“When Did We Get So Superior?”
The Inner Bottom Line ® A Syndicated Column on Personal Choices & Ethical Dilemmas by Olive Gallagher “When Did We Get So Superior?” Once upon a time, America was considered the land of opportunity; a place where gold lined the streets and any person willing to work hard could start with nothing and end up with pie-in-the-sky; whatever one could dream. I wouldn’t be here today if my grandparents or great-grandparents hadn’t been permitted to immigrate to this country, much less allowed to become citizens, and I’ll bet many of you reading this column share a similar heritage. I mean, [ Read More ]
“A Small Elegant Word Redux”
Author’s Note: The fact that I have to still re-publish this column I wrote a number of years ago is heartbreaking and unacceptable. And proof has hard-core resistance to change among too many of us still is. OG “A Small, Elegant Word” Dignity. A word with few letters. On appearance not very large. But elegant. Succinct. With enormous reach when it’s authentic and honest and organic. Not used often enough in today’s world to describe someone’s character or attitude. And yet, it is a momentous, precious, rare word. Containing deep value. Representing deeper values. Today, in light of all [ Read More ]
Starting Over…Again
Dear Olive, I started to write out my New Year resolutions right after I read one of your earlier column on just this topic and realized I’ve been making the same ones for years. I always start out feeling real jazzed up, ready to lose ten pounds, go to the gym, make quiet time for myself, even cut my hair. But by March it falls apart. I remember something you wrote about “if you start to see yourself coming in the rear view mirror” but I can’t remember the rest. So I’m asking for help. Why does this always happen? What’s [ Read More ]
The Safe Haven of a Small, Elegant Word
Dignity. A word with few letters. On appearance not very large. But elegant. Succinct. With enormous reach when it’s authentic and honest and organic. Not used often enough in today’s world to describe someone’s character or attitude. And yet, it is a momentous, precious, rare word. Containing deep value. Representing deeper values. Today, in light of all the events, from the most horrific and tragic to the amazing, astounding, “did-that-really-happen” moments of the past week, it’s emerged as the key word, the most accurate, deeply appropriate and somewhat surprising word in the rulings by the highest court in the land http://is.gd/Y5knbY. [ Read More ]
How To Deal With Rude People
Dear Olive, I’m so glad we had the chance to meet and discuss this issue. As you know, being on the mortgage side of real estate focused on sales and marketing requires me to call on people I don’t know in the hopes I’ll be able to help them see the value of our services. That can often lead to situations where I am confronted by rude people. I also send out a lot of emails and at times I’m asked to remove people from my list. That can be both surprising and hurtful, too. But when these things happy, [ Read More ]
“No Time to Think”
Dear O, The other day, after an inspection on a home I have listed that ran late which made me double late picking up my kids from a soccer game and driving them to dance class, all the while praying for inspiration for a dinner menu my husband and kids would actually all like and then realizing I’d forgotten to pick up my dress at the dry cleaner for an important dinner on Saturday, I realized I can’t keep doing this much longer this way. Then I remembered reading a column of yours years ago about having no time and [ Read More ]
“The Deadly Game of Gotcha”
It’s a strange time out there in the universe right now. I’ve been listening and watching and mulling these past few weeks, and in his latest and brilliant State of the Union message http://is.gd/HOx2Kw, even President Obama referred to the pointless, non-productive game of “gotcha” too often played in Washington for political points. Now, it’s not like the game of “gotcha” has just been invented. I imagine it may have been going on ever since one caveman decided to steal another neighbor’s better and hotter fire. And certainly, how it all plays out in our present condition continues to evolve [ Read More ]
“Five Steps to Starting Over in 2015: Step One”
With a fresh new year and beginning in front of us, I’m constantly reminded of the remarkable resilience we have to recover, re-form, reinstate and recommit our best intentions and loftiest goals. And I’m also reminded, every year at this time, by so many of my readers, of how the same questions arise, year after year, many of them heartbreaking and touching but oh, so familiar. Whether the resolution is focused on how to lose weight or keep things neater or save more money or get sober, they cover everything, big and small. What all of these wants share is [ Read More ]
“Just a Simple Thank You Will Do”
Dear Olive, I appreciated your kindness when I waited on you Saturday when you noticed the customer ahead of you had upset me. Today, it’s rare anybody notices much less cares. What I liked most was the question you asked: What did I think the biggest difference in people today was? Nobody’s asked me what I thought in a while. After forty years in customer service, I’m retiring and the answer’s simple. Folks have no courtesy. When I started, the attitude was “Please, can you help me?” Now, it’s all “gimme, gimme, gimme” and “give it to me now, instantly, [ Read More ]
NOOMII INTERVIEW WITH OLIVE
COACH FOUNDATION LISTING
