Family Duty

I had an interesting experience yesterday that is worth sharing.  At church we are assigned families to check on and to help spiritually and physically. I am assigned a single lady who uses wood to heat her home to reduce costs.  She was out of wood so yesterday I arranged to go and get some.  Prior to going I stopped by her son's house, who lives three houses down.  Her son is about my age.  As I walked up I noted that he had a small amount of firewood himself.  He was not home so I went with two of my boys to get the wood.  We came back to her house and proceeded to unload and stack the wood.  It takes a while to unload and stack wood when your help is a 9 year old girl (her daughter), and 7 and 3 year old boys :). At some point her son came  home (I think while we were unloading), but did not come over to help unload the wood.  I will confess that I was also frustrated by the situation.  I took the lead on helping this dear lady while her physically capable son has wood and is not taking care of his mother.  Now it is not my place to judge her son, and perhaps he has challenges I don't know about, but it is hard for me to think of any reasons why he should not take care of his mother.  It is our duty  to help our family and to not allow that burden to be shifted to others until we have done everything in our power. 

 

Thinking about this experience has caused me to think about my parents and how well/or not well I take care of them.  It is easy to take advantage of those we love and to be selfish.  I hope that I can teach my boys to take responsibility for their family.  I am grateful for the opportunity that I had to spend that time with my sons and to teach them about service and manhood. 

 

David Blunck

Perspective

I have been struck recently about the enabling or crippling power of perspective.  I am working to receive tenure as a college professor.  In five (or fewer) years my credentials and accomplishments will be evaluated by my colleagues to determine if I warrant receiving tenure.  I will need to leave the university if I do not receive tenure.  At times the challenge and significance of receiving tenure has weighed heavily on my mind.  At these times fear of the worst situation (i.e. no tenure) begin to weigh on my mind and I find myself becoming paralyzed.  My actions and motivations start to focus on responding to my fears.  Contrast this to my goal of becoming tenured in 4 years (yes, I told this to my boss).  When I think of this goal I am motivated to work to have the accomplishments needed for tenure.  The goal of early tenure is a  motivating force which compels me to work hard and to do my best.  For me, two different perspectives regarding the same work lead to two vastly different responses.  I can't help but wonder how other perspectives are helping or hindering me in other areas of my life.

David Blunck

Purpose of this Blog

I recently started a new job as an assistant professor at a large university.  I have enjoyed the challenge and opportunity of teaching and mentoring students.  I realized, however, that there are many "life lessons" for which a formal classroom does not facilitate sharing.  More importantly, these are lessons that I want to share with my children who are still quite young.  This blog is an opportunity for me to share things in this life that matter most to me.  I hope to share the context for the life lesson or how I learned it. So, I share my thoughts to the world for anyone who thinks that they have merit or value.  If nothing else I have grown from this opportunity.

Very Truly,

David L. Blunck