| ||||||||||
 
Dr. Ronald P. Rogers CHIROPRACTOR Support for your body's natural healing capabilities 270-384-5554 Click here for details 
  
Columbia Gas Dept. GAS LEAK or GAS SMELL Contact Numbers 24 hrs/ 365 days 270-384-2006 or 9-1-1 Call before you dig 
Visit ColumbiaMagazine's Directory of Churches Addresses, times, phone numbers and more for churches in Adair County Find Great Stuff in ColumbiaMagazine's Classified Ads Antiques, Help Wanted, Autos, Real Estate, Legal Notices, More... 
|
Tom Chaney: Just Who Will You Be? Of Writers And Their Books: Just Who Will You Be? Tom says: "As I read Ms Shriver, I realized that her new question fit my life quite nicely." This column first appeared 26 October 2008. The next earlier Tom Chaney column: Don't Ask, Don't Tell about Fried Green Tomatoes with Sausage By Tom Chaney Just Who Will You Be? A few days back Gloria stopped by to visit. She was packing a little blue book that looked interesting, and I asked her what it was. She perked right up and began to explain. "It ought to be in every library where school children can read it," she opined. That got my interest up and I asked to keep it for a little while. She couldn't say nay 'cause I loan her some of my books from time to time knowing she'll buy 'em. The book is by Maria Schriver and is titled Just Who Will You Be? [Hyperion, 2008] It is an inspirational book, the kind you give a high school graduate. In fact it is mainly a speech she gave to her nephew's graduating class. Maria Shriver is of the Kennedy clan, granddaughter of Joseph and Rose, niece to John and Robert and Ted. She is the daughter of Sergeant Shriver, founder of the Peace Corps, and of Eunice Kennedy Shriver. Her husband is Arnold Schwarzenegger, governor of California. Coming from that background, no wonder that in her life and career she was driven to excel. But in the midst of a career as a CBS television newsperson, she was forced to give up her job in journalism because of a possible conflict of interest with her husband's political position. She had defined herself in terms of what she did. Now that career was over. As an adult she was forced to face the question we all faced while growing up: "What will you do when you get big?" In this insightful little book, Maria Shriver turns the question around to "Who will you be?" With a little thought, we find this to be the more insightful question, because it forces us to define ourselves apart from our job, our fame, our family. The commencement address is couched in rhyming four-line stanzas of doggerel. But always rememberPut this way, our lives are placed in an awesome new framework. In the first place our initial attempt at definition need not always be final. The days are pretty much gone in the world of work where one is employed by a single company in one's twenties and does the same job or succession of jobs until retirement forty years later from the same company. Advancement often comes from mobility rather than stability. The old question led to a fixed self-definition early on despite changing conditions in the workplace or changes and growth within our selves. As I read Ms Shriver, I realized that her new question fit my life quite nicely. Late in high school and through college I defined myself by the profession which I thought I wanted to enter. As I began to realize that the ministry was not suitable for me, nor I for it, I was at sea. I had shattered my image of myself without making any replacement. Fortunately for me, if not for my students, I shifted gears and began to teach. Still defining myself by what I did, rather than by who I was, I muddled through a teaching career for some fifteen years. Very late I came to the right question: "Who will you be?" I expect to be working on that answer for a good while to come. I wish I had known the question about 1953. Another essential element according to Ms Shriver is to realize that Who you work for and withHow long will it take to be 'we'? Good question -- it is a lifetime's work. But the flexibility the right question gives is liberating. How many marriages would be saved if husband and wife realized that "You don't need anyone to be someone. . . . When you get married don't lose who you are." At this point the matter of the quality of the product comes into play. Shriver puts the matter in focus. Will you be one who focuses on people in need? How about using your brain to solve difficult problems; to find out the truth? Think of raising great childrenGloria and I agree. We like Ms Schriver's approach. Neither of us is too far gone to change our attitudes toward life and our place within it. It is just getting harder to find mentors who are our elders. Wiser? Yes. Elder? Few in the hill and far between! Tom Chaney can be found telling stories, planning his next meal, and occasionally selling books at THE BOOKSTORE Box 73 / 111 Water Street Horse Cave, Kentucky 42749 270-786-3084 Email: Tom Chaney http://www.alibris.com/stores/horscave This story was posted on 2013-10-27 00:34:45
Printable: this page is now automatically formatted for printing.
Have comments or corrections for this story? Use our contact form and let us know. More articles from topic Tom Chaney: Of Writers and Their Books:
Tom Chaney: Don't Ask, Don't Tell about... Sausage Tom Chaney: A Community Necessity Tom Chaney: Selling Bibles and Stealing Automobiles Tom Chaney: Doc Holliday and the Elephant Tom Chaney: Evil, Ego, and High Principle Tom Chaney: Nigh Perfect Food Tom Chaney: So Jesus Found His Missing Years Tom Chaney: Does the Cut Worm Forgive the Plow? Tom Chaney: Why Not Peace? Tom Chaney: Roast Pig and Charles Lamb View even more articles in topic Tom Chaney: Of Writers and Their Books |
 
115 Jamestown St. Columbia, KY. 270-384-2496 
  
   
 Provided by the Adair Co Fiscal Court and the Adair Co. Emergency Mgt. Agency 
|
||||||||
|
| ||||||||||
|
Quick Links to Popular Features
Looking for a story or picture? Try our Photo Archive or our Stories Archive for all the information that's appeared on ColumbiaMagazine.com. | ||||||||||
|
Contact us: Columbia Magazine and columbiamagazine.com are published by Linda Waggener and Pen Waggener, PO Box 906, Columbia, KY 42728. Please use our contact page, or send questions about technical issues with this site to webmaster@columbiamagazine.com. All logos and trademarks used on this site are property of their respective owners. All comments remain the property and responsibility of their posters, all articles and photos remain the property of their creators, and all the rest is copyright 1995-Present by Columbia Magazine. Privacy policy: use of this site requires no sharing of information. Voluntarily shared information may be published and made available to the public on this site and/or stored electronically. Anonymous submissions will be subject to additional verification. Cookies are not required to use our site. However, if you have cookies enabled in your web browser, some of our advertisers may use cookies for interest-based advertising across multiple domains. For more information about third-party advertising, visit the NAI web privacy site.
| ||||||||||
