Good Honest Dollar $$

After four extremely rewarding years of living abroad in South Korea, I have finally arrived back in my home town of Melbourne in Australia.

Much as I thoroughly enjoyed my time in South Korea (there are some people there and things about the country that I miss already), I have really missed my family and friends whilst I have been away and I am absolutely delighted to be back home in familiar surroundings.

I am also back online after having almost completely dropped off face of the earth in terms of the blogosphere over the course of the last two months. I certainly intend to start contributing as much as I can to discussions on some of your blogs again as much as possible in the near term future. In addition, I also intend to post either one or two discussions (according to other time commitments) here on this blog.

I’m so happy to be home again!

(Pictured above – family picture at my sister’s house on my first day back in Melbourne.

Seated from left: me, holding my nephew, Luca; my sister, Liz, holding my younger niece, Ava; and my sister’s boyfriend, Laurie, holding my older neice, Mia.

Standing: My father and mother)

I am delighted that the past month or so has once again seen a range of extremely thoughtful and insightful comments on the part many of you in response to some of the discussions which we have been having over here on this blog.

Personally, I will be finishing up my contract of employment here in Korea next month, and look forward to returning back home to my family and friends in Australia in September. Accordingly, I may not be as active within the blogosphere over the course of the next couple of months as I would otherwise have liked, not only as I make arrangements associated with the process of finishing up at work and subsequently moving back home, but also as I try to see and experience as much of Korea as I possibly can during my remaining time in this country.

That said, I do thoroughly enjoy the blogging process, and I certainly hope to contribute as much as I reasonably can toward discussions on some of your blogs over the next few months (along with continuing to post some discussions here) without neglecting commitments in other areas of my life.

Anyhow, I would sincerely like to thank the following commentators for their contributions during the past month:

Alik
Ana
Brad
Bill
Cath
Fred
Jake
Karen
Mark
Meryl
Mikael
Lillie
Robert

Image via Wikipedia

It’s an irony when someone two meters tall (six foot six and a half) is scared of heights.

But that is indeed the case with me personally, and I was absolutely terrified when going up the Eiffel Tower in Paris in 2002.

This discussion represents the first part of my contribution toward Robert Hruzek’s group writing project, entitled “What I learned from .. a mountain top experience.” If I have a chance, I will describe a second experience in tomorrow’s discussion.

In actual fact, when asking for participants to describe their mountain-top experiences, Robert is referring to an emotional experience more than an experience of a physical nature. He is talking about experiencing a feeling of elation - a feeling of being on top of the world from an emotional viewpoint more so than from a physical viewpoint.

Nevertheless, going up the tower involved a fair amount of emotion for me – fear and anxiety at the bottom, elation and euphoria at the top. For this reason, I feel that it is appropriate for me to relate this experience as the first part of my contribution to Robert’s project.

(Unfortunately, I do not have a personal photograph to share - I had not been introduced to the world of digital cameras at that point)

 
The fear factor
Sensing the extent of my trepidation, my brother, who had already made the trip on a previous occasion, had assured me at the bottom that we did not have to go all the way up. But fearful though I was, I knew that I may not have the chance to visit Paris again. This could be my one and only shot. If I held back, I would be sorry.

Getting up the first two floors was difficult enough, particularly as the curved structure at the base of the building mandates a somewhat angled ascent as far as the first floor. But the final part - from the second floor half way up to the third floor at the top - was downright frightening.

My sunglasses came in handy. Not only did these enable me to hide my facial expressions, and therefore the extent of my trepidation, they also enabled me to close my eyes without anyone noticing. This made the ascention process somewhat bearable.

What did not help, on the other hand, was the commentary of the American tourist immediately beside me. His running description about how high we were was not what I needed.

Somewhat more helpful was my brother. Knowing that my eyes were closed, at one point he assured me that we were not much more than ten meters from the top. The reality at the time was that there was more than fifty meters to go. Nevertheless, the thought of being almost there (no matter how false) did help me to hang on.

