George Carlin has a famous routine about the seven dirty words that you can’t say on television, in polite company, or in public for that matter. It seems that Mr. Carlin forgot another word that you can’t say in public anymore…
Last week I was at a corporate management meeting in beautiful Lake Tahoe. As part of the several day meeting we had some group activities meant to promote teamwork and to motivate us as a group. One of the events included a hike / scavenger hunt type of activity in a park situated between Tahoe and Reno. After the hike, we settled down to dinner and drinks in a building in the park for some bonding and motivation.
For inspiration, the company brought in a motivational speaker to teach us a few things about the can-do attitude. The speaker was three time Olympian luger, Ruben Gonzalez. Mr. Gonzalez has quite an interesting story. As in one of my favorite movies of all time, Rudy, Gonzalez was five foot nothing, a hundred and nothing, and with hardly a speck of athletic talent. But he had a dream to compete in the Olympics. He was a bench warmer on his college soccer team when the idea struck and he looked for the most ridiculous, obscure, and crazy sport he could find. Luge was it. As it turned out, since Gonzalez was born in Argentina and the sport was desperate for competitors from other countries, some people in the sport agreed to help him train. The training was long and grueling. This was what he was hoping for. Gonzalez reasoned, rightly it seems, that his only hope of making it to the Olympics was to find a sport where most people would quit, perseverance being his one true gift. Long story short, he made it to the Olympics multiple times, his latest visit coming at the ridiculous age of 39.
Back to my story. The entire group at this corporate event was enjoying Ruben’s talk about the virtue of perseverance. But then he said something that caused a large number of people to stiffen, recoil, and visibly manifest their discomfort. No, he didn’t utter one of Carlin’s famous dirty words. I am sure that if he had he would have received many hearty guffaws. The faux pas Ruben Gonzalez said that caused a large number of people to squirm was worse. He thanked God.
More than just a quick thanks to God which could easily be passed off as merely a gesture akin to a baseball players half sign of the cross after a routine single, no he actually spoke about God and about the gifts He bestows and our responsibility to use them well.
I work with many good people and likely not a few of them believe in God. But to speak of it so openly in a business setting was unsettling for many. They helplessly looked around at their colleagues seemingly wondering “Are you allowed to do that?”
Ruben went on to tell the assembled executives and managers “We were designed and created for extraordinary achievement. God puts a dream in your heart. God gives you all the gifts, talents, and hidden resources you’ll need to make your dream come true. It is up to you to do the work.” Amen.
As pleased as I was by his gratitude to God, I was amazed and perhaps slightly chagrined that my colleagues would display such noticeable discomfit to something so innocuous, simple, and right. Gratitude to God.
I silently resolved that I would make a concerted effort to bring God into my conversation at work in simple ways. Perhaps this effort will help stem the tide of secularism just a bit. Otherwise, George Carlin will need to add the eighth dirty word to his routine, God.
May 20, 2008 at 4:10 am
Patrick,
Great Post. I also make it a point not to avoid the topic of God at work. At first, some people seemed annoyed by it. Eventually though, some would respond and talk about God too. Don’t shy away from it!
Keep up the good work.
May 20, 2008 at 4:50 am
It’s funny. The other night I was flipping around the channels and I came upon an award show. My wife asked me which award show it was. We listened for a moment and without hearing but one sentence I said, “It’s the country music awards.”
How’d you know, my wife asked me.
Because the recipient thanked God, I said.
And sadly enough, I was right.
May 20, 2008 at 6:16 am
At the rate its going, unless something is done, the word “Love” could come in at ninth.
May 20, 2008 at 1:53 pm
This is what I love about my home-based business, Reliv. I’ve heard dozens of people share their stories and many thank God repeatedly, as Mr. Gonzalez did. It also helps that many of them are SAHM of large families.
May 20, 2008 at 3:09 pm
Nope Love stays, but it is slated
for some Orwellian revision of it’s meaning.
Chris
May 20, 2008 at 7:51 pm
I once had a motivational speaker such as Mr. Gonzalez. I hate motivational speakers, but this guy was really mind-blowing. Towards the end of his speech, he talked for considerable length about how he wouldn’t have achieved what he had achieved without his Catholic Faith.
Sensing some “disconfort” in an otherwise raptured assembly, he took the “disconfort” head on and gave a great example:
“It is”, he said, “as if I invite a married couple over for dinner. The husband is really impressed with the main course and his wife asks my wife for the recipe. Now, my wife knows that the guy just hates cheese (which, unknown to him, the main course carries), so she gives the recipe to my friend’s wife without mentioning the cheese. My friend’s wife rings a couple of weeks later to say she tried cooking the dish but it just didn’t work. Her husband didn’t like it. “Try adding some cheese”, my wife says. “Oh no, that won’t work”. “Well, it did work when you were over here”- says my wife to her confused friend.”
You just can’t hide that the dish has some cheese in it, as if you do it will not work.
May 21, 2008 at 4:18 am
I’m blessed to work in an environment where people aren’t uncomfortable talking about their faith.
Everybody who has known me for any number of weeks knows that I’m Catholic and that I’m serious about my faith. Sometimes I get questions, almost always respectful (ALMOST always — this is Baptist and Church of Christ country, after all), about the Church or about being Catholic. Some have notice my Sacred Heart medal or scapular and asked about them. I’ve been asked to lead the morning prayer at work a handful of times, and I pray as a Catholic, and my co-workers respect that. I’ve even had non-Catholic co-workers ask about NFP because they were having problems with their birth control! It gives me a chance, too, to be a support to my fellow Catholics and a witness to the lapsed Catholics at work.
I’m a nurse at a Children’s Hospital. It’s the kind of place where God’s presence is often felt very deeply. Patients, patient’s families and co-workers appreciate it when His presence is acknowledged. When your kid is sick enough to be in the hospital, nobody gives a hoot about being politically correct. They want prayers and blessings!
Bob Hunt
May 21, 2008 at 8:34 am
Be sure to drop the speaker a note of appreciation for the example and courage he showed. More people need to do this, but if they sense discomfort they may feel it’s the wrong thing to do. A little affirmation goes a long way.
May 22, 2008 at 3:01 am
I recently read an article in a relatively conservative Catholic newspaper about a prominent professor of business who stated that it was bad form to ‘wear your religion on your sleeve’ in a place of business. Unfortunately, she is Catholic and she teaches this philosophy in Catholic universities to our future ‘business leaders’.
Actually, I have seen less aversion to statements of faith after 35 years in the corporate world than on Catholic campuses or even some parishes for that matter. I have rarely seen management restrict or attack religious expression in the same manner that we see in many Catholic schools and universities.
We can and should be able to control our own Catholic education system. Maybe a good start would be to teach our youth how to participate in commerce from a faith perspective instead of promoting silence so as not to ‘offend’ anyone.
“We have had enough of exhortations to be silent! Cry out with a thousand tongues. I see that the world is rotten because of silence.”
– St. Catherine of Siena
Lance Patrick