A few years ago, I heard a lady give a talk in church. At one point in her speech she told about working on genealogy when she and her husband were in England. She related that while in the London area she had made the acquaintance of a man from a different part of the country. His home happened to be in the area where some of this woman’s husband’s ancestors had lived.

She asked the fellow if he knew anyone who did genealogy work in that area. He replied that, no – he didn’t know anyone like that. But, he told her; that if she gave him some contact information, when he got home he would do some checking and find someone to help her.

At this point in her speech, the lady paused, got a huge smile on her face and in a totally thrilled voice said, “The wonderful thing is – that he said he would do it – and he DID.”

I was struck by her jubilant delivery of that statement. She said it in such a way that it made me think that this poor woman had gone through her entire life without anyone following through by doing what they said they would do for her.

My mind started wandering (not unusual for me in church). I heard the rest of the woman’s talk; but I was mostly mentally analyzing the concept of what she had said and its impact on me.

I was wondering to myself if that’s where we’ve come to in society. Is it true that people just don’t do what they say they’re going to do anymore? Has the phase, “I give you my word” deteriorated in value? Are there so many exaggerations out there with sales pitches, gimmicky diet and self-help programs, political campaign promises, and extreme rhetoric that we don’t believe that there is any correspondence between what is said and what is done?

The athletic shoe and sportswear company Nike is famous for their “Swoosh” logo and their “Just Do It” slogan. In a 1988 meeting with Nike, Dan Wieden, an advertising agency representative, praised the Nike people for their “can-do attitude” and reportedly said, “You Nike guys, you just do it.” And with that, a legendary slogan was born. The words of the slogan were backed up with a company attitude that was built upon and promoted into what has become almost a sports religion. This, of course, has translated into many billions of sales dollars.

Perhaps we need to give out more praise when people “do things.” The little “atta boys” and pats on the back aren’t expensive incentives or hard to give out. As easily given and as important as they are, they are often neglected.

Sometimes we think that it’s mainly children who need the positive reinforcement of a “Thanks for doing such a good job!” Really though, regardless of age, we all like to be acknowledged when we “do something.”

Somehow in all of this philosophy there is another point of view at work. If nothing else, it’s entertaining. Have you ever heard of Despair, Inc.? Their catalog comes in our mail periodically.

My wife buys some of their products once in a while, such as the “Demotivator Calendar.” She has given me the calendar a couple of times. The slogan of this line of products is: “Increasing Success by Lowering Expectations.” (I’m not sure what that says about my marriage.)

Just a few of the gems of demotivation wisdom are as follows:

“Service: View all customers as beautiful buds that must be cultivated, watered, and periodically buried under manure.”

“Procrastination: Hard work often pays off after time, but laziness always pays off now.”

“Motivation: If a pretty poster and a cute saying are all it takes to motivate you, you probably have a very easy job – The kind of job robots will be doing soon.”

“Tradition: Just because you’ve always done it that way doesn’t mean it’s not incredibly stupid.”

One more. “Get to Work: You aren’t being paid to believe in the power of your dreams”

That would have been a good place to end this piece. But, what I have to say isn’t complete without the last thing I was thinking about when that woman gave her speech in church. Most all of you are familiar with this bit of dialogue from the Star Wars movie, “The Empire Strikes Back.”

Luke: All right, I’ll give it a try.

Yoda: No. Try not. Do…or do not. There is no try.

— Merrill

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