Blog Posting #86, November 15, 2009

Balance is Like the Wind
Swen Nater

On January 14, 1950, I was born in a small town, tucked in the northwestern corner of The Netherlands. A massive dyke protected our village from the threatening North Sea. “The Netherlands” literally means, the lower lands. If that dyke would have given way (Through the centuries that has happened.), I would have been a hundred feet or more below the water’s surface. Yet, as a young boy, I ventured up there every now and then because I loved to watch the majestic and proud sailboats sail by as they were either entering or leaving the sequestered harbor.

Would you like to go back in time and hike to the top of the dyke with me? Well, come on and hurry. Notice the great wind? If you are not careful, you will blow over. (Good thing I wasn’t 6’11” then, huh?) See that gorgeous sailboat way out there? Man, is it going fast. All the sails are filled and it’s really clipping along. What’s that, you say? You ask, what if the wind stopped? Well, I’ve never seen that around here but I suppose the boat would just float and not go anywhere. When the wind picks up again, it would make forward progress. 

Balance is kind of like wind. You can’t see either one of them but, when they are working, there is progress. Conversely, when they are not working, there is no progress.  

As you read the following truths that pertain to everyday living, see how “out of balance” stifles achievement and how the “presence of balance” fosters it.

1. When everyone is thinking the same, no one is thinking.

2. It’s amazing what a team can accomplish when no one cares who gets the credit.

3. Don’t try to be better than someone else but never cease trying to become the best you can be.

4. Don’t let what you cannot do interfere with what you can do. 

5. Be more concerned about your character than your reputation because your character is what you are while your reputation is merely what others think you are.

6. Consider the rights of others before your own feelings, and the feelings of others before your own rights.

7. It’s a mystical law of nature that the three things mankind craves most are: Happiness, Freedom, and Peace. And, none of those can be obtained without giving them to someone else first.

On more than one occasion, Coach Wooden told me, “The two most important words in our dictionary are ‘love’ and ‘balance.’” I have a confession to make. I have never had a problem with “love” being one of the top two, but I’ve never understood why Coach believes “balance” belongs in the same league. It’s as if he were saying, “While you’re on earth, you have two things to do: love people the best you can, and use balance to get as much done as you can.” What does he know?