HIDALGO COUNTY HERALD
FRIDAY, OCTOBER 7, 2011 7
J
Just A Thought
Missing the target isn't the target's.fault
By RICK KRAFT get will not improve your aim, thing we do should be done truth-
A father was pitching to his neither wilt moving the target fully. Everything should be
young son. The small boy, with five feet to the right. So why is it 100% the truth. We would rec-
his baseball cap on crooked, was that the first thing we do is to ognize that a half truth is not the
• just learning how to swing a bat. blame the target? We discount truth. We wo, uld recognize that
The father tossed the ball under- our role in what has gone wrong 98% true is not the truth.
or better yet we eliminate our- We would say that if some-
handed to his son as softly as he selves having any role in the mis- thing is communicated that is not
could and would yell in excite- hap. 100% the truth, it is wrong. It is
mint when it was time for the boy I think one of the toughest that simple. It is either right or
to start his swing. The little guy things any of us can do is to step wrong, One hundred percent the
was trying awfully hard, but he up to the plate and recognize that truth is right. Less than 100% the
just couldn't get his bat around something is our own responsi- truth is wrong, It is black and
and hit the ball. bility when things aren't going white.
Pitch after pitch after pitch right. To hold yourself account- We do not have to justify
went by without the able rather than point anything. If something, is the
boy coming close to your finger at another truth, there,is no need to justify
even fouling one ball takes a secure person, it. !f something is not the truth,
off. The father was This is especially the we admit we missed true north
patient, doing his best case on a relational be= and we don't spend our time be-
and hoping for the sis. It seems it is human ing creative by s@ing, "Well iv-
best each time the ball nature to look outward eryone knew what I meant," or
rolled off his fingers, rather than inward. It is "Everyone else was lying so it is
also human nature to re- okay."
The small boy was not tionalize our own behav-If you used this true north
so patient. Finally, the ior after the fact. I model, you would not measure
little guy dropped the call this self-justifica- what you do and say by your in-
bat, glared at his father, RickKraft tion. We justify awaytentions. This is an important
put his hands on his something we could
hips, and in a raised voice said, haveand should have handledconcept. Oftentimes we know
"Daddy, if you can't do a better better. I looked up the term "self our own intentions are good, yet
job of hitting my bat I'm going justification" in the Merriam- we slip in our behavior. Justify-
to find someone else to pitch to Webster dictionary and it said ing intentions is always easier
me!" quite simply, "The act or instance than justifying behavior. Inten-
Sometimes I think this is the of making excuses for oneself." tions are less measurable.
way we live our lives. Things Do you justify wrong behavior by My challenge to you today
don't work out the way we want making excuses? is to recognize that our world is
them to despite our own best if- I ask the question here, "Is more black and white than gray.
forts. Because things didn't turn there an absolute true north?" Is You are accountable for your ac-
• out right, we look for someone to there a direction a person would tions. Do your best to live in a
be responsible or to blame. Ob- say with confidence, "This is the world with an absolute true north.
viously, it is not our own fault; direction I should be moving in
we can't be doing something all I do?" or "Everything I do Graying everything opens the
wrong. It has to be someone else. should be measured by th.isdoor for less accountability. It
We look around, seeking to place unwaivering benchmark." Areopens the door for justifying ac-
blame on another. Often it doesn't things black or white? Or are most tions that should never be justi-
really matter who, it just has to things gray? If you live in a gray fied. Living in a gray world
be someone else. Sometimes we world, then you are able to jus- causes right and wrong to begin
get really creative! tify many more behaviors, some overlapping. Right and wrong
You see, if you shoot an ar- of which are likely inappropriate, do not overlap. Don't justify
row at a target and you miss itAre right and wrong at op- wrong behavior. Don't even try.
completely, it will never be the posite ends of the spectrum or are If you miss the target, don't
target's fault. Replacing the tar- they side by side? I like the say- blame the target., Recognize you
ings, "There is no right way to do
the wrong thing" and "Almost are the one who controls the ar-
right is always wrong." These row'. Hold yourself accountable
------ '--~pacne War were said by a person who sees
for
your
actions.
things black and white. Just a thought...
Dance/Self There is a right. There is a Rick Kraft is a motivational
wrong. We do things that are speaker, a published author, and
right. We do things that are an attorney. To submit cam-
wrong. We know the difference, mints, contributions, or ideas,
PO BOX 520 What is amazing is how we take e-mail to rkraft@kraftand
Lordsburg, NM 88045 actions that are wrong and find a hunter.cam or mail to:
bidandeechohi way to justify the~.
For example, let's say that thekraftlawfirm@aol.com or
@yahoo.cam telling the truth is an absolute write to PO. Box 850, Roswell,
New Mexico, 88202 - 0850.
north. If this is the case, every-
A Picture From The Past
By EDMUND SAUCEDO/Lordsburg
Photo courtesy CONNIE YOUNG PACE~Estate of Betty Lazar
Bill Kimbley (left, age 19) and his younger brother Gordon Kimbley, Lordsburg, Jan. 14, 1935.',
A third brother, Marvin, the oldest of the three, is not pictured. The Kimbley brothers were the sons
of Clara Seipelmeyer Kimbley and James Kimbley. Gordon (nicknamed Teke) was killed in the late 1940s
in a car accident.
After the death of her husband, James, in Clifton, 7krizona, Clara and her three sons moved to Lordsburg
where Clara opened and operated The Style Shop, a stylish ladies clothing shop located in the building
currently used by Abeyta Physical Therapy on Motel Drive.
Bill married Suzie McWhorter Kimbley; both were graduates of Lordsburg High School. The couple
had two daughters, Patricia. Kimbley Williams and Connie Kimbley Corbell, also graduates of LHS and
lifelong residents of Lordsburg.
Bill was a businessman associated with Shell Oil Company as a distributor and was owner of the
Border Truck Stop on East Motel Drive, Lordsburg, in the 1960s. Bill served on the Lordsburg City
Council and as mayor from 1954 to 1958. Bill passed away in 1999. Marvin and his wife, Daphene (both
deceased), lived in Clara's house on the corner .of High and 7'h Streets in Lordsburg after Clara became a
resident at Sunshine Haven Nursing Home.
2]2 E. Motel Drive Suite B
Lordsburg~ NM 88045
$40
year:
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For additional information or special needs, contact Cha lie Deans @ 505-508-3361, charlie@communib ydesign.biz or
Belinda Chavez, Lordsburg Cib¢ Clerk @ 575-542-342l, cityclerk@]ordsburg.org.
Funding for the City of Lordsbur9 Comprehensive Plan Update is made possible by a CDBG pJanning grant
through the Southwest New Mexico Oouncil of Governments. from the NM Department of Finance and Administration.
