October 1, 2022|AO- Oracle 6am| 50’s, beautiful
17 PAX: Hei Hei, Black Flag, Vandelay (Respect), FDIC, Saul, Jump Street, Sgt. Pencil (Respect), Skipper, Diesel, Slow Pitch, Tater Tot, Red Ranger, Kryptonite, Ice T, Z-bo, Waterboy, Mother Goose (QIC)
6:00 AM- Recited meaning, principles, and mission of F3 and gave disclaimer; no FNG’s.
Moseyed from the flags down the main drive to the parking lot nearest the football field for WOR:
• Motivators 10 to 1 (not in cadence, single count)
• Yadi Molina’s- like Big One’s but in a catcher’s stance side to side for our brother Nugent x20 IC
Pre-Thang- 11’s since it was 10/1
• Back and forth across the parking lot; X-factors on one side, Bonnie Blair’s IC on the other 10/1, 9/2, 8/3…
Moseyed from parking lot over to Goose Sh*t Pond for a second mini Pre-Thang (20 reps each for Nugent):
• 20 Merkins
• 20 Werkins
• 20 Rangers
Moseyed over to the hill for the Thang, continuing with the 10/1 theme:
• PAX would start at the bottom of the hill, perform 1 8-step body builder, then take 10 broad jumps up the hill, repeat until they reached the top, crawl bear down
• Most completed 3-4 times before Omaha call
Moseyed back to Goose Sh*t Pond for a mini post-Thang:
• Today was YHC’s Dad’s 67th birthday, so we did a 67 second plank, alternating between basic plank and chillcut every 10 seconds with a count around the circle
Moseyed back to where we did WOR for the post-Thang:
• The wheel barrel- PAX partnered up, each taking a turn as the top or bottom of the wheel barrel down the whole main street, switching at every light post (modification was basic bear crawl or lunges)
• Left no time for Mary and we returned to shovel flags
NOR, announcements and prayer requests
COT:
I recently read about a performer from the late 1800s named Charles Blondin. He was a tightrope walker and self-promoter that would gather huge crowds at Niagara Falls. Below came from a website and I paraphrased:
Charles Blondin: Real Trust is Getting in the Wheel Barrel
June 30, 1859 – Blondin Walks Over Niagra Falls
Do you know the name Charles Blondin? What about Jean Francois Gravelet? The two are the same. Gravelet was born in 1824 and then changed his name to Blondin.
Blondin was a world-famous tightrope walker. Early in 1859, Blondin decided that he would be the first to walk a tightrope stretched across Niagara Falls, 1,100 feet long and 160 feet in the air. He began to promote the event around town and the buzz started. Blondin was as good a promoter and entertainer as he was a tightrope walker. The day came for the performance, Blondin didn’t disappoint, and neither did the residents of neighboring towns. There were thousands of people gathered around. Some to heckle, some to cheer, and some were there just to say they were there.
As Blondin arrived he gets the crowd worked into a frenzy, and then jumps up on the rope and has a couple of warm up exercises. To the crowd’s amazement, he doesn’t look nearly as stable on the rope as he should. Parts of the crowd begin to jeer and hurl insults and laugh at the guy that is about to fall to his death. Shouts of “This can’t be done”, “you’ll never pull this off”, blah blah blah. The rest of the crowd grew silent. Blondincontinued. Blondin grab his balancing pole and started down the rope. The entire path across he seemed to stumble and trip. The entire crowd grew quiet. Not a peep. As Blondin reached the other side, he knew he had their attention when they went from dead silent to offering a thunderous applause. The path back was not as uneasy.
He arrived back to everyone cheering. He had done it, but he wasn’t done. He then proceeded to go back and forth another five times. He traversed the rope with no pole. Then he took a chair half-way and sat a spell. Then he took some juggling pins and juggled all the way across, and then took a hot plate and made himself lunch. With every trip, the crowd got louder. For the last trip he ratcheted up one more notch.
The wheel barrel was unveiled. The crowd cheered and there was no doubt in his ability to move it across. Blondin quieted the crowd, and you could hear a pin drop. He then asks for a volunteer … to ride in the wheel barrel…across Niagara Falls. The crowd had seen him in action, they believed him, but they didn’t trust him, at least not with their lives. Eventually, his manager(some accounts say his mother) jumps in and they both make the trip just as easily as the others. Ta Da!!!
This is a great story. Not exactly the start of a war or the abolishment of slavery, but entertaining and may be even educational. There are so many lessons in leadership and innovation.
Significant take aways.
1. Whenever we attempt to do something that’s never been done, people are going to heckle. We can’t let that stop us.
2. The crowd will watch and wait. Some will heckle, some will cheer, and some will be there just to say they were there.
3. The greatest things happen in a community when the watchers stop watching and start participating. True believers will get in the wheel barrel.
4. In Blondin’s case, I wouldn’t dare get in the wheel barrel. There is no upside. Many communities face significant challenges. Most residents recognize the challenges, but they don’t understand how it impacts them and they have no motivation to be a part of the solution. True leaders help people understand why they need to get in the wheel barrel.
5. We have to make it worth their effort to get in the wheel barrel. Too often we fail to think big enough. People want to be a part of something larger than themselves. Think big. Tackle big problems.
I asked the PAX to consider where they see themselves in the story. Are they in the crowd? Maybe heckling, maybe hopeful, maybe just curious? Are they Blondin? Someone who has accomplished something extremely difficult yet miraculous and lived to tell about it? Or are they, like me, someone who is trying to develop the trust to get in the wheel barrel? I am at the beginning of a journey towards sobriety. I am grateful for the men in F3 that have blazed that trail already and are now carrying me in their wheel barrel.
For F3, the PAX are Blondin. The tightrope is life- the flux, Sad Clown Syndrome, whatever you want to call it. Who do we need to invite into the wheel barrel?
I led us out in a BOM prayer of gratitude.
Here’s to good days and better tomorrows!
Blessings and SYITG,
Mother Goose
