A warm welcome to Adela Schwartz, born October 26, 2003 at 9:43 A.M.
Promises
John Wooden, now 93, had a very successful career as a basketball coach at UCLA and continues to inspire others to perform at their best in any situation. A magazine I read published Coach Wooden's nine promises that can bring you happiness. All of them were great rules for living, all of them were easy to follow with a little thought and attention and all of them were promises to be made to oneself. One in particular struck me as worth further discussion: "Promise to give so much time improving yourself that you have no time to criticize others." This promise, in one sentence, captures so much about the problems of our age and how to correct them.
Implicit in all of these promises is what to avoid. I've talked before about constructive criticism and how it can help others to improve their performance. Without retracting my view that constructive criticism is both helpful and necessary, I like Wooden's idea that self-improvement should take priority over criticism of others. (I'm sure that Wooden was talking about negative, destructive criticism, but the idea is the same.) I like the thought, although implicit in Wooden's promise, that self-improvement can be so consuming that we won't have time to do anything else.
In a culture that, increasingly, seeks to blame others for all shortcomings, shortfalls and problems, I find Wooden refreshing. Broadly taken, he's saying take responsibility for yourself. He's saying that as long as we have room for self-improvement (and we will always have room), let's not spend our time criticizing others, that the most important thing we can do is improve ourselves. In improving ourselves, physically, ethically and mentally, we strengthen ourselves in the battle to help everyone, including the help we strive to give others.
I still think constructive criticism is a kindness, that we can help others by helping them find their way, that many people need guidance in their efforts to improve themselves. But the kind of carping, abusive, negative criticism I believe Wooden is talking about is not helpful. We should help ourselves, strengthen ourselves, improve ourselves but we shouldn't forget other people. At the very least, efforts at self-improvement will provide an example to others who may be lost or confused.
10-27-03
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