviously knowing roughly 2,000 words isn’t quite enough. Yet, it’s not too far off since fluency is estimated to occur at the 3,000 word mark. I’ve averages about a thousand words a month. I have one month to go..

If you are not familiar with Kitty Genovese and the circumstances around her murder, please do a quick search. Yesterday marked the 50 year anniversary since her murder. 38 people reported hearing her scream as she was being assaulted over a 30 minute period, but no one offered help or called the police. She was stabbed multiple times and raped as she lie dying, as her neighbors effectively stood by doing nothing.

This week in Harlem an explosion took the lives of at least eight people. For days, dozens of residents noted the fumes and suffered them, without sounding any alarm it would seem. None of them has come forward to contradict the utility company’s contention that no one called before the day of the explosion to report the smell, though it was bad enough to make some of them sick. Someone kicked open the door to the roof to permit some ventilation. Yet, only one person called the gas company a mere 15 minutes before the building(s) exploded. By then, it was already far too late.

In both these stories the lack of ownership is disturbing and real. In both instances people died who could have been saved. The only thing that needed to be done was to pick up a phone. Care a little about your environment and the people in it. Be your neighbor’s keeper, and in so doing, safeguard yourself.

This is quite long, but people should take the time to reflect on this. His actions and involvements may be reprehensible, but his perspective and ideas are worth considering deeply. I think that his thought process is also superior.

Convicted Killer About To Be Executed In Texas Pens Devastating Letter
http://gawker.com/a-letter-from-ray-jasper-who-is-about-to-be-executed-1536073598

http://www.cnn.com/2014/02/27/tech/web/linked-in-cleveland-job-bank/index.html?hpt=hp_bn5

Some people spend an incredible amount of time cultivating their God-complexes. This article about Kelly Blazek appears to be such an example. It is usually helpful doing business with people who value partnership as opposed to looking down their noses and keeping their boots on other people’s throats… or backs as they pursue their upward climbs. I do not accept every invitation to link in that I receive (of which there are many – I ignore a number of recruiters and sales people), but I do accept some of them and most invites in general.

A couple years ago, I participated in a thread on Linked In on this very topic, in essence: “with whom should we connect?” A number of people stated that they did not think that they could be helpful to the person requesting the connection, but it was also revealed that many others simply felt the requester could be of no use to them. The unabated God complexes caused my screen to glow. That conversation left me temporarily discouraged because “connections” were being coveted and were treated as if they were “talents” to be being buried in the sand or otherwise held tight. This was also particularly ironic, because it took place in a group to which I belong focused on open networking, LION500.

Clearly, we should not subject ourselves, our friends, and colleagues to rampant exposure and abuse by those seeking to build empires or at least networking pyramids. However, we should be able to rely on our presumed savvy and discernment (there are also ways to delete connections). And just because we can not readily identify a way to be helpful or to be helped precisely at this moment, does not mean that at no time will this connection be useful to either of us. Even at the precise moment, our analysis may be flawed or deficient in concluding that there is no professional goodness of fit. Further, who among us can say that we are where we assumed we would be when we first got out of college? Was there at least one “knuckle-head” destined for the ditches who has risen remarkably to be someone of good repute and success? Maybe that person is you. And maybe it was because someone took an interest and gave you a break. People gave this “jobs bank lady” a break – how quickly we sometimes forget. She was right about one thing though, this IS the “humility lesson of the year”… one that she is never going to forget, even if she is ever able to recover from it.