Making it safely to the top, I opened my eyes to a splendid view across the city of Paris – a view which is second to none in terms of views across any city which I have myself have experienced.

 
Lessons Learned
Non serious:

• don’t forget to pack a pair of sunglasses - these are handy for hiding facial expressions (fear, embarrassment, etc);
• whenever you are a short way off great heights, you can bet your bottom dollar that there will be someone to describe how far you have to fall; and
• you can always be sure to have some well meaning family member tell you that you are closer to your goals than what you indeed actually are.

Serious:
• When you’ve only got one shot, take it – don’t hold back. If you do, you’ll be glad for the rest of the life. If you don’t, you may harbor regrets for years to come.

Dear readers,

I would like to highlight two things about the month of May.

Firstly, the month of May saw the 100th discussion posted on this blog. I hadn’t actually realized it at the time, but the discussion entitled “Why do real estate and used car sales attract crooks?” represented post number 100.

I have thoroughly enjoyed the first hundred discussions on this post here and depending on how things turn out, I would love to engage in several hundred more.

Whilst the writing process is thoroughly enjoyable in itself, the most rewarding aspect of these discussions from my point of view has been the degree of interaction with you, the readers, and on this topic, I was very happy many of you continue to put forward an interesting range of viewpoints in response to the discussions on this blog during the month of May.

Accordingly, I would like to recognize and thank the following May contributors (alphabetical order):

Alik
Ana
Bill
Brad
Cath
Fred
Gennaro
Giovanna
Jackie
Jake
Karen
Lillie
Luke
Mark
Meryl
Meg
Mikael
Rachael
Robert
Salwa
Tom

(Today, I would like to take a break from business ethics and instead share some of my thoughts about the power of being part of a team.

This discussion represents my contribution to Robert Hruzek’s group writing project: “What I learned from .. Communities”)

Back in my days of playing junior cricket, there was one season in particular in which I personally played quite well and managed to strike some pretty good form.

Indeed, I was awarded with a trophy at the end of the season for being named the ‘club champion’ – an achievement with which I was quite proud from a personal perspective.

The next year, I did not play so well – I struggled for form all year and did not achieve a great deal in terms of my own personal performance.

But that year was more special than ever – a season which occupies a unique and special place in my memory in terms of my junior cricket years.

Why – because our team won the premiership, and by far and away, our accomplishment as a team meant a great deal more to me than any form of individual accomplishment which I may have wished to achieve.

Individual accomplishments are powerful, and the process of setting out and striving to achieve goals on an individual basis is certainly more than worthwhile in my opinion.

But I think that each of us, to a certain extent, has been created with a fundamental drive to be part of something more – something bigger than ourselves – to be part of a shared vision or dream, and to have that sense of relationship with others and belonging to part of something which we share together. As important and worthwhile as I feel that individual goals are – I think that they pale in comparison to the power of being part of a team and striving together as one to achieve a shared goal, objective or vision.

In the case of my premiership cricket team, we all shared a common vision – that of standing together as one, each of us wearing a golden premiership medallion around our necks. Each of us could sense how that vision affected our entire demeanor throughout the year: how each of us arrived at training on time, every time, ready for some serious practice; how each of us went about long fielding drills with a sense of purpose even in very hot conditions; how each of us backed each other up, and supported and rallied behind each other. Indeed, together we could sense that there was something special, some special vibe going on behind the scenes, a special type of harmony.

When I look back at my key accomplishments to-date, I am proud of any which I have achieved on an individual basis. But the ones which really have a special place in my heart, and the ones which I will remember most fondly as long as I live, are those where I have been part of a much broader accomplishment by working as part of a team or community which strove together as one.

Individual accomplishments are great, but the process of working together to achieve something as part of a team represents one of the most worthwhile and joyful experiences that any of us could ever take part in.