Tag Worth

More Than a Dream

Michael Leave a comment
A big announcement is coming up. On February 1 the National Football League selects its Hall of Fame “Class of 2020.” I’ve always been sort of tickled by sports halls of fall identifying those selected in a particular year as the “class of.”  But then what should we expect from a business built on little boys’ games most others set aside right around graduation day?
 
There are halls of fame for everything, not all have “classes of” but they routinely preserve the memories of those ostensibly demonstrating greatness in their chosen field. There are the sports halls of fame for professionals and amateurs, music halls of fame from country to rock to gospel to blues, there are transportation halls of fame including aviation and motorcar entries, there are entertainment, business, and industrial halls of fame. There are more halls of fame than just that one that made Canton famous even if it is a little better known that say the National Mining Hall of Fame and Museum of Leadville, Colorado.
 
Something almost every hall of fame can relate to is that as soon as new inductees are announced criticism of the choice or oversight of some more worthy selection commences. Criteria is questioned, motivation is questioned, often the parentage of those making the selections is questioned! I am certain among the thousands of people enshrined in the hundreds of halls of fames none would be a unanimous choice if the choice was made by the entire represented avocation, sport, or profession. We just aren’t built for agreement that way.
 
Staying with sports halls of fame for the moment, every year at announcement time the sports talk shows are flooded with calls from fans who know So-And-So was a much better PositionInQuestion than Whatshisname could ever be followed quickly by calls from others pointing out that’s only because Whatshisname played in the LiveBall, DeadBall, LessInflatedBall, LeatherHelmet, PreSteriod, or Paleolithic Era or perhaps because the players in So-And-So’s time were bigger, smaller, faster, slower, taller, better trained, or nongenetically modified. And all might be valid points if anybody really cared or if we were talking about statistics. Performance will change as time changes and standards of performance change as performance itself changes. But are statistics all it should take to be enshrined in a hall or fame. In fact, should statistics even be considered when selecting somebody for enshrinement.
 
If you’re still reading don’t bail on me yet because a point really is coming up. 
 
Criterion 1: If you are telling the story of us, can you do it without saying his or her name?
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While I was reading an article about the recent NFL special “Centennial Class,” among the readers’ comments was a surprisingly intelligent one. While others debated the merits of those selected and ignored, making what they probably thought were very compelling arguments, one reader observed the only criterion should be “can you tell football’s story without mentioning his name?” Now that’s selection criteria in a nutshell. Not victories or championships or statistics, but contribution.
 
Halls of Fame have something else in common. They all “enshrine” their recipients. Not recognize or honor. Enshrine. To enshrine is to preserve or cherish as sacred, something worthy of awe. That anonymous commenter had the right idea. If you are going to enshrine somebody that person should be such a big part of the story that the story would not exist without him or her. You might have noticed when I mentioned the different types of halls of fame from automotive to wrestling, there is no Human Hall of Fame. Maybe that’s why we don’t have a human hall of fame. Who has given so much we wouldn’t be us otherwise? Who is so worthy that we could “enshrine?”
 
Today is Martin Luther King Jr. Day. Many celebrate it with a day of service as a means of commemorating Dr. King’s service to the civil rights cause. An interesting thing about Dr. King’s famous “I have a dream” speech is that every American, recognizes the words “I have a dream.” Not many speeches have that level of recognition. Say Martin Luther King and the first thing most people hear I their heads is “I have a dream.” It’s up there in our subconscious right beside “four score and seven years ago,” “a day which will live in infamy,” and “ask not what your country can do for you.” You hear the words and you know the speech. Or do you?
 
Did you know on August 28, 1963 when Dr. King addressed the crowd i  Washington he uttered the words “I have a dream” eight times. Do you know what came after any of them? One time it followed that his dream was his children would be judged by the “content of their character.” Not by their name, their color, or their station in life, but by their character. Character. Who they are and what they do to make them them part of us. 
 
Is that not for what we all should dream and thus strive? To be of character worthy of being remembered. To not be able to tell the story of us without mentioning us. If we were to have a Human Hall of Fame and we used that single criterion – Can you tell our story without saying his name? – Martin Luther King Jr. certainly would be in the inaugural class.  
 
