a letter from mike

This past Christmas, I received the annual Christmas card from our McCarthy CEO, and it started out with one of his favorite Chinese proverbs, which I thought was very thought provoking for some reason...

\May you live in interesting times.\

When I first read this, I really liked it for two reasons, I think.  

First, I liked the thought of 'interesting times'.  The obvious thing to think about right now is the economy, wars, etc., but I prefer to think of other things ;o).  I loved the idea of ALWAYS living in 'interesting times'...

In the thesaurus in my brain, synonyms for 'interesting' are...

[not boring]

[living in the moment]

[always trying new things]

[learning things daily]

[challenging]

[being surrounded by DIFFERENT people]

[involvement in all sorts of things]

[different that my expectations]

[random]

...and the list goes on...you get the idea.

The second reason I liked this is that when I initially read it, the natural emphasis in my head was on 'live'. 

Again, my synonyms for 'live' are...

{not being passive}

{always questioning}

{seeking adventure}

{enjoying the moment}

{soaking it up}

{loving}

{making choices...to LIVE}

{take charge of my own destiny (to the extent that I think I can!)}

As you can see, I loved this 'proverb' and thought it was a sort of blessing...However, upon further research, I was disappointed to find that the Chinese actually meant it as more of a curse.  I attribute my seemingly incorrect interpretation of the proverb to my recurring choice to see the good, and not the bad, in things...

So let's take the 'glass is half full' approach that I so much enjoy, and be blessed by *LIVING in interesting times*.  

Carpe diem?