Many people have the goal these days of “going viral.”  There are many rewards to going viral, recently a viral video got a man a free truck!   There are many platforms on which you can go viral:  YouTube is perhaps the oldest, Facebook and Facebook Live are very popular, even Vimeo and Reddit, and now Tik Tok is the latest and greatest.

But, what does it take to go viral?  That I can answer in one word:  I don’t know!  I do know speakers, friends, and speaker friends who have tried to go viral, but yet for some reason haven’t.  They’re doing everything right and putting out fresh content on a consistent basis to build frequency and repetition.  They’re building top-of-mind awareness in front of their target market, but they have yet to find that magic spark that will send their video into the millions of views.  Yet, there are others who had no intention of possible fame and fortune, who just wanted relatives to see what their son was like after a dental appointment (still one of the funniest). 

So, my advice would be to quit worrying about going viral.  One thing I do know is that the harder you try to post a video to go viral, the less likely you will.  It seems the most unlikely videos are the ones that catch on and get the millions of views needed to make the morning shows.  It’s far more important to build your business than your ego. Most viral videos are over as soon as the next one comes along.  The national audience is fickle.  If you work towards your target audience, and think long term recognition, you’ll be eating tomorrow and the next day, instead of feasting tonight and famine tomorrow. 

Oh, one way to definitely avoid going viral:  Wear Your Mask!!!  That’s a viral you don’t want to catch! 

As kids we’re told, “no one likes a tattletale.”  The people saying that were usually the ones being tattled on, the ones doing the wrong that the tattler was pointing out, to the power-that-be, so the wrong doing could be stopped.  So, what’s wrong with being a Tattletale?

In a post-9/11 world the “see something, say something” mantra became an adult version of tattling, but for the safety of all concerned of all ages.

Being a tattletale as an adult should be a good thing, especially among professionals.  Don’t you want your profession to be the best that it can be?  Don’t you want clients and customers to trust your industry?  Don’t you want to be able to trust colleagues?  When you see a fellow professional do something wrong, unethical or otherwise, don’t you want them to stop?  If everyone did, all professions could be better and held in a higher regard. 

Somehow, we got into a situation where some professional organizations are more protective, than promotive, of their industry.  There are many cases of the few “bad cops” intimidating good cops into not revealing the bad behavior, so it ends up multiplying.  Recently, I had some trouble with a specialist my PCP sent me to, and when I tried to tell my PCP about it, he would not acknowledge that there was possible wrong doing.  A realtor friend of mine was telling me how he had trouble with a rather unscrupulous realtor in town, but when he threatened to turn him, everyone in his office warned him off doing so, for fear of retribution. 

Don’t be afraid to stand up for what’s right.  Build a better business and do dealings with those who appreciate the fact that you are ethical.  It’s not always easy or obvious to do the right thing, but when you do, and you stop others from doing the wrong thing, we all benefit. 

Well, it’s October now.  The start of the holiday season.  We’re into Halloween, then Thanksgiving, then Christmas and Hanukah, then New Year’s, then, etc.  Some say the holiday season begins after Labor Day, and Macy’s has Christmas trees up in August, but I like to wait until October.

The holidays will be different this year.  That’s an understatement.  Kids will still wear masks, but will their masks have masks?  Trick-or-Treating will be different, with social distancing interfering with candy distribution.   Thanksgiving and Christmas have yet to been seen how different they’ll have to be, or will there be an October or November miracle and we’ll be able to approach a more normal holiday season?

But then, what is normal?  It changes over the years.  The Halloweens that I had as a kid were before you were supposed to X-ray your candy to check for razor blades, and I’m sure those put-your-arms-through-and-tie-in-the-back costumes with matching hard plastic masks were more flammable than a Christmas tree in February. 

It’s natural for traditions to change.  To adapt new norms that work for your family and friends.  Life moves forward.  The CDD has some great guidelines on how to get through the holidays safely. 

You can still do great activities with the kids and make good memories for them.  That’s what the holidays are about, the kids.  When I think of holidays with family, I think about how different the holidays are for each progressive generation.  My dad was raised on a farm and he never went trick-or-treating, the nearest neighbor was five miles away!  So, my Halloween was different from his, and my sister’s kids are making it different for their kids, but the common thread is the warm memories we’re all creating. 

in·teg·ri·ty

noun

1. the quality of being honest and having strong moral principles; moral uprightness.

Let’s be honest with each other, integrity is waning these days.  It’s sad how it has almost become normalized to expect people to lie, cheat, and steal.  It used to be that when you dealt with a person without integrity they would stand out, these days it’s eye-opening when you do come across an act of kindness and uprightness. 

Relationships don’t seem to matter anymore, either.  It’s amazing how loyalty doesn’t count and a person you’ve trusted and dealt with for years can wipe all that a way with a shrug and a “blah, blah, blah…” of any excuse. 

Coaching great John Wooden said, “The true test of a man’s character is what he does when no one is watching.” Of course, these days we’d say, “…a person’s character…” but he was talking about all-male college basketball teams in the 1970’s.  Regardless, the sentiment is the same.

It’s not hard to do the right thing.  Sometimes it’s easier because the right thing is obvious, and mutually beneficial to all parties involved.  Sometimes the right thing to do is not apparent and it might mean that not everyone gets everything they want out of the situation.  But it’s always worth digging down and doing the right thing at the time, with the information given.

I do believe in Karma.  I do believe in the universe returning to you the energy you send out.  I do believe in “Judge Not, Lest Ye Be Judged.” I guess those are my solace when I come up against someone without integrity.  I have to count on the eventual outcome that a person with integrity may not win the battle, but they will win the war on morals.   

Today, September 22, 2020, is considered the 158^th anniversary of the Emancipation Proclamation! But, as a recent article pointed out, January 1^st could be considered the anniversary as well.   The article also educated me on several things I didn’t know.  Including:

The Emancipation Proclamation was used to confirm the point of the Civil War. Prior to President Lincoln issuing the Proclamation, some thought the war was being fought over economics.  The north needed the raw resources of the south to manufacture their goods, but the south was angry the north was making the retail profits of their goods sold at wholesale rates.  Some thought the war was to preserve the union, to hold the country together as the original 13 colonies started out.  The Proclamation confirmed the war was over ending the terrible practice of slavery. 

A couple of European countries, who still practiced colonialism, were still eyeing North America as a great place to govern.  While they had no problem with imperial rule, most European countries by this time were opposed to slavery, and the Emancipation Proclamation made it necessary for monarchies to wait to see how the war turned out before making a bid on our soiled soil.

Very relevant today, the Proclamation calls for freedom to serve in the military.  Throughout our nation’s history there has been a correlation between citizenship and military service.  Former slaves were allowed to serve in the military after being freed.  Following WWII, Native Americans were finally granted citizenship after serving for Uncle Sam.  And, the LGBTQ+ community is still having its eligibility to serve in the military questioned.  This is not a “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” issue, this is an issue we’ve had the answer to for 158 years.  Freedom is complicated, it really doesn’t need to be.