Later this week when you’ve done your service and you’re back to debating the various halls’ of fame classes of 2020 take a moment and pretend you’re on the selection committee for the Human Hall of Fame. You get to ask one question. Can you tell the story of humankind, how we got to be us, without mentioning somebody? Who would you enshrine there? 
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With Three You Get Collections

Michael 1 Comment

Where does a collection end and an obsession begin?  For that matter, where does a collection begin?  We believe that with two you have a spare.  With three you have a collection.   Webster prefers not to be so specific, calling a collection a mass or a pile, as in “that’s a pile of money you have there” if someone was to describe your twenty dollar bill collection.  But why do we even care?

In the news this weekend was the report that someone paid $1.38 million (a pile of money, for sure) for a penny.  It bears mentioning that it was a penny minted in 1793 and it was all copper.  Ok, it bears most mentioning that it was minted in 1793 but the news people all seemed a bit obsessed with it being copper, too.  That penny came up in our discussion over brunch and that’s why we care.

Those shows on television that claim to be reality shows (unlike this very blog you are reading that we know is the real reality show), might like to lead viewers to believe that finding a million dollar penny is no harder than breaking into your piggy bank, blowing the dust of the pennies that appear to be all copper, make up a good story to go with one, and drop it off at the local pawn shop.  If that doesn’t work, go bid on a storage shed that has been ignored by its renter for long enough to get on the “sell for rent” list and you will certainly find at least one million dollar penny, probably 3 or 4, taped to the inside of a clarinet case underneath the felt covering.  They’ll also tell you that if you don’t find that million dollar penny and you keep buying up clarinet cases looking for it, and you keep all the empty clarinet cases in the kitchen piled so high that you can’t get to your trash compactor, all it takes is a weekend with some assertive relatives and a professional organizer (household, not union), and you too can avoid eviction, commitment, or both.

But we digress…

She of We asked why somebody would pay so much for something that, at face value, is only worth one cent.  He of We cautioned her that she has art hanging on her wall for which somebody paid much more than face value if face value is calculated by the cost of canvas and paint.  It’s in the beauty of it.  It gives her joy to look at.  And there is the reason.  Beauty and joy trump face value every time.

The collecting game is probably not terribly rational.  There are many this weekend who are questioning the sanity of that unidentified buyer of the 1793 penny and his $1.38 million bid.  Both of We have several collections and in their entirety they don’t cost $1.38 million.  In their entirety they may not cost more than the computer you are using to read these words.  Yet there are still some people who may question the sanity of spending even just a few dollars for one more Mr. Potato Head, one more holiday inspired animated hat, or one more miniature version of a 1960’s era full size toy.  Some may question putting our risk of insanity in the same category of one who spends well over $1 million on a single coin as somewhat ambitious.  Then again, some people may consider putting a pile of hats that sing and move up and down in the same category as a coin collection is in itself pretty ambitious.

What is a collection?  Encarta gets a little more verbose than Webster and is willing to state that a collection is a set of objects held for its interest, value, or beauty.  So what is the value of that 1793 penny?  One cent?  $1.38 million?  It’s been said the value of any object is how much somebody is willing to pay for it, yet its worth is how much somebody wants for it.  Rarely are worth and value equal.  If our collections actually cost what we feel they are worth, they would far exceed our ability to pay for them, thus lowering their value to us.  But it is because we place such worth on these objects that give us so much joy that they are so valuable to us.

Yes, a collection is interesting and beautiful and valuable.  And not at all rational.  And just a little obsessive.  But perfectly sane.  If we didn’t covet those things of beauty that give us such joy, why would we want anything?  Is it crazy to spend $1.38 million for a coin?  Is it crazy to spend $20 for a hat that plays “The Stars and Stripes Forever?”  The answer to both is yes.  But neither is the question.  The question is, what is it worth to look upon what you have and say you wanted it, you looked for it, you found it, you got it, and you like having it for the joy that it brings you?  It’s worth more than all the money in the world.  It truly is priceless.

Now, that’s what we think.  Really.  How ‘bout you?